It can be a bugger to get much work done at this time of year. Christmas, in our society, is not one day but a month, when you take into account all the travel arrangements, gift choosing and buying, parties, cooking, and general chaos and mayhem. If you’re self-employed, as I am, December can paradoxically be the month in which we spend the most money and make the least.
Which is why I’m turning to a book I got a few months ago on the recommendation of my friend, Kathy: The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield. I’m generally suspicious of self-help books, but this one defies my cynicism and really delivers when you’re having trouble jumpstarting your creative or productive forces—when you’re giving in to procrastination and self-defeating sluggishness. Esquire calls it “a vital gem … a kick in the ass.”
In case you feel like a kick in the ass is precisely what you need on this Monday two mere weeks before the 25th, as I do, I am sharing with you an excerpt from the book espousing the benefits of self-discipline. This excerpt, like many in The War of Art, underlines the truth that our best work doesn’t get done until some work gets done, a lesson I need pounded into my noggin on a regular basis.
“Someone once asked Somerset Maugham if he wrote on a schedule or only when struck by inspiration. ‘I write only when inspiration strikes,’ he replied. ‘Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.’
That’s a pro.
In terms of Resistance [the self-sabotaging force Pressfield says must be beaten down at every turn to accomplish anything], Maugham was saying “I despise Resistance; I will not let it faze me; I will sit down and do my work.’
Maugham reckoned another, deeper truth: that by performing the mundane physical act of sitting down and starting to work, he set in motion a mysterious but infallible sequence of events that would produce inspiration, as surely as if the goddess had synchronized her watch with his.
He knew if he built it, she would come.”
It’s so easy to get impatient with slow, menial tasks, yet they are the very ones that set the stage for something greater. So off I go to stare down Monday and imagine there’s glue on my desk chair.
An excellent reminder! Can you do pep talks every day? That is when I need them. Thursday I felt like I was really on a roll and then Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday came and went with very little to show. It is much to easy to get derailed. I am going to do some work now! Thanks, Ki!
Posted by: | December 10, 2007 at 08:37 PM
I printed this post out, so that it would be there at my desk at 5:30am when I arose to conquer the day. Then my daughter woke up with a fever at about 2, and at about 4, etc.
Still, it's here at 9, and I'm willing to fight the Resistance! (At least for a couple of hours).
Posted by: Brother D | December 11, 2007 at 01:01 PM
I'm so glad this feels helpful to you. It was for me, too - I really chugged along yesterday. Sorry about Eva's fever - I hope it was the kind that sets her on the road to recovery from her cold.
Posted by: kiley | December 11, 2007 at 02:53 PM