Doing Our Work
Taking on Resistance and Procrastination
Photo by Ave Calvar in collaboration with Unsplash+
In his 2002 manifesto on creating and doing entitled THE WAR OF ART, author and entrepreneur Steven Pressfield asks:
Are you a writer who doesn’t write?
A painter who doesn’t paint?
An entrepreneur who never starts a venture?
If you are, then says Pressfield, you know what Resistance is.
The topic of The War of Art is RESISTANCE — the cunning internal force that rises and works to stop people from taking steps toward meaningful pursuits and long-term progress. Resistance is the name Pressfield assigns to this unyielding something that thwarts action and human creativity.
Resistance is self-sabotage, and it can also be summoned in a parallel way via sabotage by others. The tough truth about Resistance is that it stops us from actions that entail commitment to the heart. Each of us knows Resistance all too well. Activities that summon Resistance include any creative artistic calling, any entrepreneurial undertaking, any educational pursuit, any health or fitness regimen, any act that rejects instant gratification, or any decision to change for the better.
While Resistance is heavy-handed, there is good news and comfort in knowing that it can be beat. Resistance is not invincible. It can in fact be rather simply overcome as it has no power on its own. The lowdown, then good news on Resistance is this:
Point 1: Resistance is destructive, self-generated, indifferent, and aims to keep us from doing our work. It is the list of reasons why we can’t or didn’t, the stack of stuff that stops us from moving forward, meeting our calling, and fulfilling dreams.
Point 2: The most common manifestation of Resistance is procrastination. Other manifestations of Resistance are motivation, fear, time, self-doubt, family demands, or any distraction or justification that we face on a regular basis.
Good news: You and I can turn the tables on Resistance. We can overcome the forces that stop us from taking action toward self-actualization and long-term growth. How? Day after day after day we can show up and do our work. Resistance hates and is deflated by progress, consistency, and follow-through. Resistance hates and is deflated when people are present for and on behalf of something that matters when it’s time.
Image by Matthew Osborn from Unsplash
Resistance and procrastination are serious issues as they rob us of health, peace, opportunity, and perhaps most important, they rob us of TIME — the one asset we can’t replace.
We all revert to avoidance measures in the face of certain tasks, and subvert our aspirations by investing time in low-value tasks at the expense of taking consequential action. We put things off and prioritize present mood over leading ourselves. Why do we do this?
We put things off because of fear, because we want conditions to be just right, because we engage in all-or-nothing thinking, and because often times we simply don’t do what we don’t feel like doing. Because Resistance and procrastination hit us on multiple levels, it’s important that we take them on. Techniques that curb procrastination include:
Make puttering a routine part of your pre-work/pre-performance time. Unstructured time on undemanding tasks is good for our well-being. Puttering provides rest, relaxation, mental space, and thought-incubation. We are rejuvenated by the mind-wandering that occurs when we engage in undemanding tasks. Invest in peace, quality thinking time, and creativity by puttering.
Once it’s time to work, do big unattractive tasks first. Mark Twain said “If it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.” Do weighty, high-value tasks early in the course of your work when your energy and resolve are high.
Start. Commit to doing the thing you’d rather not do for five minutes when it’s time to do it. For many people, the hardest part of doing lies in getting started. We can do anything for five minutes. Begin.
Procrastination can also be managed by tweaking how we think about tasks and situations we don’t relish. Philosophy teaches that pragmatism is an effective counter to procrastination. All-or-nothing thinking promotes a “I’m good at this” or “I’m bad at this,” attitude that leads us to think that if what we do isn’t stellar or doesn’t move the ball forward a great deal, there’s no point in proceeding. Such is not the case with Pragmatism. Pragmatists aim for progress, no matter how much or how little. Don’t wait until you feel like it, until you have your bearings or every last piece of information, or until conditions are just so. Invest five minutes of committed attention in the thing you are to do when it’s time with the goal of moving the needle at least the slightest bit forward. Address what is to be done when it’s time to do it with an eye on progress in any degree, and you’ve moved from bystander to doer, from procrastinator to pragmatist.
Resistance seeks to keep us from creating and progressing, yet it has no power of its own. It can be pushed aside. We can push Resistance aside and change our days. How? By being professionals, by showing up, by committing to craft, and doing our work.