#386 - BOOK: "The Artist's Journey", By; Steven Pressfield,

We break down a practical path for creatives using Stephen Pressfield’s book, The Artist's Journey, and others, to fight resistance, build professional habits, and pursue meaningful work. Jiu-jitsu is my balance from the mind to relax The passion/Comedy, as a counterpractice that sharpens thinking and keeps that craft fresh.  Jiu-jitsu can and will be a balance for your skill, pursuit, and Passion,

• naming resistance and ending procrastination with The War of Art
• adopting professional habits and consistency with Turning Pro
• seeing craft as a lifelong pursuit with The Artist’s Journey
• using audiobooks, highlights and visible copies to retain ideas
• making a counterpractice like jujitsu your mental balance
• placing your body where the work happens
• a suggested reading order that builds momentum

Chapters

• 0:07 Setting Up The Final Book
• 0:46 How Pressfield’s Ideas Connect
• 2:10 The Lifelong Pursuit Of Meaning
• 3:03 Keeping Books Visible And Audible
• 4:25 Marking Highlights That Stick
• 4:56 Balancing Craft With A Counterpractice
• 6:09 Jujitsu As Mental Balance
• 6:58 A Reading Order That Builds Skill
• 8:17 Put Your Body Where Work Happens
• 9:18 A Staircase For Your Soul

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:07

All right, beautiful people. So one more book, and then I think I'm done talking about books for a while. Who knows? Maybe there'll be another one, whatever. Um, so the last book I'd really like to talk about uh is called The Artist's Journey. And this actually should have been mentioned on the first day that I was talking about a lot of different books the a few episodes ago when I had went in a full complete rant on uh the different books in life to really level up your performance and multiply that performance and so forth and so on. And this is called The Artist's Journey. And it is also by Stephen Pressfield. Now, this is where, in my opinion, all of his books come to full swing because this is after the war of art talking about fighting to essentially be who you should really be, and turning pro, which is leveling up, being consistent, being that um being that musician that doesn't just love what he does, but now it's his job, metaphorically, it could be anything, shooting a basketball, et cetera. And maybe you don't want to shoot a basketball that day, but it's your job. That's what turning pro is all about. But the artist's journey, and it actually says this on the top, and it says the wake of a hero's journey and the lifelong pursuit of meaning. Meaning, this whole book is essentially talking about you're not just leveling up, but you're always you're always dipping your feet in, so to speak, of the creativity, the warmth, the passion of what you love to do most and how to continuously be not just be passionate about it, but to continue to uh get better at it and to pursue it more. Um, and how it is not just a day-to-day grind, so to speak, okay? It's a lifelong pursuit. There's even a part in here where it was talking about you being essentially a world-class musician before you wrote your first song. That is always you. And that essentially is what this book is all about. Um and I feel like it's a necessary ingredient for your soul to read this book, whether you are a jujitsu practitioner, a martial artist, a basketball player, an entrepreneur, a ballerina, a sniper, it doesn't matter. This book is the one that ties in all of his other books. Okay. And they all have distinct purposes, but this one is the one where if it was like a golf swing and the different parts of the swing were like leading up to this, this is the one that brings it around full circle. And when you follow through and you read this book, you'll realize how it is a game changer for your life. Um now I I keep this book out so that I can see it. I keep this book out along with uh The War of Art and Turning Pro because I'm a big believer in having a physical copy of these books. But again, I can't overemphasize being able to drive and listen to an audio, an audible book, right? And also be able to take screenshots at certain parts that I thought were impactful is a huge way of how I retain information when it comes to reading. And then I can always go back and I can look at all my highlights, okay? Um, because it's easier realistically to fan through a book that you've read or that you have heard, right? As opposed to fanning through an audio. It doesn't really make a lot of sense. But you can visually uh kind of give yourself a cheat code to all the parts that were important. I remember I gave uh one of the earlier books, uh The War of Art that I had mentioned to somebody, and he said he likes to underline it. And after I talked to him a couple days later, he said he's essentially like he was essentially like uh underlining every other sentence, if not every sentence. And that's what this is. This one is filled full of highlights and circles and little notations on it. Um I'm passionate. I'm passionate about stand-up comedy, I'm passionate about jujitsu, and I truly believe that uh part of what a martial artist, for example, uh would always do was they would do things like calligraphy because it was something that helped balance their swordsmanship, their mind, uh being able to um uh be able to do something that's like peaceful and meticulous and very particular while not at war. And it was something that a lot of um different military members and um warriors would do. Um and others do other things such as painting and so forth and so on, uh, to help balance out their mind from that rough um strategical and from those fights and wars and everything, battles that they were going through. Um so uh mine is kind of on the flip side. Mine is uh jujitsu. Let me rephrase that. Mine is comedy, right? And writing uh comedy and working on it. And I've always said that jujitsu is my balance. Uh so it's like similar, but it's the opposite for me, right? Uh, because I don't do comedy to help with my jujitsu. I use jujitsu to help with my comedy. Um, and I really do believe that if you are a basketball player, if you are a politician, jujitsu will be your calligraphy. I promise you. If you train jujitsu, it will be your balance to help you get your mind off of that war, that battle, whatever thing that you're working on that you're passionate about, because uh that is a beautiful art. It's strategic and it scales. It's not like just weightlifting. You can weightlift, but if you do jujitsu too, by doing so, it will make you more strategic, more analytical, and it will get your mind off of shooting that basketball. So when you go back to shooting that basketball or fill in the blank, me doing comedy, etc., right, you think better, you're more improved, and you're a better version of yourself every single day. And that's what I'm all about. So it would be great. And as always, this if you don't do it, that's unfortunate for you, but realistically, this is always a reminder to myself for what matters most in this podcast on my journey, on my artist's journey to become a professional stand-up comedian. Um and uh that being mentioned, that being mentioned, um, if you do read this book and train jujitsu, ironically enough, which is a whole other topic, uh, I think that it will truly um it'll truly help you no matter what you're doing in life. But I really think that this is something that you really really need to do sequentially in order. And the first is the war of art, okay, to get out of that horrible procrastination of self-sabotage or um delaying or whatever you want to call it, right? To not pursue what you really are supposed to be doing, your craft, your art, your gift, your creativity, right? Then turning pro, which is leveling up, all right, going to that next level. Now you're professional, okay? And even if you're not hired for a job, you can still be a professional, right? Um, and then if you want to be a little bit more intrigued, which you which I think is always good, right? Uh the next one of his series, Stephen Pressfield, the author, you should read, is called Nobody Wants to Read Your Shit. Right? A little self-reminder as far as putting your physical body, putting your physical body where it needs to be, to not just be inspired, but to get better at your craft, okay, is called put your ass where your heart wants to be. That's actually the name of the book. So if you're a basketball player, get out on the court. If you're a runner, get out on the track. Ultra runner, get out in the street, playing fields, anywhere, right? For me, it's my work table that I work on, all my creative writing. And I stand up in the in my creative studio that I'm in right now when I'm rehearsing comedy. So that's what put your put your ass where your heart wants to be is all about. And then lastly, coming full swing, the artist's journey. Um now, the first two I think are the most important order: the War of Art and Um Turning Pro. However, if you do it in any other order, I'm sure it'll be fine. That's essentially the order that I went in. Um, and I just can't overemphasize this is like a staircase for your soul. Okay. And the more that you read these books, okay, you can always go back to them and reference them, but leave them out by the audio, listen to it, make time for it, right? And uh by buying the physical book, you can underline it, go back, but leave it out so you can always be reminded about these lessons. That's what I do. And uh if something that I said happens to benefit you, well, that's great. I'm happy for you. And if not, I'm okay with that too. But at the very least, as I always mention, this is a physical reminder, a mental reminder, right? You know, of uh an imprint of a good memory and something that I need to repeat in my life to be leveling up. So with all that being said over and again, I'm Ben Joel Dunn. Thank you so much for your time. I'm out.