“Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experience it as an energy field radiating from a work in potential. It’s a repelling force. It’s negative. Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.”~Steven Pressfield, The War of Art.

Welcome to my life for the last two weeks.

Excuses. I’ve been full of fucking excuses every day. I woke up every morning for the last two weeks with the intention of setting the world on fire.

Damn it, I was going to write some of my best content ever last Monday. And on Tuesday I was going to finish my 3 overdue guest posts. Wednesday I was all set to put the finishing touches on my (now grossly overdue) eBook. Thursday I was going to write a whole new email auto responder series. And Friday..that was the day I was going to write the rest of the copy for my coaching program.

But those things didn’t quite happen.

Why? I can’t seem to sit my ass down, focus on writing, and just write.

“There’s a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don’t, and the secret is this: It’s not the writing part that’s hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write. What keeps us from sitting down is Resistance.”

It would be much easier to let you believe that things are going great. That I’m writing every day, applying for freelance jobs, and building my business.

But my aim is not to mislead. I am struggling with writing, period. And when I do sit down to write, it takes all my willpower not to get up and do something else. Even writing this post has been difficult.

I think it’s a combination of 3 things:

  1. Shitty time management. The honest truth is that I have been conditioned since age 15 to be an employee. Reporting to a job Monday through Friday is all I’ve ever known and it’s damn hard to adjust to having complete control over my schedule. Yes, it would be safe to say that I’ve been institutionalized.
  2. Being overwhelmed. I have so many pressing things on my to-do list that it’s paralyzing me. Inaction has been a problem for me for a long time and although I am getting things done, it’s just not enough.
  3. I’m afraid of the unknown. It’s like I’m scared to unleash my inner power and show the world what I’m made of. It’s partly my fear of success coupled with not knowing what the future will bring.

“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.”

Excuses Are Shit

bullshit_button

Now I could go on about how I was too preoccupied with my divorce testimony or how my mother flew into town to see my daughters after 3 years away, but these are simply excuses.

I could also tell you that I have too many things on my plate, am busy with my personal training business, or am freaking the fuck out about how I’m going to pay my bills next month. But these too, are just excuses.

It just comes down to doing the work.

I have the time. I have the place. I have the why. I have the ability.

I just need to write.

I actually feel like a slack ass because except for my personal training clients, I have my days wide open. I should be knocking out a metric ton of content each week, but I’m not.

And to add insult to injury, I recently heard an interview with Gary V where he was asked how many hours he puts in these days. His answer?

All of them.

Why aren’t I doing that?!?

Fucking Resistance..

rope

Call it whatever you want. Writer’s block, procrastination, laziness, avoidance. I call it Resistance.

And I’ve found only one solution to getting over this. It’s not going to the gym for 2 hours, it’s not sending out Tweets, and it’s not reading Pat Flynn’s latest post (89k last month-holy shit!). It’s just forcing myself to sit my ass down to write.

A writer writes. And I’m a writer.

“Our job in this life 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.”

I went days without typing a single word and I’m trying to make a living as a writer. I just didn’t “feel” like doing it. That’s all. I wasn’t inspired to write so I didn’t. I let “it” win.

Reading my own writing here makes this seem even more crazy because I have so many goals and aspirations for my online business. Not writing because I’m not feeling it? Sounds ridiculous. But I’ll tell you the Resistance creeps in and takes over your fucking mind and shuts down all progress. Seriously.

I’m sure many of you have experienced a similar situation where you knew you had to do something and just didn’t. You put it off by telling yourself you’ll do it later. And later turns into 3 days, then 6 days, then 2 weeks.  Now you’re so far behind that the mere thought of getting it all done is debilitating. The result..you do nothing.

The Lesson

I don’t share this post with you to beat myself up. Its only purpose is to share a struggle, which I fear is extremely prevalent in the freelance/online entrepreneur world.

I hope you can learn what not to do if/when you have the chance to branch out on your own. I have no doubt that most if not all people in my situation face similar issues and I believe it’s part of a process that ultimately will lead to personal growth.

It’s a blessing and I feel extremely lucky to have the chance to work from home, do what I love, and get paid for it. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for me.

This quote says it all…

“We fear discovering that we are more than we think we are. More than our parents/children/teachers think we are. We fear that we actually possess the talent that our still, small voice tells us. That we actually have the guts, the perseverance, the capacity. We fear that we truly can steer our ship, plant our flag, reach our Promised Land. We fear this because, if it’s true, then we become estranged from all we know.”

Now I want to hear from you. How do you handle Resistance?

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