Project resistance | Seth’s Blog

In Steven Pressfield’s classic The War of Art, he introduces the idea of Resistance. It’s the internal force that keeps us from doing our most important creative work.

If an instinct, a habit or a feeling gets in the way of the work, it’s Pressfield’s Resistance. Things we would never choose to add to the flow of our days, but there they are.

It’s easy to imagine that Resistance is for screenwriters or novelists. Writer’s block and procrastination. But anyone leading a project of any kind–a business, a non-profit, a campaign–confronts it as well.

We could do something, we might do something, but we don’t. And so the work doesn’t ship, or it doesn’t meet its potential.

I’m not alone in facing Resistance. It happens everywhere we look.

Some of the symptoms of Resistance seem contradictory, but if we go back to the definition, that makes sense. Here are a few:

• Procrastinating
• Ignoring or avoiding the useful metrics
• Focusing on vivid but non-useful metrics
• Not shipping the project
• Shipping junk
• Asserting that it’s not Resistance
• Being too busy to get to the hard part
• Aiming too high
• Aiming too low
• Refusing to set a budget or deadlines
• The tension of “this might not work” ends up feeling like stress instead
• Not actively managing the project, letting the project manage us instead
• Embracing sunk costs
• Not asking useful questions
• Refusing to find and use leverage or tools, focusing on the known fussy tasks instead
• Blaming the system for our obstacles
• Ignoring the system and acting as if we’re the first ones here
• Being obsessed with new technology and opportunities, waiting for the next big thing
• Refusing to learn about new tech or opportunities
• Reacting instead of responding, responding instead of leading
• Focusing on the urgent instead of the important
• Obsessively documenting everything
• Ennui
• Irrational exuberance
• Failing to delegate appropriate tasks
• Taking too much credit
• Ignoring useful feedback
• Being reckless and assuming a net will appear
• Looking for the shortcuts even when we know the long way is the only way
• Sloppily leaving out details
• Asking too many questions before making assertions
• Our actual calendar of time spent doesn’t match the agenda for the work to be done
• Making big promises we can’t keep
• Refusing to make useful promises for fear of not keeping them
• Taking it personally
• Keeping our fears to ourselves
• Using deadlines as fuel
• Spending too much time focusing on our fear
• Insisting on authenticity instead of consistency
• Showing up late
• Going over budget
• Becoming a perfectionist

It’s tempting to imagine that Resistance is a moral failing, but it’s more like stubbing your toe or burning the toast. We don’t have to blame ourselves for where we are, but if we can see it and name it, we can learn to dance with it.

These behaviors may seem as though they happen to us, but ultimately, they’re a choice. A skill we can learn, a habit we can unlearn. We can be kind to ourselves, focus on the goal and get back to the project.

There are two confusions and one fear:

The first confusion is that we might not realize that these are choices.

The second confusion is that we might not have learned better tactics, tools and choices, but we can.

And the fear? It’s of change. The change of it might not work, or the chance that it will.

When Resistance arises, and it always does, we can see it, name it, and gently move on.

November 7, 2023