You know the voice. It says things like: you’re not good enough, you don’t have time, this won’t make any difference, and – my personal favourite – you deserve a break.
The Resistance is what I call the internal force that fights us whenever we try to do something hard. Write a story. Start a business. Finish a course. It doesn’t care what it is – if there’s Change on the other side, The Resistance will turn up to stop you reaching it.
It’s seductive, too. It doesn’t always shout. Sometimes it whispers reasonable things, like maybe you should do a bit more research first or let’s just check Twitter. Procrastination, perfectionism, distraction – these are all The Resistance in disguise.
Steven Pressfield wrote an entire book about it – The War of Art – and if you’ve ever bought a course and not finished it, or a book and not read it, you already know what he’s talking about.
There are two ways to deal with it.
Stroke it. Agree with the voice, then do the work anyway. Yes, maybe I’m not good enough – but I’m the kind of person who finishes things.
Smack it. Fight. Swear. Refuse to give in. This is the approach I took when writing my first novel – 40,000 words in and The Resistance screaming at me daily.
Whichever you choose, the important thing is to choose before The Resistance appears. Because in the moment, it’s much harder to think clearly.
Momentum is your best defence. The more you do, the less power it has. And if you need something to aim at, start with your Beacon.