Steven Pressfield Spent 27 Years Writing Before His First Book Was Published. Here’s What He Learned.

Will opened this episode with Joseph Campbell’s concept of apotheosis — the moment in the hero’s journey when the hero is transformed into who they were always meant to be.

Steven Pressfield’s apotheosis happened at 52. That was when his first novel was published. For the 27 years before that: 21 jobs, 11 states, a stretch living out of his car, and a private war against a force he hadn’t yet named.

He named it eventually. Resistance. With a capital R. And it changed everything.

Resistance Is Not Trying to Stop You. It’s Trying to Kill You.

Steven’s definition of Resistance — from The War of Art, which Jon and Will both cited as one of the books that cracked something open for them — is precise: a faceless, formless, intelligent force whose sole purpose is to prevent you from doing the work you were born to do. It manifests as procrastination, self-doubt, rationalization, the urgent meeting that replaces the important one, the scroll that replaces the page.

What Steven clarifies that most people miss: Resistance doesn’t just want to stop you. It wants to finish you. Look at the people you grew up with, he says. Look at the casualties. The person with the calling who became an addict. The writer who became the entertainment lawyer. The man with the business idea who’s been meaning to start for 15 years. Those are not failures of talent. Those are victories for Resistance.

The Moment You Open Your Eyes

Someone once asked Steven: when in your day do you first experience Resistance? His answer: the moment I open my eyes. It doesn’t bother him when he’s asleep. But the second he’s awake and capable of doing something, Resistance is there.

This is why the morning matters. This is why habit matters. Don’t think. Get up. Twyla Tharp hailing a cab — the ritual of the cab is the ritual that defeats the day. Little successes first: brush your teeth. Put on your gym clothes. Set up at your desk. Stack them. Momentum.

The professional doesn’t ask, do I feel like doing this? You forget about your mood. You show up. You do your best. At the end of the day, the only question Steven asks himself is: did I show up? Did I work as hard as I could? If yes, go to sleep. Sleep soundly. Not: was it good? Not: can I use this? Just: did I show up?

Warrior Virtues and Artist Virtues Are the Same

Jon brought this up early — Steven served in the Marine Corps as a reservist infantryman before any of the writing happened. And the overlap between military discipline and creative discipline is not a metaphor for Steven. It’s structural. The virtues of a warrior: courage, love of the process, willingness to embrace adversity, not taking success or failure personally, love for your brothers and sisters. Those are the exact virtues of an artist.

Gates of Fire — Steven’s novel about the Spartans at Thermopylae — is now on the US Marine Corps commandant’s mandatory reading list and the Chief of Staff of the Army’s list as well. The man who wrote it was living out of his car at 35. That arc — from amateur to professional, from broke to canon — is exactly what The War of Art and Turning Pro describe in real time.

The Muse and the Cosmic Radio Station

Steven believes in the Muse. Not as a metaphor — as a real source of ideas that exist beyond the individual. The nine sisters of Greek mythology, daughters of Zeus and Memory, whose job is to inspire artists. The Beethoven image: a ghostly female figure whispering at his ear. What Steven is describing — tuning the cosmic radio station, effacing the ego, achieving the humility to receive — is the same thing Will calls flow, the same thing the Zen teachers call beginner’s mind, the same thing mindfulness practice is designed to cultivate.

Where do great ideas come from? Not from us. They come from somewhere else. Our job is to show up, stay open, and get out of our own way. That is going pro. That is the authentic swing. That is the whole thing.

The Arcadian — Steven’s new novel released today — is his most spiritually explicit book yet. He’s scared about the reception. He says if you’re not scared, that’s a bad sign.

Steven’s right. Fear means you’re out of your depth in exactly the right way.

Stay present,
Jon & Will

More about Steven Pressfield

Website: stevenpressfield.com
The Arcadian — Amazon and all booksellers
The War of Art, Turning Pro, Gates of Fire — available on Amazon

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