The War of Art

The concept of Resistance put forward by Pressfield in the book The War of Art is very profound and practical. I have this book summary hanging on my wall. Gets me up every time I feel like not wanting to do the grunt work.

Here are some suggestions on the more creative and less tactical spectrum. How To Get Rich: Felix Dennis Don’t be fooled by the title. A lifetime of insights and experience from a pioneering publishing magnate condensed into a light enjoyable read. Creativity Inc by Ed Catmull goes into great detail about the early days of Pixar. So many actionable lessons about entrepreneurship and operating a creative organization. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield Not just for artists this book is a bible for anyone who has difficulty getting out of their own way. provides useful frameworks to understand the concept of resistance and recognize negative self defeating thought patterns that many entrepreneurs struggle with.

I didn't see it mentioned yet: "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield. Don't let the title fool you. Its insights aren't limited to art. And very readable.

The War of Art, Steven Pressfield It's written in the same concise format as The Art of War by Sun Tzu, and it's just as dense with insights. I would encourage anyone to spend just 5 min reading the first few pages of Book Two here: https://aimeeknight.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/the-war-of-a... (https://aimeeknight.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/the-war-of-art_fastpencil_pbo.pdf)

David Allen - Getting things done Steven Pressfield - The War of Art + Turning Pro Tony Robbins - Awaken the giant within (maybe he's released a better book than that now, but it was impactful personally back in the 90s)

* Thinking fast and slow - how to think and make decision and how to consider bias. * Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth - specialisation is for insects. * Propaganda - 1928 book by the inventor of public relations and modern media. Know how they influence you. * The war of art - being a professional. Honesty I don't think this book was written by a human this book completely changed my life and any other person I for to read this book had a similar experience. I have more but I don't want to information overload anyone.

Fiction: The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse Non-fiction: The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

Since 2007, I've taken detailed notes on every book I've read, then posted them on my site with my top recommendations up top: https://sivers.org/book My top recommendations here for the Hacker News crowd - with a nudge for the under-rated, are: The Time Paradox - by Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd https://sivers.org/book/TimeParadox Profound idea that everyone has a primary time focus: either Future-focused, Present-focused, or Past-focused. Fascinating implications of each. Because I'm so future-focused, reading this book helped me understand people who are very present-focused. Also great advice on shifting your focus when needed. I read it 7 years ago, but still think about it almost every day. -- Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want - by Nicholas Epley https://sivers.org/book/Mindwise Many new brilliant insights, especially about over-estimating the differences between you and others, thereby separating into us-vs-them tribalism. Scan to the end of my notes, to see. If you know more books like this, please recommend them to me. I adore this subject. -- The War of Art - by Steven Pressfield https://sivers.org/book/WarOfArt…

The War of Art - about overcoming that nagging resistance to getting stuff done that we all feel.

Wish I read earlier: The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield Musashi, by Eiji Yoshikawa

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. This is the book I've recommended more than any other, and have been thanked by people I've recommended it to disproportionately. He's got a few other books--Do The Work, Turning Pro--that cover similar ground, but The War of Art is the best of them by far.

I'll add my current three, 1) "How to Win Friends and Influence People" 2) "The War of Art" 3) "The Pragmatic Programmer"

"The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield (good read if you want to learn how to quit procrastinating!) "The Greatest Salesman on Earth" by Og Mandino "The Zahir" by Paolo Coelho is about challenging tradition, highly recommend. "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie When I was in high school- "The Alchemist" by Paolo Coelho

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield It's written for writers but is relevant broadly. The message is pretty simple and you don't really need to read the whole book to get it. It's one of those keep-driving-the-message self help-ish books. Basically the point is to name and shame "resistance," a catch all term for procrastination, fear and everything else that prevents a writer from writing a book. It also applies to starting a startup, a career, a family, an exercise regime… Like I said, the point is simple and the information could be conveyed in a short essay. The reason for the repetition is to actually realize how big a demonic bottleneck this resistance is and that overcoming it will take effort and more importantly, strategy. It's probably going to derail your plans unless you plan for it. Personifying (or demonifying) it is part of the approach.…

I really enjoyed "The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles". I've have it recommended a few times but the title sounded a bit self help-like so I avoided it. Eventually I did ready and it's pretty great. It covers how people manage to get work done, which is pretty important for everyone. Last year I read The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt. It's non-fiction, though I believe the central premise is a little tongue in cheek. An ancient Roman manuscript that's rediscovered and helps set off the enlightenment and our modern culture. For Buddhism I enjoyed Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by Paul Reps, mainly a collection of translated koans. If you've never it I recommend Godel Escher Bach : An Eternal Golden Braid, as it also likes to play with Buddhism. It's a book that tends to get a bit of hate but I found it quite fun and playful. Non-fiction for sci-fi and fantasy: Robin Hobb and Vernor Vinge.

Steven Pressfield's 'The War of Art' helped me view my own work in a new light and get shit done by removing my ego from the outcome. It's very complimentary to modern startup ethos in that it is better to focus on the art of production than to become mired in the outcome of one attempt.

The War of Art http://www.stevenpressfield.com/the-war-of-art/ Break through the blocks and win your inner creative battles. Many books mentioned here are good, this is the only I haven't seen referenced. But this one book really helped me deal with resistance and get stuff done. Seth Godin is a big fan and references it a lot in his material. Steven Pressfield also wrote 'The Legend of Bagger Vance' and Gates of Fire (Spartan 300 kind of book but way deeper).

The War of Art - Stephen Pressfield - how to overcome yourself Gates of Fire - same as above, the story of the stand at Thermopylae Agincourt & 3 part series Archer's tale - Bernard Cornwell - accounts of medievil warfare StrengthsFinder 2.0 - Tom Rath - take a test and discover your strengths/things you love to do, focus on on doing those

The War of Art (again) - I reread this book at least once a year. IMHO one of the best books ever written on the creative process, no matter what you're creating. In Defense of Food - Best criticism of the problems with reductionist "nutrition-ism" I've read. They Made America - Good, quick history of some of America's most revolutionary inventors, businessmen and women.