3 Steps to Beat Resistance
All of us have dreams in our lives. Things we want to achieve. Maybe a type of work you want to do. But many of us don’t reach our potential because of a struggle going on inside of us. That battle is called resistance.
Resistance is the feeling that we know we want to do a particular thing, but something inside stops us. We don’t feel like doing the tasks that we need to do to accomplish our goals or fulfill our intentions.
Resistance can take many forms and has many allies. And the more we are meant to do something, the stronger our resistance fights against us.
Steven Pressfield stated, in his book The War of Art, that:
The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.
So how can we beat resistance? Here are three steps that can help move you in the right direction:
- Step 1 — Become aware of the resistance that is holding you back.
- Step 2 — Believe that you can beat resistance.
- Step 3 — Take action immediately.
For example, I get up at 5:30 AM each morning to exercise and read. I get up early because I like the alone time, and I feel good about training my body and my mind. When my alarm goes off, my mind starts the resistance, second-guessing self-talk:
- “You should stay in bed and get some more sleep.”
- “You don’t need to exercise. You’ll get enough activity during the day.”
- “Your body is still sore from the work you did around the yard yesterday.”
- “You deserve a break.”
I could have listed more; resistance is very persistent. But I beat resistance, most days, by getting up as soon as my alarm goes off. I know that resistance will try to keep me from getting up, but I also know that I can beat it, and I do what I need to do immediately. I don’t give my resistance any chance to win.
Another quote from Pressfield’s book is about writing:
It’s not the writing part that’s hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write.
The above statement was so true for me. I had put off publishing my first story on Medium for several months, but I finally started writing a couple of weeks ago. On the day that I decided to post my first story, I wrote the article, did a little editing, and hit “Publish.” I kept resistance from beating me.
My stories may not be great yet, and I may not have many readers, but I wrote the story and started the process. Several months from now, I will be able to see how I’ve progressed. And I feel great that I’m doing the work.
So, sit down and start doing the work. This is the way to beat resistance!
