Working Through the Resistance and Find That Juice

I’ve been dealing with writer’s block lately. Since I started writing articles and putting them on the site I’ve been pretty consistent in my output. There have been times when I’ve been busy, both in my personal life and with my day job and I haven’t been able to turn out content as often, but I’ve still been productive. Over the past weeks I’ve turned out nothing. I’ll find myself thinking of a good idea during the day, writing it down, and then getting up the next morning and not being able to write on the subject. I’ll make excuses, push it off until the next day, and then the self-doubt will seep in.

I’ve essentially been dealing with what Stephen Pressfield calls “resistance”.

My solution? Write about my writers block.

Dealing with writer’s block is no different than dealing with the resistance we face every single day. That thing that’s stopping us from finding time to exercise during the day, or stopping us from completing that deadline looming project at work, or responding to those emails that are piling up in our inbox.

According to Pressfield these resistance points are based on fear, self-sabotage, procrastination, self-doubt, and a whole host of other demons that everyone faces to varying degrees.

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The Only Time You Feel a Cruise Ship Turn is When It's In Port: The Power of the Compound Effect

I was in Seattle last week for work. It was a great visit, a time to connect with co-workers I hadn’t had the pleasure to meet before, as well as a time to re-connect with co-workers from all over the world.

While at dinner on Tuesday night one of our executives stopped by our table and made a statement that really resonated. It was in response to a question from one of my teammates regarding the pace of change at the company.

“The only time you feel a cruise ship turn is when it’s in port.”

The quote is really about incremental change. There is a context. The company I work for is in the middle of a merger with one of our biggest competitors. The comment really made me think about the pace of change, but more specifically incremental change.

The gurus will tell us to “take massive action”, but massive action isn’t always the solution. Sometimes massive action can create more problems in the long run.

Real, long-lasting, change is accomplished via small, daily, improvement.

This small and seemingly insignificant daily improvement can compound and becomes massive over time.

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