This book is Steven Pressfield’s non-fiction book, where he reviles his ideas about what he calls the Resistance. The Resistance is what causes many of us to struggle to achieve our dreams or what he calls our authentic lives.
“The Resistance is the Enemy of Achievement”
-Steven Pressfield
While I am not going to do a chapter-by-chapter summary of the book, I want to talk about some of the takeaways that I got from the book.
- The Resistance is what causes you to criticize others
- Be a professional, Not an Amateur
- Be Patient and focus on your craft
- How we are artists – no matter what our craft is
Resistance is what causes you to criticize others.
Steven Pressfield talks about when you criticize others, that is an example of the Resistance working in your life. You allow the resistance force to pull you back down to be hostile toward others. While the power of the Resistance is vital to all of us, we must make sure not to be weak and allow it to pull us down to its level. Stay strong and fight the Resistance by not criticizing others.
Be a Professional, Not an Amateur
Steven Pressfield encourages you to think and act like a professional, no matter what you are doing or your performing craft. I do not have the attitude of, Oh well, that is good enough; I am not getting paid for it anyway. Instead, think like a professional. Think like you are the best in the world at the craft and are getting paid to complete it. Doing so will ensure that you perform at the top of your ability and as a professional would.
Being patient and focusing on your craft
This means that you must work on your craft to understand it truly. You must understand the fundamentals before you can move on. Take the time and practice not just the high-level techniques but the basics. The more you practice, the better you will be. I think of this along with thinking like a Professional, make sure the basics are done correctly before you move on to the higher level stuff. This concept has had me going back and studying the basics of Salesforce again, even though I am certified already. Using my knowledge from creating all of these Salesforce Orgs and automation makes Salesforce more sense.
Be an Artist, no matter your craft.
No matter what you are doing, approach it as an artist would, with passion and craftsmanship. It does not matter if you are developing code, building a house, managing a Salesforce Org, or something as simple as driving to the store. Make sure you approach your task as an artist would. This means showing off your knowledge, understanding of the basics, and creative side. Be an Artist.
After reading this book, it has me thinking about my life and what talents I have. It also allows me to identify the areas in my life where the Resistance is most vigorous and work to fight it back.
