Have you grabbed a copy of Do The Work yet? I think it’s free on the Kindle for a while longer. It’s worth a quick read: I read it during one of my nightly bath time rituals (although the water did get pretty cold by the time I was finished).
While I was reading it, I was thinking two things. First, that I needed to be reading it while I was not in the bathtub so that I could actually Do The Work, and Second, that the Resistance has been kicking my butt when it comes to getting my next project launched (or actually, my NEXT next project…after reading this book, I got an idea for a new project that is launching verrrry soon — as in a week or so — and the other project got moved to NEXT next status).
The Resistance explains why I had been working for six months on this NEXT next project, and it still wasn’t even close to being ready to launch. But then I got this new idea, and I swore that wasn’t going to happen with this one. I now knew about The Resistance, after all.
The enemy is Resistance. The enemy is our chattering brain, which, if we give it so much as a nanosecond, will start producing excuses, alibis, transparent self-justifications, and a million reasons why we can’t/shouldn’t/won’t do what we know we need to do.
Steven Pressfield, Do The Work
But it turns out, knowing about it only goes so far in helping to overcome it.
The first stage: Aha! I’ve got a great idea! I’m so excited I could work foreeeeever. Let me at ‘em!
I love this stage. I get this idea, and there is this huge burst of energy/adrenaline that accompanies it. There is no idea as great as the one I currently have in that moment. And I know that I’ve got to ride on the adrenaline train until it quits, because there’s this horrible friction that happens when I’ve waited for the idea to cool off a bit before handling it (and now I know what that friction is).
The second stage: OH MY GOSH…my idea just got better! How is that possible?
Okay, so this isn’t really a stage. It’s just what happened to me with this particular project. I had a really great idea, and then while I was in the shower (I don’t know why ideas and bathing go so well together), the idea magnified itself by a zillion percent. It was this Thing that happened, and I could not believe that it had happened to me. I felt for the briefest moment like God’s favorite.
The third stage: Is this idea really as a great as I think it is? Let me ask some folks.
TERRIBLE IDEA. Especially if the folks you are asking aren’t even entirely sure what it is you do for a living, even though you talk about it pretty much all the time. But I am a glutton for feedback. It’s part of the analyzing and the processing.
Thankfully, I have good friends. They won’t say “why would anyone pay for that?” out loud, but I can see it in the blank looks on their (albeit smiling) faces. This is why I tell my clients never to ask their non-designer, non-marketer, non-business-people friends to give them feedback on anything. It just ends up making them terribly confused and questioning everything that they previously knew to be true.
The fourth stage: Oh my gosh. This idea is so great. But what if it succeeds? Terrifying. What if it fails? Terrifying. What if I don’t do it? Even more terrifying.
This is the part where I feel like there are just no good options. If it succeeds, then I’ll have to make new decisions. I’ll have way more work than I can handle. I’ll have to choose. If it fails, I’ll look like a total imbecile. People won’t trust what I say anymore. I’ll become a web pariah. If I don’t even do it, someone else will. And that is the worst, worst outcome of all.
The fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth stage: Doing the work
Sometimes, this part never even happens. And when it does, it doesn’t feel at all magical. Suddenly, I’d rather be ironing my underwear with a hot boulder in the middle of July. Facebook begins to look like Important Work. My email seems to need constant nannying. But when I do the work, those fears suddenly start to put themselves back in perspective. I start telling myself that if I become a web pariah, so what? I’ll move to Alaska! I’ll adopt a baby seal! Things will be more than alright.
The tenth stage: Wow, that was not at all as hard as I thought it would be. Why did it take me so long to get over myself?
I’m currently waiting for this stage to happen. I have a few more finishing touches to make, and then I’ll be ready to open it up to my sneak-peekers. And then, the world. (Gah…I can’t quite type that without my stomach shivering).
I have never been this worked up about launching anything. I’ve been wondering if maybe I’m just losing my chutzpa, but I don’t think that’s it. I just really want to do this. And it has to be successful, or I won’t get to do it anymore. And that’s just not an option.
Posted on May 18, 2011 at 1:38 pm 
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You know, at first it was very reassuring to read basically my own thoughts coming back at me. It was really nice to know I’m not the only one. But then I started to get nervous, because you’ve been around a while and this is not your first product. And you’re STILL FREAKING OUT. I was kind of hoping things would calm down pretty soon, because my stomach can’t take this much longer.
Hope, please?
Hahaha…LaVonne, it sort of IS my first product, though. I’ve done services. I’ve done classes. I have never done a product. So there is hope! Maybe on my next one, I’ll be liquid smooth.
OH, I am so at Stage 4. The anxiety is kicking my butt! I think I’ll go have a good cry and then get to work.
BTW, I downloaded Pressfield’s book in March and haven’t touched it. Thanks for the preview!
You’re welcome, Rhonda! I’m so excited about your new endeavor — and don’t feel bad about not reading his book yet. It’s been sitting in my Kindle app for months, too. You’ll read it when the timing’s right.
Ha ha ha, I like your real-world breakdown of the Resistance as it pertains to your projects. I just finished reading Do The Work and it definitely resonated with me as well. I think my problem is I do way too much up front. I tend to bog down in the idea stage.
Looking forward to what’s in store!
I think most of us do that. I have so many great ideas and it’s hard to decide which ones are worth committing to.
Perfect timing. I literally JUST finished reading his book when your email popped into my empty inbox. I’m 2/3 of the way done writing a new album and I hit the wall a few weeks ago. I totally relate to your description of these stages.
At the beginning of this project I made a clear decision not to share my progress with anybody. And of course, a few months into it, those rules start to bend. And that creates the small leak that starts to sink the whole thing.
It’s nice to know that everyone goes through the same process – that the crash is just part of it.
I’m excited to hear about your new project!
Yes, it is so good to know that we’re not alone. I make those same types of vows to myself, but then quickly break them when I start to get excited and just have to tell someone. It’s always not as satisfying as I think it’s going to be.
I read his book a few weeks ago. It’s a total trip. You go through all the phases in that one sitting!
I loved your number three because I like you have all sorts of friends and family who have no idea what I do and it’s kind of a bummer when I’m trying to share my over the top excitement and I see them nodding with a blank/slighting frightened stare. I guess that’s what internet friends are for!
Haha…that’s so true! You really do go through all of it at once. After reading it, I felt like I had created an entire “thing” without having done an ounce of anything.
Yes, and I am so thankful for internet friends! Otherwise, I really would feel like a hermit.
Seriously – someone needs to invent a way that we can write/record what comes rushing through our heads whilst water is pouring over it in the shower. I always think of the worlds greatest idea/blog post/stories while in there, but by the time I get out, dried and dressed, I’m like ‘now, what was that again’.
mj.