The Pain Zone
John Naber won four swimming gold medals at the ’76 Olympic Games in Montreal, each in world-record time. He said something in an interview once that sticks with me to this day.
John Naber, deep in the Pain Zone
A reporter asked Naber, “What’s the difference between a good swimmer and a great swimmer?”
Here’s how Naber answered (I’m paraphrasing from memory):
The thing about competitive swimming is that the instant you hit the water, you enter the Pain Zone. Your heart is hammering, your lungs are on fire, your muscles are straining to their maximum. It’s hell.
The difference between a good swimmer and a great swimmer is that the great swimmer has the capacity to go a little bit deeper into the Pain Zone … and to stay there a little bit longer.
I’m just now finishing a novel—filling the blank pages on the climactic chapters—and I am deep into the Pain Zone. Resistance is kicking my ass. I think of John Naber every day.
Gloria Steinem once said
I don’t like to write. I like to have written.
It helps me a lot to remind myself first that there is a Pain Zone, and second, that it’s universal. Every one of us hits that wall. Every one feels our lungs burning, our heart about to explode out of our chest. Every one of us wants to quit. Every one wants to back off, just a little, so this damn struggle will stop hurting so much.
I keep thinking back to John Naber.
The difference between a good swimmer and a great swimmer is that the great swimmer finds a way to go a little bit deeper into the Pain Zone … and to stay there a little bit longer.
DO THE WORK
Steve shows you the predictable Resistance points that every writer hits in a work-in-progress and then shows you how to deal with each one of these sticking points. This book shows you how to keep going with your work.
THE AUTHENTIC SWING
A short book about the writing of a first novel: for Steve, The Legend of Bagger Vance. Having failed with three earlier attempts at novels, here's how Steve finally succeeded.
NOBODY WANTS TO READ YOUR SH*T
Steve shares his "lessons learned" from the trenches of the five different writing careers—advertising, screenwriting, fiction, nonfiction, and self-help. This is tradecraft. An MFA in Writing in 197 pages.
TURNING PRO
Amateurs have amateur habits. Pros have pro habits. When we turn pro, we give up the comfortable life but we find our power. Steve answers the question, "How do we overcome Resistance?"
When I’m doing fashion photography, there’s a Pain Zone too. It’s behind the camera, in planning, in post processing, and in product production.
“The public does not realize, perhaps, the amount of work that goes into one painting before I begin to set it down on canvas. In my last picture, I spent two months–fourteen hours a day, including Sundays–sketching, making notes, rejecting ideas.” Grant Wood
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I, too, am revising the final 30 pp of my novel, and I feel like someone is squeezing my lungs. Thank you for this post, Steven. Knowing the Pain Zone is there and that the Resistance is real makes all the difference for me.
“I’m just now finishing… Resistance is kicking…”
You’re always encouraging people here in this space. To reciprocate… In a documentary we can find on Amazon Prime, Damian Lewis narrates. In the film’s opening, he says of Major Dick Winters (“Band of Brothers”):
“During decisive moments in battle, Richard D. Winters would often say two simple words to the men of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division.
“Hang tough.”
Thank you for this post. I’m a wannabe author and I spend a lot of time telling myself that I don’t have what it takes – the imagination, the fire, the people-savvy. This post tells me that maybe I have what everyone has – Resistance.
Rachel, read The Art of war and then Turning Pro. In that order. If you don’t get it after those 2 books, well …….They are a life changer.
I so identify with this both figuratively and litererally. But there is good pain that comes from kicking some ass…and bad pain that comes from the body/mind kicking your ass. How can I transform the latter into the former? My chronic scoliosis back pain that is limiting my life into some kind of gold medal win? I know, I know, get my rage onto the page. I am trying, I am angry, it is frothing out of my pen, the injustice of this kind of ailment that makes it hard for me to sit at the desk, physically, and write. But it is just another form of Resistence, right? And I am gonna beat it.
I am completing a book of stories and I feel like there are walls all around me as close as my skin.
I can’t seem to move forward now.
In our event, participants scale and descend 1628 steps in a stadium built in 1906. WAY before OSHA. These are not your present day steps of 5 inch rise and one meter run…these are steep and high. Everyone is a mouth breather. It sucks. A lot. It hurts. A lot. “We are exercising our ‘I don’t quit muscle’ on the stairs” I’d say to my Soldiers years ago. We have to exercise that muscle every day.
There is great freedom in knowing we are entering pain of our own free will.
bsn
Dipped my toe into the water. Not near reaching “the pain zone. ” Planning for writing my next project comes to shuffling papers and thoughts. I hope my efforts will find me that “…zone.” Then – at least – I will know that I’ve given my best. Thanks for your time while you work on your next published novel.
Mental ways through the Pain Zone? Your personal endurance strategies? 😉
Ha… what a wonderful gift. This message came at the right time. I have been thinking of starting a writing practice (again). I have been contemplating about the inevitable time of unease that will show up during my writing and voiding writing to void that time. But you shared wise words and I will take these and march on.
Thank you for this wonderful post.
Writing was not the hard part for me. Sitting down to write was. But the feeling of accomplishment in having finished my book supersedes all the pain of persevering.
The same thing for me.
This Pain Zone you have written about has me thinking about how I have difficulty getting into deeper emotions about my brain injury accident. I’ve been trying to write a memoir of my survival and recovering journey. Too often what I write sounds like s report of how I felt or of what happened to me. I believe I’m not consciously Resisting. digging deeper. I simply don’t know how without another voice to trigger my memory and emotions.. So Resistance is present against writing more without expressing emotions. The pain zone I need to get into may be hell but I believe it would be worth the emotional opening for my healing, and for making my memoir a book another survivor or their loved ones would want to read. I would appreciate some feed-back on what I’ve written.
Hang in there Steve, you’re a warrior! You’re doing fantastic!!
Pain’s a tricky motivator, right? With a high threshold for pain we can stay in the ring longer to win; or, that same tolerance can keep us from getting out of the gutter sooner when we’re losing.
Our relationship with pain really can determine both trajectory and destiny. Really good insights and food for thought, Steve. Thanks.
This absolutely makes sense! I am currently in the same zone and havent found the courage yet to dig deeper. Reading this might actually be the trigger point! thank you.
For anyone who wants to explore the idea of pain and performance further, Alex Hutchinson wrote a book called Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance. It was recently featured in the Next Big Idea Club curated by Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Adam Grant, and Daniel Pink.
This is a paradigm shift . A contrast to what we hear about passion “if you do what you love …….”
Thanks Steven.
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Great post from the Guru. Personally I find that the Pain Zone is emotional rather than technical or exhausting. Of course it is those also, but mainly it’s an overwhelm of despair which I have to be careful not to allow to migrate into distress, which is paralysing. Right now I’m a little overwhelmed with trying to find a house to purchase, amongst juggling work, and care of an elderly parent, and there’s very little time for looking after myself, let alone writing, I”m ashamed to admit. It’s controlling ones emotions. I like to remind myself of Gates of Fire, the idea of the Spartans refusing to succumb to what they called ‘possession’. And surely that’s what despair is, a powerful and complex feeling that is a liar, that has the character of almost a living personality in how it possesses you.
P
Keep going Peter. There is another side to the circumstances bogging you down. Keep moving and you’ll see resolution.
“Swing for the seats!”
Musicians get a huge kick out of hearing their fans sing their songs back to them….
I like this. A Pain Zone that is not only universal, but inevitable in the world of creating something new. Like an Olympic athlete, how can we train our minds to push through the pain? Digging deeper hurts. The lies deep inside my wound won’t heal properly unless I get out all the infection though. I want to stay a little longer in that zone without the need to self-destruct. I visualize the day I am not a self-saboteur. Lovely things to ponder this week…
I like this.
No technical jargon or terminologies.
Yet the words are coined into your memory or subconsciousness.
I instantly translated it to share in my WhatsApp group, a study group largely focusing on Steve’s principles.
I understand swim coaches sometimes set up an empty trash can on the pool deck before a practice. It’s for the swimmers who exercise so intensely that they have to vomit. Fitness guru Pavel Tsatsouline’s highest praise for an exercise is, “It’s a puker.”
Adam,
In the early days of CrossFit, they used to sell a t-shirt ‘Mr Pukey’. I’ve hurled doing a CrossFit WOD.
I worked as the Officer Recruiter for a bit in my Army career. In that effort, I’d work with our Officer Candidate School (OCS). We had a large number of candidates fail the PT test one morning–mostly the 2 mile run.
My answer was, “If you failed the run, and didn’t hurl when finishing–then you didn’t run hard enough.” I’d then smoke the f-bomb out of them…until a couple of dudes puked. Thus ended the lesson…
bsn
Steven you are the greatest encourager and I love and appreciate your emails.
“It’s not who’s the best – it’s who can take the most pain.” Steve Prefontaine
I also recall reading something about him said by a coach for those who competed with him, to the effect: “He will take you into the pain zone where not many are willing (or able) to go.”
I watched a documentary on Bruce Jenner who trained 10 hours a day to win the Gold metal,
He said very simply,” I am not afraid of pain”. I was shocked when he said that. He was focused
on only on thing, winning the god metal and he knew he could do it if he trained harder than anyone else.
I meant gold metal
Damn autocorrect!
bsn
Pain is not your enemy, it is your call to greatness.
I hate to be that one guy that quotes Rollins, but it’s true, and it hurts so good.
Go read “The Iron” and then go get some.
That quote is from Dorothy Parker, not Gloria Steinem
Trying to leave a comment …
Thank you for this. I’m running into resistance that borders on the supernatural. This is exactly what I needed to read to make it across the finish line. Thank you!
I love to read this blog first thing Wednesday mornings. Part of my healthier routine. I looked this AM to see 20 comments at 0630 PST. Damn! This must be a hot post! Wait a minute…did someone post as me?!?! Oh…retread.
Read the post, then went to the Y to have a Pickleball deathmatch. (those two words do not really fit together, and my 25 year old self would totally roll his eyes! PICKLEBALL!?! REALLY!?!?! Does that require a skirt?)
Ever since our disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, I’ve been on a current events bender. Listening to podcasts that are critical of the admin, independent news outlets…all of it just feeds my discontent. So, I decided to go back to a water fast of current events. I opted to listen to a podcast I’ve never listened to–Baron Bishop’s Word on Fire sermons.
How’s this for serendipity of messages: His sermon was about praying to God and asking for power and honor..but asking from selfish/ego perspective. He mentions how John and James asked Jesus that they wanted to be on his right and his left when he came to power. Bishop Baron responds (it is a much longer podcast and explanation than my summary–but this is his point) that when Christ came to his honor and power–he was on a cross with a crown of thorns. Who was to his left and right? A couple of thugs, suffering the same pain. Made me think.
bsn
As a small child, I grew up in a German refugee camp. The horrors included sexual abuse, losing my mother,constant malnutrition and the overwhelming fear the Russians would find us and send us back for extermination. When we moved to America, the monsters followed. But I faced them by choosing never to return, rarely sharing my past. Now I am writing a novel utilizing that past. It is a story I HAVE to tell, a tale that hopefully others may follow. But the resistance awakes breathing heavily inside me every day. Dealing with it is the only way greater truths may follow.
You’re incredibly brave for sharing your story! I guarantee it will give courage to others reading it.
Echoing Kate. Get after it. We need it.
bsn
“No Pain, No Gain.”
Jimmy Connors
I finished my debut novel a year ago and it was a struggle to the end. But I made it just by repeating…”This is good, this is good, this is good…” and you talk yourself into it and believe it to continue. It takes persuasion and patience.
I’m certain that Naber would have read the book The Science of Swimming by coaching great Doc Councilman. He described the Hurt-Pain-Agony continuum. Mediocre swimmers (like I was) rarely moved beyond hurt into pain and did not stay long when they did. Great swimmers endured agony for hours each day.
Someone suggested to me recently the line “This is the part where…” — to use when challenging situations come up. “This is the part where I enter the Pain Zone & I think it’ll last forever … but it’s just a sign that … etcetera.” I find it a great way to gain perspective on those particularly challenging stages when the brain says Quit.
El dolor es inevitable, tratar de evitar el dolor causa mas dolor.
Thank you dear Steve, thank you all,
there is only one way and that is the way of pain.
Yes, Tolis.
No pain, no gain.
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The public may not be aware of the work involved in a painting before it is put on canvas. My last picture was taken over two months and fourteen hours, with Sundays off. I took notes, rejected ideas, and sketched the image.
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Thanks. I added that one to my inspiration file.
I understand that swim coaches sometimes set up an empty trash can on the pool deck before a workout. It is for swimmers who exercise so intensely that they have to vomit. Fitness expert Pavel Tsasulin praised the workout, “It’s disgusting.”
I feel like someone is squeezing my lungs. Thank you for this post, Steven. Knowing the Pain Zone is there and that the Resistance is real makes all the difference for me.
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The lies deep inside my wound won’t heal properly unless I get out all the infection though. I want to stay a little longer in that zone without the need to self-destruct. I visualize the day I am not a self-saboteur. Lovely things to ponder this week…
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I’m certain that would have read the book The Science of Swimming by coaching great Doc Councilman. He described the Hurt-Pain-Agony continuum. Mediocre swimmersMerle Goldendoodle (like I was) rarely moved beyond hurt into pain and did not stay long when they did. Great swimmers endured agony for hours each day.
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The lies deep inside my wound won’t heal properly unless I get out all the infection though. I want to stay a little longer in that zone without the need to self-destruct. I visualize the day I am not a self-saboteur. Lovely things to ponder this week…Trouser Cutting
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It took me a year to finish my first book, and it wasn’t easy. But I succeeded by just repeating…This is excellent, this is excellent, this is excellent. and you convince yourself it will continue by talking yourself into it. Persuasion and persistence are required.
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The lies deep inside my wound won’t heal properly unless I get out all the infection though. I want to stay a little longer in that zone without the need to self-destruct. I visualize the day I am not a self-saboteur. Lovely things to ponder this week…holiday apartments
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The post uses excellent examples to make complex concepts understandable, showing the writer’s strong knowledge of the subject.
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