3 Brains, Part Two

A couple of weeks ago, we did a post entitled “The 3 Brains of an Artist.” Here’s how we described Brain #2:
The second brain is our anti-Resistance brain. That’s the part of our psyche that has learned how to handle our emotions while we’re using the first brain, i.e. the pure artistic brain.
The anti-Resistance brain fights off distraction, overcomes procrastination, continues to work despite self-doubt, fear, laziness, superficiality. It’s our Pro vs Amateur brain. It keeps us moving forward against all odds and adversity.
The War of Art was written for Brain #2. That’s its target. That’s its subject.

The Writing Retreat video course I’ve been talking about here and on Instagram is also aimed at Brain #2. It’s not a “writing course” in the sense of addressing theme and structure, plot and characterization.
It’s entirely about the mindset that lets us sit alone in a room with our demons for a year or two years (or as long as it takes to write a novel, a screenplay, a memoir, whatever) … and keep on working at a high level, despite all those crazy voices in our heads.
That’s why The War of Art resonated so powerfully with so many people—because it was about that no-nonsense, non-glam mindset—and why this new video course does the same. The difference is the course is me onstage in-person (or as close to in-person as video can get), rather than words on a page or a voice on audio.
If that’s the way you learn (it’s certainly the way I do), please consider taking a click at www.stevenpressfield.com for more information.
P.S. This Friday, June 30, at 5:00PM Pacific, we’re doing a “Happy Hour” Instagram Live where we give away four scholarships to the Video Course. I’ll keep us updated this week on IG as to how to get your name in!
P.P.S. One of those scholarships will be for a one-on-one half-hour coaching call with me personally.
Thank you so much dear Steve.
In the last IG live you and Diana did, besides the value that your speech had, and the ideas you shared with us, I also got something unexpected. You mentioned one book I didn’t know, The Artist’s Way. I checked, got the audio, and it opened for me a new dimension. I’m trying the first two important exercises, especially the Morning Pages. Can’t wait to learn more about it and the writer.
On Friday 5:00 p.m. it will be 3:00 am here, I’ll try to be there with our friends.
I wish that 4 beautiful people win the scholarship! Luck is blind but she is also gorgeous. Only, we must also be gorgeous, to make a good marriage with her if she decides to arrive. Or else she’ll turn reallyy bad!
P.s. Brain number 2 – ‘m gona feed it and put in vitamins until it’s face turns blue.
P.S., to everyone … I meant MAY 30, not June. My bad!
Sorry …
Steve
What an incentive, probably the only incentive, to get me on any social media. I guess I’m signing up for an Instagram account.
MAY 30th
I saw in the news that Abraham Verghese is delivering the commencement address at Harvard tomorrow, and how I’m looking forward to hearing what he has to say… with Harvard being under attack and Verghese coming originally from Ethiopia, a country with its own challenges of suppression of opposition, erosion of public trust, and all that.
I was reminded of how much I love a good commencement address, and did a search for “top ten.” Aaron Sorkin’s 2012 address at Syracuse was in that group.
Steve’s comment about writing topics such as “addressing theme and structure, plot and characterization” resonated with this anecdote that Sorkin delivered. He was talking about, as a freshman at Syracuse in the late 70s / early 80s, he was more focused on his social life than his school work.
“At one point, being quizzed on ‘Death of a Salesman,’ a play I had not read, I gave an answer that indicated that I wasn’t aware that at the end of the play, the salesman dies. [crowd laughs]
“And I failed the class. [crowd laughs]. I had to repeat it my sophomore year. It was depressing, frustrating, and deeply embarrassing. And it was without a doubt the single most significant event that incurred in my evolution as a writer. I showed up my sophomore year and I went to class and I paid attention.
“We read plays and I paid attention and we discussed structure and tempo and intention and obstacle, possible improbablities, improbable impossiblities and I paid attention. And by God, when I got my grades at the end of the year, I’d turned that F into a D. [crowd laughs]
“I’m joking, it was pass/fail.”
Love that guy’s work.
https://youtu.be/hwvilfPWHYI?si=FN_3BguQ9Tw__q3a&t=483
Apologies for the “improbabilities/impossibilities” typos… copied from the transcript and didn’t QC. Garcon! More coffee!
Thanks for the link, Joe. Great address.
Thank you for the comment Joe.
I was touched by his words, especially those after the Death of a Salesman. Terrified by the idea of drugs, I’m blindly lucky not to have ever tried.
Ah, strangely all we learn about structures, plot etc. is actually only a fraction of a second in the endless hours of living. I feel I can’t recall all, not even the most important knowledge i’ve acquired. They do good though to study, I feel pretty sure, my expirience tells me also. But then, like Sorkin said, we have only our gut to follow.
The flow. Our flow. And clever buildings or dynamics or winds along the river to make it not different -it’s impossible to change the flow of the river- but to… I don’t know… to flow with it (instead of going on foot – feel the difference) and just taking the right turn when needed, when possible, for the river is lead to infinite turns. And if we flow with the river we will arrive. The question is where, and how to stay in it all the time.
Good thoughts, Tolis. Right… feeling the flow and riding it.
I must be doing something right because I feel no need for this class. Every day I get out of bed and straight to my desk and write for three hours. Seven days a week. I’ve spent four years working on a play and the finish line is in sight. But I couldn’t have gotten where I am without help from The War of Art.
Dear Adam that is so great to do. Share your experience with being always able to get out of the bed and go for the 3 every day, if you can.
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No rust, even in harsh weather.
Brain #2 is the unsung hero—the one quietly grinding in the background, choosing discipline over distraction. The idea of a course focused entirely on strengthening that mindset fills a serious gap in the creative world. It’s not more tools we need—it’s the mental stamina to use them. Grateful you’re creating something for the part of us that shows up, day after day, even when it’s hard.