It has been a gap of an year between this post and my last. The philosopher went on a learning journey of a lifetime and the gentleman got caught up in the web of life. I have no other way to explain it.

Last year while I was looking for opportunities to learn and grow, life presented me with a chance of a lifetime. It came in the form of a webinar from the prestigious IIM Ahmedabad. I attended the webinar on impulse and after that my focus was set. I went through GMAT and the different stages of application, and then was selected to participate in the PGPX program (one year MBA). It has been a journey of a lifetime. While attending the induction talks, one expression I heard was a constant – IIMA is buffet and you choose how much you want to take from it. I wanted to take as much as I can, and hence the first two terms of the program went on a 24/7 schedule. Sleep and Food was largely optional.

Now that the two terms are over and I know how to manage almost anything that comes my way, I am back to my favourite nook on the Internet. This impetus to get back to this blog is also from a little book that I read recently – The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. I did not read it by chance, I was looking for some motivation to get back to my writing. This book is more like a kick that gets you started and then keeps you moving along.

Pressfield is an author of many books across genres, and this little book is his secret on how to go about it. Almost everyone of us has this special affinity for an activity. The surest way to identify this activity is to ask the question – if I did not need to worry about money, what will I do. The “activity” will be there somewhere on the top of the list.

But, we don’t do it. Or, we don’t do it as often as we should. Look at me, a year without writing any post for this blog. (I won’t call it without writing, because they make you write pages upon pages in IIMA). Pressfield has labelled the forces stopping you from that activity as Resistance. The first part of the book is dedicated to resistance, how it is pervasive and how do you recognize it. If you have ever struggled with a creative project of any kind, this section will be a kick in the gut. Almost all the excuses that you’ve used are mentioned in this section – from not enough time today to someone falling sick in family or you not feeling well. While reading this section I realized that how easy decision making feels when you give in to resistance and how that keeps making you miserable. I have been thinking about writing for this blog for almost an year now. First it was, let’s do the GMAT first. Then applications and interviews and then studying for the course. I always had a genuine and justifiable reason for not to write. Resistance always makes it sound rational.

The thing is, no one had asked me to write in the first place. It was something that I felt I should do and it gave me fulfilment. The reasons for postponing are provided by the resistance. It never says don’t do it, only don’t do it “now”. It does not want you fulfilled. I’m not making this up, Pressfield has really made resistance in a living adversary with its own motivations. After reading the first section, you will know how to recognize it.

The second section of the book tells you how to defeat the resistance. It uses a simple yet profound approach. Do you feel like going to work everyday? Even if you don’t, do you go to work everyday? The answer for most of us is “yes, we do turn up for work everyday.” That is the only way to defeat resistance according to Pressfield and he calls it Turning Pro. The Pro will turn up everyday no matter what. And the excuses the resistance has cooked up get ignored. The journey of “I should” to “I must”. I thought of it this way – what if my job was to write for this blog and there was a boss expecting me to finish things according to deadlines. Would I have gone an year without a single post? Sounds impossible, isn’t it? That is the Pro attitude. You hire yourself to do the creative project you want to do and then demand performance. Resistance will still show up, but you will start ignoring it.

The final section of the book is rather mystical. Pressfield says that once you have turned pro as a creative producer and have started to turn up and work in the earnest, the forces from higher plane of existence come to your help. Every artist knows that their best works get done on their own, it’s the muse that creates those pieces of art through the artists. I loved the thought, but this is something that I have not tested or experienced yet – so it stays mystical for the time-being.

I recommend this book to anyone who has a creative project in his/her mind and has been putting that off for ages. This book is your key to defeat the resistance.

Now, that I have recognized my resistance – dear reader, you should expect a regular stream of posts going forward. I am still on my learning journey in IIMA and the new term promises a lot of reading across a variety of topics. I will keep posting my key learnings here. May we keep inspiring each other.