Fear & Resistance

Are you afraid of being wildly successful? Me neither. We fear failures, so we aim to avoid them. Additionally, because the definitions of success and failure are malleable, if one approaches challenges with the wrong mindset then incremental success can be mistaken for failure!

Consider this post - I'm 99.99% sure that it will not generate any direct income for me (today or ever). This type of analysis has often in the past kept me from writing, since the cash flow from today's work has been my metric of success for nearly everything related to my career for the past five years. It is somewhat cathartic to blame my bosses, peers, or institutions for thinking that way, but I now accept that my desire for immediate gains comes from within (more on that in a moment). BUT, with a hopeful mindset, I can imagine how this piece makes me 0.01% better at writing and could position me so the next piece of writing is a tiny bit better. As Joe Fassler wrote recently for The Atlantic, novelists share a crucial ability to "...suspend their skepticism over the long haul, to persist in the belief that—no matter how hard things get—the work is meaningful, and worthwhile, and will one day pan out." I'm not there yet, and maybe you aren't either, but that's what I'm chasing.

Hoping for results without action is delusional, but hoping that today's action will drive distant future results is imperative. There's a potent force that has kept me away from this work for a long time, and I credit Steven Pressfield for aptly personifying this active deterrent in his book, The War of Art, as The Resistance. Pressfield defines the Resistance as "...any act which disdains short-term gratification in favor of long-term growth, health or integrity...Resistance arises from within. It is self-generated and self-perpetuated. Resistance is the enemy within." Shining a light onto this interference and giving it a name has been incredibly helpful, as I can more readily acknowledge its disruption, dismiss it, and move forward. I sincerely hope that you will do the same and begin working again today on the creative, entrepreneurial or self-improvement activity that you have so badly wished to see the results from but not yet completed the weighty burden of action to attain.