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do-the-work

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Do the Work

Enemies and Allies

Resistance is universal Any act that derives from our higher nature

instead of our lower, any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, heath, or integrity, will elicit Resistance.

Watch out for the Resistance

  • Resistance will reason with you like a lawyer or jam a nine-millimeter in your face like a stickup man.
  • Resistance is always lying an always full of shit.
  • The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.
  • Fear doesn’t go away, the battle must be fought anew every day.
  • Resistance aims to kill

Our Allies

  • Stupidity
  • Stubbornness
  • Blind faith
  • Passion
  • Assistance
  • Friends and family
  • Get rid of the fear to emancipate our passion.

Beginning

  • Start before you’re ready.
  • A research diet
    • You’re allowed to read three books on your subject, no more.
    • Let the unconscious do its work.

Our Mantra

  • Stay primitive
  • Trust the soup
  • Swing for the seats
  • Be ready for resistance

"Steve, God made a single sheet of yellow foolscap exactly the right

length to hold the outline of an entire novel.”

Do not overthink, your story/new business/philanthropic enterprise all boil down into a single page.

There's no such thing as writing, only rewriting.

  • Three-Act Architecture

    • Design anything in three acts: start, middle, and end.
    • What is it about? Know the end state of it, then work backwards.

  • Distinguish your thoughts and chatter. Chatter is resistance.

Middle

  • Anything interesting should have seven or eight major sequences/movements

Research can be fun. It can be seductive. That’s its danger. We

need it, we love it. But we must never forget that research can become Resistance.

Do research early or late. Don’t stop working. Never do research in prime working time.

  • Get to THE END as fast as you can.
  • Don’t stop. Don’t look down. Don’t think.
  • Suspend all self-judgement

Never doubt the soup. Never say no. The answer is always yes.

  • Ask yourself what’s missing. Then fill that void.

  • Seven Principles of Resistance

    • There is an enemy.
    • This enemy is implacable.
    • This enemy is inside you.
    • The enemy is inside you, but it’s not you.
    • The “real you” must duel with the “Resistance you”.
    • Resistance arises second
    • The opposite of Resistance is assistance.

  • Two questions raised by Resistance

    • How bas do you want it?
    • Why do you want it?

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