Do the work

Steven Pressfi

eld

Do Th

e Work!

94

Yeah, he’ll still be there. Yeah, you’ll still have to duel him every morning. And yeah, he’ll still fi

ght just as hard and use just as

many nasty tricks as he ever did.

But you will have beaten him

once, and you’ll know you can beat

him again. Th

at’s a game-changer.

Th

at will transform your life.

From the day I fi

nally fi

nished something, I’ve never had trouble

fi

nishing anything again.

I always deliver. I always ship.

Be Careful Just because you’ve shipped doesn’t mean Resistance is fi

nished.

Like the Terminator, it’s morphing into an even crueler and more diabolical form. It’ll be back.Th

is is a topic for another book: the level of maturity, profes-

sionalism, and personal involvement demanded by the tectonic overthrows happening today in positioning , branding , market-ing—not to mention pure art and soul-authenticity. But that’s for the future.

For now : congratulations!

When we ship, we open ourselves to judgment in the real world. Nothing is more empowering , because it plants us solidly on Planet Earth and gets us out of our self-devouring, navel-cen-tered fantasies and self-delusions.

Ship it.

One Thing I Can Promise You My personal

bête noire

of Resistance was shipping. When I was

twenty-fi

ve, I had fi

nished a novel 99.9 percent of the way. But I

couldn’t pull the trigger. I lost my nerve.At that time, I had no idea there was such a thing as Resistance. I believed the voices in my head. I acted out. I blew up my mar-riage and blew up my life, rather than plunge a sword into the heart of that book and ship it.It took me seven more years before I found the courage to face that dragon again—and another ten years aft

er that before I had

fi

nally learned how to lay him out.

Here’s one thing I can tell you—and you can take this to the bank:

Slay that dragon once, and he will

never have power over you again.