Going to the Gym in the Dark
It’s 4:30 in the morning and we’re on our way to the gym. This is six days a week, rain or shine, Christmas, Fourth of July, your birthday. I hate it. Everybody does. We’d all rather be home in bed munching bon-bons. Why do it then? For me, it’s not because I imagine I’m going to be the next Mr. Universe.
It’s about the mental game.
Yes, the fitness and health aspects are important, even indispensable. But what this pre-dawn expedition is really about for me is the Inner Game. I am preparing myself mentally and emotionally for the day’s work that will start for real in a couple of hours.
Maybe you’re a runner, maybe you’re a biker, maybe you practice martial arts or yoga or tai chi, maybe you train for the Ironman or the Spartan race. It’s all great! And it’s all for the same reason—to rehearse, to prepare, to beat into our thick skulls the mindset of embracing adversity.
When we work out physically, we are doing three things that are superb rehearsals for creative work.
- We’re doing something we’d rather not do.
- We’re doing something that resists us.
- We’re doing something we’re afraid of.
In the gym or on the track or the trail, we experience moments of real physical fear. A weight we don’t think we can handle. A hill we’re not sure we can climb. Watch the faces of men and women at CrossFit or any other serious venue of training. See them going deep within, psyching themselves up to overcome the fear, to ready themselves for the pain, to anticipate the level of effort and intensity they’re going to have to summon.
That’s the artist’s way. That’s the mindset of the professional, the warrior, the independent operator.
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?"
It’s definitely not easy, but the things that are worth it are hard. I wonder what our world would be like if we all faced down our resistance. Could we live in the utopias we imagine and paint, write and sing about? Thanks, Steve. Love the food for thought today.
Steve, your post, as you know, is profoundly insightful. I have trained with weights since the age of 14, and that was decades ago. It not only taught me about pain and discipline, it led me, eventually, to learn patience. When I walked the 900 mile route of the Cherokee Trail of Tears to honor my ancestors and raise awareness about the history of the Cherokee, all those years of weight training led me to a crucial understanding: One step at a time. These lessons were treasures that helped me write the book about my walk. Random House acquired the book, Walking the trail, at auction and later nominated it for a Pulitzer Prize. I am now rewriting the screenplay after being contacted by a well known director in LA. One step at a time…
Congratulations!👊🏼
Love this! Your story’s alive! 👏🏻👏🏻
Congratulations Jerry!
You are truly a MARINE!!! If it was EASY, everyone would do it. But everybody doesn’t do it. Just like everybody doesn’t becaome a SEAL, or an army SF, or an Air Force PJ, or go to a military cademy And even tho I am proud of my Army service, the marines have the best uniforms, and the best slogan…. “The Few…. The Proud…. the Marines.” Glad you are still north of the green. Keep up the good work. DOC ENZ
Your email came at the right moment, cause you are right – getting up in the early hours to exercise is challenging; I often think of reasons not to do it and do something else. Today I decided to go outside with the dogs and sit. While this is good, it is not facing the mental game head on and pushing forward. Your insights are always appreciated, to sit back and reflect, and move forward. We all know what to do, but your words help us take action! To better health.
Steven! I’ve never connected these two. Resistance is not to be feared — it’s a necessary and beautiful thing in shaping who we are. Bravo! Yes, yes and again Yes! 👏🏻🫶🏻
My respect to you Stephen, at your age to go to the gym at 4:30 in the morning to train speaks volumes about your strong character. You are a real Spartan. Thank you again for your books especially “Gates of Fire”. And “The Virtues of War” about Alexander also liked, in the Russian edition it is called “Alexander the Great. The Road to Glory”. Greetings from Ukraine.
Vitalii,
Keep up the good fight. I fly the Ukraine flag beside the US flag in honor of my Ukrainian grandparents and in solidarity.
This touches my heart, thank you, Jackie!
Slava Ukraine, Vitalii!
Geroyam slava, Steven!
Thank you so much dear Steve.
The warrior mentality is the power that must be summoned to make it to the end when things stop us.
In me it has taken the strange form of multiplicity. I can see the fields of war and they are too many to number, let alone to control spherically. And the time I give to one is always stolen from the other, and more than that, there are shelters which, in a strange way, are used like small safe harbors along the way. The fearful question remains, is one on the right path? Let’s define the right path, say my eyes. So difficult to do.
We have the eyes of the tiger. Not only when it is hunting, but also when it is resting or cautious or dead. Struggle and anger, aggression, a faint happiness, fear, desperation, passivity.
Yes! This is what separates the men from the boys, as they say. Thank you for your example, Steven. It’s important to know that this battle never gets easy, and it’s inspiring to see how you keep fighting every day.
I’m starting to workout seriously on a regularly. I’m in my 70’s.
Jerry Seinfeld said that heavy weightlifting is the most important thing to do.
I like the analogy that exercise, especially weightlifting, resists us.
And that addressing the resistance is a matter of doing the first thing, then the second thing, a step-by-step process.
I feel so much better about my exercise routine after reading this post. Thanks.
I dunno, Steven, all the cyclists i know make excuses to be out on the bike. They glory in the the difficult climbs, compare injuries with glee, brag about how many miles/how steep/how bad the weather was/how many flats/how many close calls with cars. 1 and 3 just don’t apply to them/me.
as for 2 …
When i took up cycling as a hobby, when i decided i wanted to get good at it, be able to ride centuries, be able to climb, i psyched myself by recalling other instances where i had difficulties. Steep incline? i can do that, i aced my licensing exam. 86 miles when i planned for 55? I won an argument with the IRS. Really treacherous mountainside? I survived a train crash/bomb on a plane/rockslide.
It works both ways.
Yes.
I can’t tell you what these messages do for me. I know writing the memoir / congressional report I’m working on is producing great trauma reliving the war years, yet if I don’t do it, the story will be retold by those who wish to rewrite the narrative and obscure their role in a great deception. The cost is very high. Sometimes, writing for days will send me into weeks of recuperation. Your Wednesday reminders are something I look forward to every week to keep me engaged and motivated. Thank you Steven.
Diane