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| Poke the Box |
The first book that I blasted through is called "Poke the Box" by Seth Godin. This is a great book for everyone that is aspiring for something greater. The basic message is this: DO IT! Just GO. Put one foot in front of the other and do what you aspire to do. Don't look back. Don't spend so much time preparing for the perfect launch. Expect failure. Expect lots of failure. But the important thing is that you keep DOING.
I consider myself a pretty driven individual, self motivated, blah blah blah, but even I gained a lot from reading this book. Starting/initiating is important, but you also have to keep starting/initiating until you finish! If you're trying to write a novel or screenplay or paint a painting, you have to start every single day until you finish. Basically, don't just initiate the "start"; you have to initiate the "end" too! I think everyone should read this book, just like I think everyone should work at a restaurant once in their lives. It'll change your perspective on many things.
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| The War of Art |
The second book that I inhaled was "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield, author of "The Legend of Bagger Vance". This book focuses on a phenomenon called "Resistance" that prevents us from achieving our goals. Resistance is always around us and comes in many forms. It comes from within ourselves, from our friends and from the Universe. It's important for one to recognize Resistance and then take a baseball bat to both its knees.
We've all battled Resistance from the day we were born; we just couldn't put a name to it. Like G.I. Joe said: "Knowing is half the battle." Pressfield goes on to define what it means to be a "professional" and even touches on the more abstract idea of muses. Find your muse, become a professional and start your never-ending tour of duty against the Resistance.
I decided to read these books based solely on the recommendation that these books were inspirational for artists. I had no idea what the books were about. I just wanted to ingest more creative information as my adult life has been pretty much devoid of any creativity. I found it interesting that both books were basically touching on the same subject: STARTING THINGS. "Poke the Box" tells you to GO, and "The War of Art" tells you why you don't GO. You are your biggest fan and your biggest saboteur.
Go start something. You have the Universe's permission and support.
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