Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art is essentially an extended pep talk/motivational speech meant to pump the reader up into doing what they’re putting off doing, be it going for a new job, starting a new diet or whatever, though ostensibly it’s aimed at wannabe writers.
And it’s a bit too generic for my blood. I’ve read a few books like this – off the top of my dome, Stephen King’s On Writing, Benjamin Percy’s Thrill Me and Mark Manson’s The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck – all of which did it better than Pressfield.
This slim volume is made up of three sections. The first identifies Resistance (basically his all-encompassing label for procrastination/fear/laziness) and was overly long for describing such a simple concept; the second tells you how to tackle Resistance (answer: the Nike slogan – Just Do It!); and the third is full of woowoo with Pressfield going off the deep end, waffling on about angels(!) and divine destiny.
The book is fairly well written and I agree with most of what Pressfield has to say about getting comfortable with the uncomfortable in order to progress, knuckling down and getting on with it, creating a routine, being patient, fighting apathy, not listening to any negativity in your head, etc.
I wouldn’t say it was useful for anyone looking for practical advice on overcoming procrastination or writing though as Pressfield tends to generalise most of what he says, which is fluff about beating doubt and being the hero of your own story. And the repetitive and tedious nature of the content makes for a very uninteresting read. The advice is banal self-help stuff that’s been said a million times before and Pressfield’s personal anecdotes were uninspiring and dull.
I love the Joe Rogan Experience podcast but I have no idea what Joe sees in this one. And that’s what I’d recommend for inspiration/motivation instead of this book: Joe’s podcast, particularly the episodes with Jocko Willink and Jordan Peterson.
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