❄️ Freezethawed: The Newsletter #030 - Resistance is like gravity, but worse
Hello!
I hope you are well and safe as you are reading this because the COVID train in India is off the tracks! Owing to the exponential rise in cases once again, my hospital has become a part-COVID one for the foreseeable future. It is just a matter of time before I am shoved back into COVID duties. Thankfully, it is not this weekend.
With soo much unrest I think it is best to keep ourselves distracted, while remaining responsible. So the purpose of today’s newsletter is to do just that.
This week I read a book that challenged a lot of existing ideologies that I had garnered over the years. Do The Work, by Steven Pressfield is a short, stern and unapologetic take on getting things done (GTD), bringing into light, an omnipresent force much stronger than gravity, which is (drum roll), resistance. Of course, it goes on to suggest ways in which we can recognise and overcome it as well.
I will share 5 take-aways that helped me and may help you too
1. Resistance is like gravity, its omnipresent
Resistance is an universal force that has one sole mission: to keep things as they are. Resistance does not have a personal vendetta against anyone, rather it is simply trying to accomplish its only mission. It is the force that will stop an individual’s creative activity through any means necessary, whether it be rationalizing, inspiring fear and anxiety, emphasizing other distractions that require attention, raising the voice of an inner critic, and much more. It will use any tool to stop creation flowing from an individual, no matter what field the creation is in.
2. Know your resistance trigger
Resistance is the most dangerous element to one’s life and dreams since its sole mission is to sabotage aspirations. The following is a list, in no particular order, of those activities that most commonly elicit Resistance:
- The pursuit of any calling in writing, painting, music, film, dance, or any creative art, however marginal or unconventional.
- The launching of any entrepreneurial venture or enterprise, for profit or otherwise.
- Any diet or health regimen.
- Any program of spiritual advancement.
- Any activity whose aim is the acquisition of chiseled abdominals.
- Any course or program designed to overcome an unwholesome habit or addiction.
- Education of every kind.
- Any act of political, moral, or ethical courage, including the decision to change for the better some unworthy pattern of thought or conduct in ourselves.
- The undertaking of any enterprise or endeavor whose aim is to help others.
- Any act that entails commitment of the heart—the decision to get married, to have a child, to weather a rocky patch in a relationship.
- The taking of any principled stand in the face of adversity.
In other words, any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health, or integrity.
3. Why me? Yes, you
A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable, nor does the genius or the madman. It’s only you and I, with our big brains and our tiny hearts, who doubt and overthink and hesitate.
4. Get going
Don’t think. Act. We can always revise and revisit once we’ve acted. But we can accomplish nothing until we act.
Be stubborn. Once we commit to action, the worst thing we can do is to stop.
5. Leave the cannot, should not and would not behind
Remember, our enemy is not lack of preparation; it’s not the difficulty of the project or the state of the marketplace or the emptiness of our bank account. The enemy is our chattering brain, which, if we give it so much as a nanosecond, will start producing excuses, alibis, transparent self-justifications, and a million reasons why we can’t/shouldn’t/won’t do what we know we need to do.
This is definitely not exhaustive, but I feel it is enough food for thought for a Sunday morning read. I leave it to you to recognise the resistance(s) in your life. Also, you should read the book! It is only just over a 100 pages.
Until next time,
Anujeet.
Anujeet’s book journey
This week I finished:
21 Lessons for the 21st Century – Yuval Noah Harari
Do The Work – Steven Pressfield
Currently I am reading:
And Then There Were None – Agatha Christie
Elon Musk – Ashlee Vance
Aggregate, the weekly quote
Dream so big that it’s silly. Laugh so hard that it’s obnoxious. Love so much that it’s impossible. And don’t you ever feel unintelligent. And don’t you ever apologize. And don’t ever shrink so you can squeeze yourself into small places and small minds. Grow, it’s a big world. You’ll fit, I promise.
- Owen Lindley
Harmony, the weekly song
That’s What I’ll Be
– Chester See
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