4 Memorable tidbits from Steven Pressfield

He had me at four words. 

One day, you'll meet a blogger that will change an aspect of your life.

Like, how you view your hobby for instance. 

Adapting their mindset changes everything. 

Adapting their mindset changes you. 

Adapting their mindset enhances you. 

I met Steven Pressfield through CJ Chilvers.

And I'm grateful that I started to read CJ's material 2 months ago. 

I've binged on Steven's works over 2 days. 

Nobody Reads Your Sh*t.

Do Work. 

The Authentic Swing. 

The War of Art.

I think I read War of Art three years ago. I remember I found it boring. 

Not anymore. 

Of his writings, here are some tidbits I'd like to share. It is my deepest desire that his words touch your life, the same way his touch mine. 

1. Nobody Reads Your Shit.

2. You have not chosen the story. The story has chosen you. 

3. Theme is everything. Once we know the theme, we know the climax, we know the protagonist, we know the antagonist, we know the supporting characters, we know the opening, we know the throughline.

4. If you want to write and be recognized, you have to do it yourself. 

Why I write random stuff

I have absolutely no idea, only that.. it feels right and easy.

Looking back though my old posts, it was so different. I went from art, to game development, to preachy-inspirational, to professional-looking blogs, to lists, to dogs... 

My entries don't make sense at all. 

I want to build a community. That's a nice dream, right? I think that's every blogger's dream. 

I have followed tons of bloggers who also preach what I'm aiming for. James Clear. Jeff Goins. Alexander Hayne, Nicolas Cole....

Majority of them preach of looking for your audience, posting lengthy entries, finding your niche, do this and not that....the list goes on and on. I reached this point of analysis by paralysis. 

There was just too much bloggers with too much advice. 

.......then Seth Godin entered the picture like The Flash.

His advice was profoundly simple: Show up Sit Down and *insert activity*, or SUSDA

Blog daily? I can't even sketch daily!

I tried his concept in April, but it panned. Then I stopped posting in May... until I re-discovered CJ Chilvers in June 2016. 

CJ Chilvers known for The Lesser Photographer. I read his work when it was still a free PDF document that you could download over tumblr. I believe he took it down and is currently selling the book. 

Apparently, CJ also dances the same groove Seth Godin does. Go to Chilver's blog and you'll see what I mean. He writes daily. His posts are short. 

Hey, I could try that. 

So I wrote daily. I wrote two entries a day: post the first one, automate the second one to post on the next day. 

The next day, I did it again. The next next day, I did it again. 

Rinse. Repeat. 

Combine SUSDA with the idea that you don't have to please every body. That nobody's even reading it. Just post. Show up. 

So I write stuff that interests me. I keep a jot down notebook for potential entries. Some sound good, some don't. But hey, it's still an idea. 

I continue to write random stuff. I know that I'll eventually discover my niche, my voice and my market.

But first, let me write daily.