I read this book about a year after reading The War of Art, and I found it to be a wonderful refresher about Resistance. While this book is excellent, it does lack the depth of The War of Art. The War of Art explains the concept of Resistance in scandalous detail, while Do the Work does not. Instead, Do the Work is, according to Pressfield, "about getting off your behind and starting something." Therefore, I do not recommend it as a standalone. I don’t believe that the reader will get as much v...

I loved Pressfield's excellent follow-up to The War of Art because in it he precisely pegs the particular forms of Resistance I'm prone to as a writer. (Research as resistance, anyone?)If you enjoyed The War of Art I highly recommend moving on to Do the Work.

I really like Pressfield's motivational books, and for me they work as a good kick in the pants when I need one (i.e. frequently). At the same time, I'm not at all sure I actually buy into his basic premise (spoiler: this means I think it's a crock of shit)"We've been conditioned to imagine that the darkness that we see in the world and feel in our own hearts in only an illusion [but] There is an enemy. There is an intelligent, active, malign force working against us."However, while I think this...

There wasn't anything earth-shattering in this book. I've received bits and pieces of it from many different sources. With that said I was inspired reading it. The author's energy is contagious. There were several passages that really hit home, like Test Number One: How bad do you want it -- something I ask myself everyday. This quick read is like a can of Red Bull, it gave me wings. I highlighted many parts and will refer back to it in the future when I need a pick-me-up, especially when I cras...

Resistance is within you, but it's not you. Resistance is the dragon, and you are the knight.

Barely a book, mostly a poster with collection of slogans. I do not remember anything I read from it. SKIP

I was in the middle of a writing project.I needed to read this book. I needed the kick in the pants to keep going despite the doubt and fear. I needed the insight it gave about creating my plot. Recommended to anyone starting a big, scary project or just staring at a blank canvas.

This book read like I was sitting through a bad motivational speech complete with Powerpoint slides and spam-laced marketing buzzwords (the gigantic font words intended to drill the points into my brain). I have enjoyed other motivational books but this one didn't work for me. The concept was promising: motivate people to finish projects (books, movie scripts, etc), but the execution was off. Despite not drinking the Kool-aid I still adhered to the "just get it finished" message and am shipping

I really disliked this book. It's written from a very flawed (though perhaps redeemable) worldview containing obvious and repetitive ideas. (He also really needs to look up 'protean' in a thesaurus.) While I'd hoped to get a little boost from this and perhaps recommend it to friends, I'll be giving it a wide berth. It's a piece of corny writing that would better be summed up thus: JUST DO IT.In short, go do the work and don't waste an hour on this thing.

“This is what you deserve. You could be good today. But instead you choose tomorrow.”--Marcus AureliusI am not a rereader of books. I prefer to try the new as opposed to revisiting the old. But there are two books I reread every year, that are constantly with me, both in physical form and on my mind. The first is Marcus Aurelius's stoic masterpiece on how to live a life, "The Meditations." The best thing ever written in my opinion. The second is Steven Pressfield's "The War of Art," a brief mani...

Do the Work is one of those short, "Here's a helpful kick in the butt, so you won't feel you're all alone" kind of books. You can breeze through it in one sitting to know what it's about (as I did yesterday evening), and then keep it on your Kindle to go back to whenever you do need that kick instead of wallowing in any "Woe is me" waste of time. Lord knows we all need that kick sometimes.This particular kick focuses on giving the reader a how-to push through their own resistance and lack of con...

Steven Pressfield is the truth.

I think this should be required reading for any creative person who has found themselves wracked with self-doubt. Invaluable.

It called me on my shit, and for that : 3.5 stars. It was too short for a 4-star-rating.

NOTE: if you haven’t yet read Melville’s “Moby Dick”, this book has spoilers of its plot. The book uses that book’s plot as an example for a creative project’s progress.At first this book might seem to be not that great – so, the basic idea is just ‘do the work’ and now it has been spread over a slim book to fill the space enough? But reading it I found it to be more than that. The notes I made about the progress from start to middle (in two parts) to end confirm that there’s more to it than the...

Steven Pressfield's short book is a brief reminder that we need to work through the many things that stop us from being productive and creative and complete what we are doing. He frames adversity in such a way that I am able to have more courage as I press on as a writer and aspiring influencer.At the moment of this review it is free on Amazon's Kindle. I read it on my computer and iPhone.Read on Kindle in 2011. Listened to on Audible in 2011.Listened on Audible on August 13, 2012

I understand what he's going for and everything, but I completely and totally disagree with about 90% of his arguments and recommendations. I understand overstating a concept to make a point, and everything, but I had a deep, visceral reaction to the vast majority of his claims. Clearly, I am not the person this book was written for, and that's fine. To his credit, Pressfield does acknowledge that his methods are not for everyone, and if we want to vehemently disagree, more power to us, as long

This slight book (really an essay) is a swift kick in the butt. If you have a project, any project, and find yourself procrastinating, this little book is a wonderful guide to help you get going. It has wonderful nuggets like, "Start before you're ready." There is nothing totally new in this book, but I found the concise advice and tips very useful, and this quick read is akin to having a personal trainer help give you the push you need to get better at whatever it is that you are trying to do.

It's hard for me to figure out who would enjoy or at least benefit from this book. It's slight, with lots of typography size and position manipulation, the sort of thing your mother might pick up as an impulse on checkout from the greeting card store. You get all the requisite bulleted and numbered lists, mantras, and other supposedly short themes you're supposed to remember in daily life. But to what end? The general theme is that it's more productive just to get started on a project than to re...