Resistance is directly proportional to love. If you’re feeling massive Resistance, the good news is, it means there’s tremendous love there too. If you didn’t love the project that is terrifying you, you wouldn’t feel anything. The opposite of love isn’t hate; it’s indifference.
Interpretation
Resistance indicates the presence of love for what you’re pursuing; overcoming it reveals your passion.
This quote by Steven Pressfield highlights the relationship between resistance and love when it comes to creative endeavors. It suggests that the more significant the resistance we face in pursuing a project, the deeper our love and passion for that project are. Rather than fearing resistance, we should recognize it as a sign of our strong emotional connection to what we are attempting to achieve, as indifference is the true enemy.
In practice
In a motivational speech about pursuing dreams and goals.
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.
It’s better to be in the arena, getting stomped by the bull, than to be up in the stands or out in the parking lot.
If you start something, you shouldn't quit; that is what we were taught. If you're going to play, you might as well play to be your best.
The goal ever recedes from us. The greater the progress the greater the recognition of our unworthiness. Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory.
If you're looking to become an entrepreneur then don't waste your time going to university or business school - just get on and do it.
The essence of procrastination lies in not doing what you think you should be doing, a mental contortion that surely accounts for the great psychic toll the habit takes on people. This is the perplexing thing about procrastination: although it seems to involve avoiding unpleasant tasks, indulging in it generally doesn't make people happy.
It's cool because here everybody has the same goal. We're all competing for our countries. We're all coming down here to do our best. And we all are the best athletes in our own countries.
Take the job or the project that scares you a little. It's the one with the most to teach you.
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