I knew I wanted to write novels, but I could not finish what I started. The closer I got, the more ways I'd find to screw it up.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the struggle of perseverance in creative endeavors, emphasizing the difficulty of overcoming self-doubt and setbacks.
In this quote, Steven Pressfield expresses the common challenge faced by writers and creatives: the desire to create but the difficulty in bringing a project to completion. He reflects on the self-sabotaging thoughts and distractions that arise as one nears the finish line, suggesting that the journey of creation is often fraught with internal conflicts that can prevent success if not addressed.
In practice
This quote can be used in a writing workshop to inspire aspiring authors facing their own challenges in finishing their stories.
Late at night have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be? Are you a writer who doesn't write, a painter who doesn't paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what Resistance is.
It is one thing to study war and another to live the warrior's life.
The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He knows there is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist.
When we sit down day after day and keep grinding, something mysterious starts to happen... Unseen forces enlist in our cause; serendipity reinforces our purpose.
You know, Hitler wanted to be an artist. At eighteen he took his inheritance, seven hundred kronen, and moved to Vienna to live and study... Ever see one of his paintings? Neither have I. Resistance beat him. Call it overstatement but I'll say it anyway: it was easier for Hitler to start World War II than it was for him to face a blank square of canvas.
Itβs better to be in the arena, getting stomped by the bull, than to be up in the stands or out in the parking lot.
You have to work from one point to go to another. So I admire work ethic, I think it should be reinforced through our neighborhoods, that everybody should work hard, practice makes perfect, you have to be diligent with what you want, you have to apply yourself, you have to motivate your self. You have to do for self by yourself, and then you can do things for other people. That's what I had to do, I had to do for self.
Difficulties seldom defeat people; lack of faith in themselves usually does it.
They who have conquered doubt and fear have conquered failure.
When I thought about it, I said "if you quit now, how you gonna explain to any other kid coming up that if something don't go their way, they're supposed to get up and go hard at it next time?" You can't if you quit.
You're going to fall down, but the world doesn't care how many times you fall down, as long as it's one fewer than the numbers of times you get back up.
Be active! Take on responsibility! Work for the things you believe in. If you do not, you are surrendering your fate to others.
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