Boy am I grateful I came across this book.

It's called The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. In retrospect, I will cede that the cleverness of this title played a not insignificant role in my discovering and ingesting it.

And boy does it offer so much more than that.

The jist, in fact, is quite the opposite of cleverness. It is developing a discipline of steel to become a "professional," working every single day as an artist, thereby recruiting untold unseen forces to your cause.

It's flitfully brief and not for everyone, but if you're one of the people with whom it resonates - boy, does it pack a punch.

For the open-minded, there are many crucial concepts to digest from this book. He really has stumbled onto something with his taxonomy of “Resistance” – the force every bit as natural as the movement of the stars and tectonic plates, a cold and objective entity acting on every person's innate desire to retain the status quo, to tamp down our dreams and goals (i.e., the things that scare us) and to play it safe, even to self-sabotage or destroy.

Different personalities will have different responses, but his view has helped me greatly in my desire to build strong habits toward growth, to recapture some of the spark I had in my youth but which I have felt abating, though not evaporating, more lately in life.

True scientists (my wife Ashley, for instance) will scoff at his supposed reinforcement for his thesis that there are angels always whispering in the ears of those who would humble and still themselves enough to just listen. Yet for a humanities mind like mine, his message strikes a chord and proves not only compelling but anecdotally true. I have taken his advice, and it has done me wonders in my short time. (I only began listening to the audiobook less than 2 weeks ago).

However, what's indisputable is that this book has already improved my discipline and will. Has sharpened my focus and effectiveness at work and at home. Just yesterday I scored 40 points in my rec league basketball game. It had been a long while since I hit half that mark. Now, there are plenty of other variables, some of which are important and certainly causal. Plus, that is just the type of mythology I’d always scoff at in supposed personal transformations – “oh, they’re just trying to sell me something,” the skeptical watchdog in my head would say, jumping in dutifully to preserve my ego.

Hell, I wouldn’t have believed it had I not witnessed the act flow through my own body and hands. The proof was there – I just needed to loosen my grasp to start to see all the things around me conspiring in my favor.

I'm glad I'm taking that approach now.

There may be more to come in the War of Art. Until then, I will continue listening to it ravenously during my commutes, and implementing it into my daily life.