It is timely for me that I picked up Steven Pressfield’s book “Turning Pro” recently, and cracked it open this weekend. A quick read, the book totally spoke to me about where I have been of late. In it, Pressfield readdresses some concepts he introduced in “The War of Art,” about work and getting things done, but his major idea in this book is the one I needed to think about this weekend. In fact, I have been thinking about it this weekend, but also quite often in down moments throughout the last year. I have been thinking about it, and how to deal with it, but I have lacked words and wisdom to help me frame my thinking about this pretty important issue in my- and any person’s- life.

Pressfield calls the quiet crippler that keeps us from being creative and ultimately becoming who were meant to be Resistance. And Pressfield calls you and I out to deal with it in our lives.

In my case, reading Pressfield’s book has been significant because I struggle regularly with a sense that I am not being productive, and I think often in reality I am not. I have developed habits over the years that Pressfield identifies as examples of Resistance-driven behavior. And, in his moral framework, resistance behaviors are aided by, and agents for, evil. In brief, people resist following their hearts and doing the work they are called to do because they give in to Resistance. Our fears drive us to shrink back from our life causes. We capitulate for short-term gratification instead of dutifully employing ourselves on the activities that would actually bring us great joy and satisfaction.

In Pressfield’s thinking, shirkers are amateurs. Those who find and do, especially those finding and doing those things they have in their heart to do, are professionals. And not everyone “turns pro” in their life.

I can embrace a lot of Pressfield’s thinking because it makes sense to me. Theologically and morally, his concept of Resistance mirrors a lot of what I believe as a Christian about nefarious activities practiced by the demonic. Whether it is an impersonal force called Resistance or an impersonal spirit named Lucifer, there is something within each human heart which delights in its collapse and undoing. Pressfield’s connection of creative fear with addictive behavior is brilliant and right on. As someone somewhat familiar with recovery materials, I fully agree that when someone abdicates their creativity and abandons the pursuit of the deep longings of their heart, they develop a range of aberrant behaviors and impulses, all products of letting Resistance lord over their life.

What I like about Pressfield’s thinking is that, contrary to many recovery models, he suggests the answer to many of our emotional and neurological maladies lies not in trying to stare down our addictions and afflictions, but rather, in facing the fears that keep us from really living. He charges us to identify our enemy- Resistance- and to fight it in our lives by remembering or rediscovering what calling has existed in our lives that we decided at one time to give up. And he encourages us to pick up that calling, to take it seriously, and to work towards it.

As someone who is involved with the recovery program at my church, I definitely know that there are some who think recovery is about staring at our sins and cutting them off before they suddenly pop up and regerminate across our lives. On the contrary, in any recovery program, salvation comes from without, not from within, and Pressfeild underscores that heart change is easier maintained when our focus becomes about our calling and our commission in life rather than about our compulsions and our culpability. Likewise, in the words of Christianity, Jesus came to set sinners free, once and for all, by a singular action in His life- by dying and and then rising from the dead- to sieze and dispose of our sinfulness, and in turn give us His heart and His power. He also came to give His followers a renewing of a calling in their lives which would fill them with joy, challenge, and competence.

“Turning Pro” was not written to be a recovery handbook, but a lot of Pressfield’s observations apply to what it means to be grown up. And a lot of his suggestions about how to deal with Resistance and how to approach life and, in particular, work are fantastic. But, at core, he says, just as warriors and artists must face limits and challenges without fear and shrinking, you and I need to do the same to find meaning and satisfaction in our lives.

Find your calling. Pursue it. Identify where Resistance challenges and fights you, and fight it back with all you have. As you fight Resistance, you will be productive in your life and a stronger person, facing fears. And you will be living for something more than your self.

Good stuff.

As I enter the new year, one of the things I want to do more of is write. Pressfield says amateurs give in to distractions all the time. The professional picks his craft and practices it relentlessly. I hope to be committed to a few things in such a way in the next year, and one of them is writing.

Regardless of what you or I do next year, we will face Resistance in our thoughts and actions. Pressfield gives us some good suggestions about how to deal with it, at both the creative and personal levels.

—

Suggested Readings by Steven Pressfield:

“Turning Pro”
“The War of Art”