The Muse, The Resistance & The Secret Garden

▼Are You an Amateur or a Professional?▼

IT'S THE ATTITUDE YOU BRING THAT MATTERS. NOT YOUR JOB TITLE.

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This unintended addition to The Art, Joy & Power of “Doing You” and The Lizard Brain serendipitously 'arrived' during my trip to a Japanese factory in Shenzhen. With help from

the above conversation featuring Steven Pressfield, it explains “There's no resistance if

I don't allow it to defeat me”, a line from my previous blog. What holds us back in fact

is The Resistance. The Resistance, said Godin in The Lizard Brain, “is the voice in the

back of our head telling us to back off, be careful, go slow, compromise”, cut corners,

dart from here to there, entertaining all manner of distraction & doing everything but

meaningful work to which we've been entrusted. The Muse, meanwhile, Pressfield

says, is this indefatigable, malignant tough task goddess that rewards good motives,

focus, commitment to duration as in endurance, creative persistence & above all,

focus. And like all Olympian gods, The Muse absolutely detests pride. Pride of the
the sort that kills curiosity, creativity, progress, projects & receptivity to good
ideas. Cockiness of the sort that is rife on Social Media today. They hate says
Pressfield, arrogance, narcissism, superficiality & shallowness. In a world full
noise & Resistance, the professional understands “we must do our work
for its own sake, not for fortune or applause. The amateur believes he
must first overcome his fear, then he can do his work. The professional
knows fear can never be overcome. He knows there’s no such thing as
a fearless warrior or dread-free artist. He knows once he gets...into
the action, fear will recede & he’ll be okay.” The torture is from
the artist's futile attempt at Resistance & pushing through to the
finish line/product launch. “The amateur plays part-time, the
professional full-time” and if you ever wondered why many
appear with a bang on Social Media (whatever the activity
of choice) only to fizzle suddenly or over time there goes
your answer. Understanding, respecting and finessing the
Secret Garden, that's the long game: a hunger, passion
and a love game. The professional hustles, grinds and
is at/on it daily. No easy day or cutting corners. The
amateur meanwhile is a loud weekend warrior as
often seen online. Just like the undereducated,
belligerent, unemployed & often brainwashed
protesters torching U.S. flags & embassies in
religion's name. Online, negative idleness.
“There is a solution. It's called VISION. If
people don't have VISION, go hang out
with the people with VISION”, said
Will.I.Am during his historic NASA
Reach for the Stars song debut
interview. “Funk dem DIVISION
people”. All the ignorance &
bleak dusty, garbage-laden
Longhua factory road ex-
perience I endured as I
listened on my iPad in
a scorching summer
heat to Pressfield
and construction