Do the work

Steven Pressfi

eld

Do Th

e Work!

88

He knew that Resistance was

strongest at the fi

nish. He did

what he had to do, no matter how

nutty or unorthodox, to fi

nish and

be ready to ship.

Fear of Success I’ve never read anything better on the subject than this from Marianne Williamson:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Hamlet and Michael Crichton How hard is it to fi

nish something? Th

e greatest drama in the

English language was written on this very subject. Hamlet knows he must kill his uncle for murdering his father. But then he starts to think—and the next thing you know, the poor prince is so self-befuddled, he’s ready to waste himself with a bare bodkin.

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,And enterprises of great pitch and momentWith this regard their currents turn awry,And lose the name of action.

When Michael Crichton approached the end of a novel (so I’ve read), he used to start getting up earlier and earlier in the morn-ing. He was desperate to keep his mojo going. He’d get up at six, then fi

ve, then three-thirty and two-thirty, till he was driving his

wife insane.Finally he had to move out of the house. He checked into a hotel (the Kona Village, which ain’t so bad) and worked around the clock till he’d fi

nished the book.

Michael Crichton was a pro.