Ep 114: Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Is with Steven Pressfield
Click here for full transcript.
Ep 114: Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Is with Steven Pressfield
Episode 114: Show Notes
Today’s guest came into my life through his book, The War of Art, which is all about overcoming resistance. Steven Pressfield has since become a friend and mentor, having visited the Podcast once before to speak about his novel, A Man at Arms.
Join us today to hear where Steven first encountered the idea of the Muse, drawing on Greek mythology alongside his own experience. Steven believes that there is an underground river of creativity running through all of us and that Resistance blocks its flow.
We talk about overcoming Resistance as a path toward our destiny, and Steven shares his story of turning to write in a moment of despair. We talk about his latest book, Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be, what motivated him to choose that title, and explore the process of self-publishing.
You’ll hear about our guest’s relationship with envy, why he describes himself as learning alongside his readers, and more. Thanks for tuning in.
Key Points From This Episode:
An introduction to today’s returning guest, Steven Pressfield.
What we talked about in Episode 42 (when we talked to Steven for the first time).
The process of putting as much effort into marketing as writing.
What Steven refers to when he talks about muses, drawing on Greek mythology.
The underground river that runs through all of us as a source of creativity.
Where Steven first encountered the idea of a Muse through a mentor’s recommendation.
What the voice of Resistance looks like in our lives and how it blocks us from creativity.
Overcoming Resistance as a path towards our destiny.
The experience Steven had turning to writing in a moment of despair.
Where the title ‘Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be’ came from.
How the story of Alexander the Great illustrates how fortune favors the bold.
Another example of putting your ass where your heart wants to be.
Why you can be a full-time artist in an hour a day: the Muse doesn’t care about time.
Why, if you are truly committed, you can act from wherever you are.
The skill of self-reinforcement and why it is so important.
How having too many areas of interest can paralyze you.
The form of resistance that comes from having far too many avenues of interest.
Why Steven feels he is learning alongside his readers.
His relationship to envy and why he doesn’t feel that he has a choice but to write.
What Light learned through reading Journey of Souls by Michael Newton.
Why Steven believes in not talking about what he is working on before it is finished.
Why Steven recommends self-publishing.
Where to find Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be.
Tweetables:
“Writing the book is maybe 55% of the endeavor that you have to do. And then the other 45% is marketing.” — @SPressfield [0:06:57]
“Where's it coming from? We know it's not coming from us. It's coming from another level of reality. That's the Muse to me. If somebody were to ask me, what's my vocation? What's my job? What do I do? I would say, I'm a servant of the Muse.” — @SPressfield [0:11:48]
“Put your physical body in the place where your dreams can come true. That’s step one, and there’s tremendous power in that.” — @SPressfield [0:28:47]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Steven Pressfield on Instagram
Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be
Dan Sullivan