[AKN #47] How I fight off Resistance, four types of people who share opinions online, SF entrepreneurship
another krappy newsletter #47
Sup homies?
Greetings from San Francisco!
Growing up in New York, I imagined that California weather was nice ALWAYS. This is generally true, but SF bucks that trend and actually has terrible weather.
Most notably, it is historically hella cold during the summer. Which is why every SF resident says that lame ass Mark Twain quote all the time: “The coldest winter I ever had was a summer in San Francisco.”
But every now and again, you get a heat wave in the summer and SF becomes one of the nicest places to live in the country. This was one of those weekends.
Here is a picture of the nice weather from the Giants baseball game I went to on Saturday.
Loved the nice weather over the weekend, but it made it difficult to sit down and write. Who wants to spend time indoors when it is so nice out?
Or at least that’s what I tell myself. In actuality, the reasons for not writing end up being much more psychologically complicated than that…
On to the newsletter!
LIVE: How I fight off Resistance
I am in a writing rut.
I don’t want to write.
I don’t want to send the newsletter.
I just want to do nothing.
It is odd because I like writing. But I am suddenly wiped clean of all the motivation to do it.
Ends up that this feeling is common amongst creative people.
So common that it has a name: Resistance.
What Resistance looks like
In the “War of Art”, Steven Pressfield gave the following (paraphrased) definition for this feeling:
Resistance is a universal force that has one sole mission: to keep things as they are.
It is the force that will stop an individual's creative activity through any means necessary, whether it be rationalizing, inspiring fear and anxiety, emphasizing other distractions that require attention, raising the voice of an inner critic, and much more.
It will use any tool to stop creation flowing from an individual, no matter what field the creation is in.
Not going to the gym? Not starting that business you always wanted to start? Not auditioning for your dream role on Cats the Musical? That is you losing the battle to Resistance.
This is exactly what is happening right now for my writing.
Resistance was turned on hyper drive over the last two weeks as my brain:
Over emphasized the importance of work. Found myself sending Slack messages that could wait until the next day so I can tell myself that I am too busy to write.
Guilt tripped me for spending time writing and not doing other “important” work. Mid writing session I hear myself saying “This isn’t important! Get back to engineering!”
Demanded I consume more content on Twitter. Some people call this the addictive nature of social media and our devices, but I find it is more related to when I am trying to avoid working on something.
Raised the voice of my inner critic. I had a difficult time keeping Ted in check. His brutal editorializing before I ever get something on the page has me avoiding sitting down and writing.
I don’t understand Resistance. But I know it exists and it is not going anywhere.
Thus, the only way forward is to have a process that I can follow to overcome it.
Developing and executing these processes is part of what Pressfield calls “turning pro.”
What is Turning Pro
Turning professional means you stop treating your creative endeavors like fun side projects that you claim to not be emotionally invested in.
You start taking it seriously.
You show up every day.
You give it everything you have.
You [INSERT ADDITIONAL CLICHE ABOUT HOW YOU HAVE TO PUT IN THE WORK].
But tangibly, turning pro means executing a series of habits regularly to temper Resistance and continue producing work.
Turning Pro for Writing
When I feel the Resistance with my writing, I know that I need to lean into the following habits:
Wake up an hour early to get creative work accomplished. It is the only time I can guarantee to myself.
Morning pages to help silence my inner critic.
Publish my work on a weekly cadence.
Shut down consumption of other content while I am writing.
Meditate to ease my critical voice.
Hire a coach to hold me accountable for creative deliverables.
All of these are simple habits that I have found to overcome the inertia of writing nothing. Showing up to perform these habits week over week is incredibly difficult. But without them, I get consumed by entropy and Resistance wins.
LAUGH: Everyone on the Internet in tabloid talk show form
These four photos do an excellent job of capturing everyone on the Internet who has an opinion. I like to think of myself as an Andre King, but in actuality, I am probably closer to a Lana Moonblood :(
LOVE: High margin, low risk business opportunity
Speaking of San Francisco, we need to talk about the budding entrepreneurial scene taking shape here.
No. I am not talking about software, I am talking about the resale market.
You see, typically it costs money to acquire goods before reselling them, however thanks to a new loophole introduced by the SF District Attorney, it is now completely free to acquire certain goods from Walgreens.
Here is a video of someone taking advantage of this unique loophole:
I bet you are wondering what does one do with a backpack full of deodorant and contact solution? How could you turn that into actual cash?
Well. Just resell it on the street at a discount of course!
Gotta love the entrepreneurial spirit of the community!
Closing time
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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are strictly my own. Who else’s would they be?
K. Rapp