Steven Pressfield
16 quotes.
Quotes by Steven Pressfield
- Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember one rule of thumb: the more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.
- Don't cheat the world of your contribution. Give it what you've got.
- Don’t prepare. Begin. Our enemy is not lack of preparation. The enemy is resistance, our chattering brain producing excuses.
- Figure out what scares you the most and do that first.
- Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.
- Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny.
- Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.
- Research can become Resistance. We want to work, not prepare to work.
- Start before you’re ready.
- 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.
- The difference between an amateur and a professional is in their habits. An amateur has amateur habits. A professional has professional habits. We can never free ourselves from habit. But we can replace bad habits with good ones.
- The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.
- The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.
- The most pernicious aspect of procrastination is that it can become a habit. We don't just put off our lives today; we put them off till our deathbed.
- The professional does not wait for inspiration; he acts in anticipation of it.
- We must do our work for its own sake, not for fortune or attention or applause.