Moonshots Podcast: Superstar mindsets and success habits

In this episode of the Moonshots Podcast, hosts Mike and Mark explore the transformative power of action through the lens of Steven Pressfield’s book, Do The Work. This episode is about overcoming resistance and turning ideas into finished products by staying focused and committed.

Steven Pressfield shares his biggest takeaway from Do The Work with Baker from ManVsDebt, encouraging us to keep progressing despite challenges. Nate Gillin then unpacks the importance of a ‘do first, revise later’ mindset, reminding us that perfection can come after the work is in motion. Brian Johnson follows with Pressfield’s essential tip to “ship your work”—don’t let fear or perfectionism stop you from sharing your creations with the world.

The episode wraps up with a powerful call to action from Steven Pressfield: “Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants To Be.” This final thought serves as a reminder to commit fully to your passions and take the steps necessary to turn your ideas into reality.

Episode Highlights:

 1. Overcoming Resistance - Push through internal and external barriers to progress.
 2. Do First, Revise Later - Prioritize action over perfection.
 3. Ship Your Work - Share your work with the world rather than waiting for it to be perfect.
 4. Align Your Actions with Your Passion - Commit to your passions and take decisive steps forward.

Listen and Watch:

 • Podcast Episode: Turning Ideas into Finished Products with Steven Pressfield
 • YouTube Video: Watch on YouTube
 • Buy the Book: Get Do The Work on Amazon

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What is Moonshots Podcast: Superstar mindsets and success habits ?

The Moonshots Podcast goes behind the scenes of the world's greatest superstars, thinkers and entrepreneurs to discover the secrets to their success. We deconstruct their success from mindset to daily habits so that we can apply it to our lives. Join us as we 'learn out loud' from Elon Musk, Brene Brown to emerging talents like David Goggins.

hello and welcome to the moonshots

podcast it's episode

265 I'm your co-host mik Parsons and as

always I'm joined by the man himself Mr

Mark Pearson Freeland good morning Mark

hey good morning Mike good morning

members listeners and viewers we are

diving in with a brand new topic within

our series on creativity aren't we today

Mike by going back into another of Step

pressfield's epic works yeah I think

it's safe to to say we've survived the

war which was the last episode and we're

ready to do some work wouldn't

you yeah I think you're totally right if

the war of art Was Won by us I think

today we're going to learn even more

from a practical perspective with

regards to this big capital r word of

resistance and how to put up and get out

our work that we end up doing and that

is pressfield's book do the work which

Mike you know it isn't necessarily a

part one part two situation with with

pressfield's books but I think what

we're definitely going to see today is a

continuation of some of the themes that

we were finding out in last week's

episode specifically with regards to

like I said overcoming that resistance

that a lot of us in fact all of us face

you know with probably with most of our

work

but I think there's also elements and

tips and practical habits that we can

pick up in today's episode that in my

mind can help us with a lot of the other

work that we're doing as well not just

from a creative perspective but also

mindset behavior and activity yeah I

think uh way the reason we picked this

book of Steven pressfield's to follow

the war of art is this one uh really

speaks

to the practi iCal road map of

activities you need to

do uh and it's very practically minded

so regardless of your creative Pursuit

writing working music it doesn't matter

so many things now I think you can

consider creative work what this book

tackles is all of the

inertia the fogginess the dustiness that

we experience when we're trying to do

creative work and what's so powerful

about this book is if you get a bit

stuck at times you feel a little

indecisive maybe you're putting it off

or maybe in the end you never ship your

work there's like a library full of half

completed projects this show is for you

because what he's going to do is explain

how we might be tempted to think and

feel in our journey to produce and to

create and particularly when we come up

with challenges he's going to help us

break through those so if you want to do

more work if you want to do great work

this is the episode for you wow what an

opener statement there Mike couldn't

said it better myself and maybe even

Steven pressfield would' be pretty

pleased with that so why don't we launch

straight in hot off the heels of your

breakdown just then with Stephen himself

he's having a chat with Baker from Man

versus debt and he's going to help us

understand a little bit more about this

brand new book in our series on

creativity do the work it's sort of a

manual that takes you from the start of

a project to the finish of a project

hitting the points of resistance that

will come come up as they as they happen

and they're amazingly

predictable you can see that like just

in say a screenplay let's say you're

writing a

screenplay you'll plunge first there's a

resistance at to even start you'll come

up with all these reasons why me I'm not

good enough I'm too old I'm too young

I'm too stupid whatever yeah then you'll

Plunge in on pure enthusiasm you'll get

to about you know fifth of the way

through and then you'll panic because

you're like outside of the site of shore

but you can't see the other side anyway

so to boil get down to your question of

takeaways from do the work it's that for

one thing if you hit these sticking

points in anything you're doing you're

not alone y you're not the first person

that that has hit this thing everybody

hits it whether it's Neil Young or

Donald Trump or anybody that's doing

anything and there is a way through each

one of these points that that you will

hit and a lot of it comes down to that

professional attitude and a sort of a do

the that's why it's called do the work

there's no sort of mystery to it it's

just making yourself face each Challenge

and push through it no matter what I

thought what was interesting Mark is he

said they're

predictable yeah yeah and I think that

demystifies them uh somewhat like when

you face a moment of resistance or he

calls them sticking

points if you're like

oh yeah well this is I'm a bit stuck on

this to me it's the same thing is I'm

going to run uh in my running training

I'm going to run a bit longer than I

usually do and maybe those last

kilometers are a bit harder or maybe I'm

going to lift more weights than I

usually do maybe they're going to be a

bit harder that's predictable right

you're pushing yourself well we can

apply that same thinking to our creative

work and I actually think what's also

special about what you're saying there's

nothing like super magical Happening

Here you've got to go it's G to happen

and you need to be like a professional

and keep going and don't give in and I

think there's the rub I think we often

allow ourselves the permission to

abandon right we pull on the emergency

court when we Face these things because

we might be scared of failing in front

of others or doing bad work or unsure

that we can do it or we just don't like

the uncertainty so it's all about

reconfiguring how we respond to those

moments isn't it yeah big time and the

idea of predictable resistance for me

speaks again to that concept of hero's

journey so knowing that there is a path

that we all you know end up following

inadvertently perhaps whereby as Stephen

was saying that the the start is hard a

little bit in the middle is hard and

then as we're going to find out later in

the show the actual end bit is really

hard but because it's an experience that

other people have gone through as well

as maybe as you were just alluding to

then when you've got the experience

yourself maybe it's in the example of

running a marathon you kind of know when

those walls are going to come and maybe

even you're running the same course

maybe two two Loops in a row and you can

kind of think oh no that gradient is

going to come at me and I'm not looking

forward to it that level of insight

actually in a funny sort of way is

reassuring isn't it because you know hey

if other people have done it I think I

can give it a go or maybe I've done it

before and I can do it again right so

this idea of predictable it's kind of

like naming the Beast isn't it yes it's

predictable and therefore it feels

something it's a feels like a mountain

that I'm going to be able to climb

because I know that others have been

there first so what are the moments

if you think about your work Mark what

are the moments where you experience

resistance and are there some moments

where when you first experienced them

you kind of freaked out but now you're

like oh yeah no problem I got this where

have you kind of trained yourself to do

the

work I think I'm I think like a lot of

us it's going to be a A continuing

journey I probably haven't quite nailed

it yet but for me the the key part of

resistance is looking at a big pile of

things to do and not knowing where to

start sometimes but sure sure but hang

on but surely like when I think about

when you started swimming in the ocean

you crazy man in the Australian ocean uh

that was really tough but you do it

regularly now surely you've you've

trained yourself to feel that resistance

and not freak out right I think because

it I I managed to get to a point and

this is what I try and do with some of

the projects that I'm trying to

accomplish by getting things started is

actually enjoying that little bit of a

challenge so like I say let's use the

example let's build on that example of

the of Open Water Swimming yeah you're

right at the start there was a lot of

resistance both from a it's cold it's

far it's deep what else is in there uh

who what what what is you know lurking

in the shadows right so a lot of that as

well as hey I don't know any of these

people I'm getting into a new social

community group that I've got to go out

and meet so there's a lot of reasons oh

and another one it's too dark outside I

don't want to have to get up in the rain

so there's all of these moments that I

created in my head that were excuses and

signposts that I could have taken to go

off the path yes so ah it's it's 5 a.m.

what am I doing why am I waking up now

to go and swim in a cold water I think

I'll lay in bed instead of going down

that path I'll think actually I I I am

convinced that if I accomplish this I

will feel better than I would if I

didn't do it right I will feel a sense

of accomplishment I'll feel maybe that

great uh feeling that your body gets

after cold water also it's a social

experience hanging out with likeminded

individuals so and there's also the

challenge it's the actual um individual

challenge of getting out there and and

doing something I think think and I I I

believe this is where you were taking me

with this question and and the example

of swimming I see that as an experience

all of those signposts as things that

people see when they're starting a

project yes that you'll find moments

excuses you'll find signpost for excuses

to not do something maybe it's you don't

think you're good enough maybe it's

because it's uh requires an extra 30

minutes in your day to carve out time

for that creative Endeavor or maybe it's

something that is you know just you

don't really know where to start and for

me at least I found that by thinking

forward and thinking okay well what

happens when I do finish it well I'm

going to feel more energetic I'll feel

that endorphin release I feel that sense

of accomplishment those Pros then

suddenly for me started to outweigh the

cons of going out in the rain getting

cold and so because I knew that it was

only going to be temporary

and I presume like that's probably

similar to you with with the lord of the

marathons and the running that you've

done as well yeah yeah so um

definitely um I can almost see it as a

right of

passage so to write a book to do to

build a course to work on a big project

to run a long

distance I think

I work on it doesn't always come

naturally but I see it as ride of

Passage like there's something like when

I go for my really long runs I I go to a

special part of Sydney Harbor where I

can run these big S kmet loops and it's

really stunning and beautiful and I just

know when I'm driving there it's about

10 minutes from my house and I'm driving

there I feel like I'm this is all part

of the buildup to earn that feeling that

I have when I hit stop on my watch at

the end of the long

run what what so I I definitely think

this idea of write of Passage I need to

earn the feeling and I know the feeling

that's on the other side of doing the

work doing the run so I know the feeling

so I'm prepared to go through the writer

passage what I'm interested in Mark is

do you try and take what you've built as

a sort of atomic habits if you will from

your swimming and doing the work and

feeling the resistance yet still going

through it do you try and take that

either directly or indirectly into

non-athletic Pursuits with your work

with friendships with chores around the

house like do you are you able to

transfer

that 100% And I I'm

reminded daily when there are struggles

or sorry better said when there are

moments of resistance in my day maybe it

is starting a brand new project or maybe

it is having to go out and do something

that I'm not really in the mood for

maybe I'm a bit tired maybe I'm you know

a bit lethargic and I don't necessarily

want to go out and be exposed to

whatever that situation is I will 100%

think oh well you know what well there's

two things I'll think one hey you've got

in the ocean and you've swam before

that's pretty good if you can do that

you know you can probably accomplish

something else but I think as a build to

what you're you're saying here

absolutely there are patterns

and habits that I will notice within the

way that I'm feeling or thinking again

that I'll know if I think about in the

long run it will be beneficial to me

right so sometimes let's say you've got

back from a long flight or maybe it's

been a very very busy week you've

prescheduled maybe a breakfast or you

know a dinner or a drink or or a hangout

an exercise with one of your your

buddies your friends and you kind of

think ah you know is this really

something that I can be bothered to do

that's again that signpost of resistance

saying nah you don't really want to have

to go out and do it right when I know

for a fact much like the experience of

feeling good after a bit of exercise or

after a bit of stress from that

resistance pushing against resistance

you're going to feel good you will get

something out of it and that's

ultimately what we're all here to do

isn't it yeah and you're right it is

interesting having gone through

different practices of resistance

training so to speak because you can

align it with different practices and

different disciplines yes and similar to

what we were finding in pressfield's

book last week it is interesting to see

this advice that he's got on creativity

crossing over into the sports space

crossing over into you know the um the

business space marketing space you know

it is almost transferable isn't it well

I think it is and I think it's one of

the things we've discovered on the

moonshots podcast is that there are

these rules which are like do the most

important stuff in the morning focused

on the one thing that matters

um there's a whole series of patterns

that whether we're looking at Serena

Williams Michael Jordan Jeff Bezos it is

crazy athletes academics business people

authors the same basic set of rules

apply you can see like there is a

formula to their success they're like

these success habits one of which I

think we should add is being a member of

the moonshots podcast Mark oh big time

if there are individuals that are out

there who are practicing with us and

learning out loud alongside the

moonshots crew those are our members M

so welcome in please Bob Niles I trip

dietar marang Conor Lisa and Sid Mr

bonjour Berg and cman Joe Christian

samella and Barbara Deb lass Steven

Craig Ravi evver R and nicada Ingram

Durk vanut and Marco jet Roger Stefan

raw niman Diana Kristoff Denise Laura

Smitty Corey and Daniela Mike and

Antonio high five to you guys always

learning out loud with us for Beyond a

year alongside Zachary Austin Fred and

Ola Andy Diana Margie and Ron Jasper

Fabian and guhong guys High FES and Good

Vibes to all of you for joining us day

in day out on the moonshots podcast

thank you for learning out loud with us

and for practicing great habit and

resistance training yes exactly now

let's talk about that resistance Mark

so you've started on something creative

and

challenging and of course I think one of

the biggest fears if we admit some of

our darkest secret marks you don't want

to be like an Australian break dancer at

the Olympics

right you don't want to put yourself out

there and get a ton of

criticism and so in order to avoid that

I think we try to polish the work almost

immediately don't we but actually

pressfield has got some advice to get

through this and I think it's really

powerful in getting us started and not

bogged down so why don't you unleash

this second clip from pressf y you're

totally right this is a problem that I

know for a fact I have faced many many

times and I'm sure a lot of our

listeners and members have too so let's

hear this time a new voice from Nate

Gillan he's going to interpret one of

pressfield's uh tips and ideas from

within do the work and that's all about

revising later we can always revise once

we've acted but we can accomplish

nothing until we Act pressfield is

pushing this do first revised ler

mentality call it analysis paralysis

call it too much research call it

whatever you want a lot of times we

spend more time planning than we do

doing that is doing the actual work that

needs to be done you might be thinking

of the logistics of starting a business

or a new project in the community you

might be outlining to your heart's

content uh on a book or a movie but

outlines and ideas and research don't

equate to actually writing the piece in

this case research can actually become

resistance we should all read to learn

up on whatever sort of subject we're

interested in however when it comes to

reading about your craft uh reading

about the thing you want to do uh

pressfield actually says that you should

read three books Max and don't highlight

don't note take don't do anything just

read them have them in your head and

then go forth with doing the

action yeah so it's interesting isn't it

like um I

think in an effort to feel more

confident about our work we almost over

prepare we almost over

poolish when really what we just need to

do is get going how do you when when

when they talk about this moment how do

you see it for yourself and how do you

kind of avoid revising now and how do

you kind of move to a more of a Revis it

later mentality yeah you know what I'm

that clip reminded me it was quite a few

years ago now but I remember having to

uh try and plan my wedding and that felt

like a huge so separate to obviously a

work project it was something you know

in vertigon as extracurricular or

personal and I remember thinking this is

huge I don't know where to I don't know

where to start here who do I contact

First there's too many things you know

what the wedding's off uh let's break up

that's it game

over but instead I remember thinking

okay well there is a lot to do here so

why don't I just do something you know

let's choose something well let's think

about the band or let's find the venue

let's do some research and let's contact

a few people let's not be too strict

let's not create a long list of 15

places and then write out the pros and

cons let's just start fishing you know

let's put a few feelers out there and

that could be I think the same if you're

considering maybe a house purchase maybe

even you're looking at sending your kids

to school or as we're learning and

specifically focusing on today a project

like a creative Endeavor it's better to

just pick something and get the ball

rolling and I think Mike you know we've

referenced this probably in the past

that first stage of moving you know a

big boulder is really really hard isn't

it unless you get the momentum going

that seems

unsurmountable uh insurmountable and it

feels way too heavy and you can be

totally put off and as we were hearing

from that first clip it's easy to find

the signs uh that point out resistance

and you say you know what this is

impossible I can't do it somebody else

can but it's not for me and instead just

choosing something to get that little

bit of momentum going such as writing it

down putting it out there and saying

right that was the first draft yeah yes

now let's later it's such a relief

because you feel as though you've

accomplished something don't you yeah

and and to build on that you often once

you do break through and do get started

everything starts to kind of come

together like you get your

momentum one might say you get the

confidence right yes yeah big time I

think like we were talking about in in

that first clip this idea of um

resistance being predictable is down

from um that gives you that confidence

like you say and that hero's journey or

that feeling that you're alone in the

experience is a real sap on your

confidence and it creates that sort of

anxiety doesn't it and you're right if

you get to do something whatever it

might be and you just start that little

tick internally you kind of think oh you

know what I did all right yes I can't

believe I've written the first word or

the first chapter yeah or skeleton plan

or a contents content a table of

contents yes even something as tangible

as that and small as that is is helpful

isn't it yeah like I have this thing

that if I notice myself procrastinating

on something like I'll set up the

folders or I'll set up a document or

I'll ask chat GPT for for an outline

like I try and do medial tasks to kind

of shift me into the zone so like a like

a simple thing um might be

if I need to write a long document

report plan or

presentation thinking about like the

table of contents as you mentioned I

find as very provocative I don't

actually have to write the first page I

just think about well what would be the

main 10 points I need to make and um I

must say that I find chat GPT as a very

good co-conspirator on work right for

example I was recently

um thinking about uh a piece of work

around product Market fit for creating

new products and I was thinking to

myself I wonder if there's a way to make

like a universal set of rules regardless

of the product how do you know when

you've got product Market fit and um I

was thinking about some things and I

asked chat GPT and it gives me so many

answers some I don't like but some I do

and then I'm like oh that's interesting

let let's apply that so it almost

becomes like a creative partner because

I can entertain crazy and interesting

ideas with chat GPT and I said okay take

that model and apply it to this industry

or this company and it gives me crazy

ideas the thing is like it's relatively

low effort but high on

inspiration so so that becomes like

really exciting for me because I like I

see things I like I see see things I

don't like and it starts it kind of

clicks me into gear and I start going

now specific to revising later I have a

thing that I learned Julia Cameron

artist Pages she's like just go for it I

turn off my grammarly because it's

trying to correct my grammar and here's

what I notice Mark if I'm not careful

I've written a paragraph of my journal

but then I see the red and green lines

where it wants to improve my

grammar and I've learned to turn off

grammarly because it changes my mode I

go into editor reviser have up here but

the whole purpose to artist Pages or

morning pages is to just pour it all out

like subconscious flow so you're not

looking to dot the eyes and cross the

te's so that's just a simple hack that

I've got for like turning off grammar

control just so I get it all out I don't

want to see any squiggly lines under my

words I just want to get it out

I'm guilty Mike of Leaning into

pragmatism and trying to you know make

solve the the problem and you're right

that for me is when I've planned out a

project in the past I'll get stuck in

the weeds you know at the very early

point I'll be thinking a yeah but how

could we possibly make this idea happen

we're going to need um let's say an

event producer we're going to need to

fly somebody in we're going to need to

do X Y or Zed and I think okay well we

don't need need to get this deep into

things right now because those things

will sort themselves out later instead

let's plot uh plot down everything that

I think is going to be needed and you're

right chat gbt a great creative partner

and it does help you get started and

it's a great way of stress testing you

know where do I need to start what do I

need to consider yeah when does the SWAT

analysis need to be considered when

should I consider maybe the competitive

analysis but just jotting it all down

and thinking okay well let's kind of

throw the kitchen sink at it at least

initially you can then cut you know in

my experience it's a lot easier to trim

down than to try and beef up yes now

that's not always useful I remember when

I was back at University my dissertation

I think I wrote maybe 30% too many words

and that active the act of distillation

from that point was very very

challenging so I'm not advising people

to you know throw absolutely everything

at it but you're right by starting by

getting things down by maybe stress

testing a little bit with a

co-conspirator whether that's AI or your

partner in

business that then helps you kind of

make that huge Target a lot smaller and

suddenly you can start focusing in on

exactly what it is that you want to go

out and deliver and I think that once

you get something on paper you instantly

respond to it so when you write a table

of contents with your 10 bullets you at

it and go oh no I really need a case

study or I really need this and then all

of a sudden things start moving you're

you're like yep I know what I want to

create here starts to come together and

what I find Mark is when I've got that

table of contents fleshed out I can't

wait to produce that piece of work it's

like almost

like I can't um like I've crossed a

threshold because I can see it in my

mind so now I just want to make it

create whatever it is so this is why

postponing revising uh until later you

can always polish at the end get it out

and somehow you'll cross a a point it's

like a Tipping Point where it propels

you forward yes I know what I want to

create I know what I want to do now the

interesting thing is though you might

revise at some point at the latter end

but pressfield has a little warning for

us Mark um about this kind of backend

stage of producing work work and I think

it's very important companion if we're

going to get started and then revise it

later he's got another big thought for

us doesn't he that's right there's

always going to be a next stage once

you've started the project and that's

going to be towards the end so let's

hear from Brian Johnson who's going to

break down Steven pri's invaluable piece

of advice here with regards to shipping

the work now the beginning was

incredibly important but if you do all

the work and you don't bring it to the

market you don't give it to the world

you don't ship as Seth Goden says and it

doesn't matter just sitting there

Gathering dust on your desk it's really

hard for a lot of people once they've

done the work to put themselves out

there that's that's torture right the

fear of can be torture the fear of what

people are going to say and how they're

going to respond to all this work can

stop us from actually bringing our work

to life shipping it is huge ship ship

ship and there's the big ship right of

launching a play on Broadway or whatever

big project you have but there's all the

little micr ships in the process that

make that happen so the little baby

steps that you could take but you don't

take right there's an email that you

need to send but you got a little bit of

fear you don't know how the person's

going to respond or you need to reach

out to someone or you need to update

your website copy or you need to post

this blog that you've been holding on to

ship ship ship ship in the note I talk

about the fact that every single time I

do one of these there are moments where

it's obviously not perfect and there's a

big part of my perfectionistic self AKA

resistance that doesn't want to ship I

don't want to do anything that's less

than perfect and my discipline is ship

ship consistently finish and get it out

finish and get it out and know that as I

embrace that process over time there's

the opportunity to grow and to get

better and better and better now

different things demand different levels

of quality right but we want to

discipline ourselves to ship so check in

on your life and see if you are not

shipping as often as you can is there

something in your life that you haven't

shipped on that you can go ahead and

step into how can you build your

shipping muscles make it a practice iniz

yourself from the fear and the pain that

comes every time you put yourself out

there you do it and you stretch yourself

a little bit past your comfort Z and

what used to freak you out doesn't freak

you out

anymore oh boy so shipping the work um I

I want to do something fun here Mark um

I think what we want to do is think

about what is our greatest fear when we

have to press the button when it says

publish right I want to take you to that

moment and what I'm G to do is I'm gonna

I'm G to read a list to you

and your fun exercise is to grab this

Gremlin by the neck which one of these

do you think is the overall biggest fear

the biggest resistance of pressing ship

pressing publish not only for yourself

but all your work colleagues all your

professional experience what do you

think most people fear the most here we

go

so these are the things that scare the

hell out of us when we have to ship

number one fear of rejection two

impostor syndrome three oh big one as

Brian just said

Perfection four fear of being

misunderstood five fear of losing

control six now this is interesting fear

of

success seven fear of vulnerability

eight fear of irrelevance and last fear

oh this one's good fear of finality it's

done what oh you know what um actually

so all of those uh nine or 10 options

you know straightaway rejection fear of

what people are thinking of me for my

work that imposter syndrome more and

more I'm hearing from colleagues around

me saying I I'm I'm in this situation

but you know I kind of feel like I've

got imposter syndrome all the way down

to vulnerability we know with Bren Brown

that's a huge um well it's a huge

vulnerability so to speak that finality

one I think has come up before possibly

with Austin CLE whereby you're worried

about completing the work because you

don't know what to do next right so you

you want to put it off because you don't

necessarily you're worried about maybe

being a success afterwards and what I

mean by that is how do you follow up on

that other success maybe we saw a little

bit of that with goggin's second book

yeah do you remember great terminology

where he was saying you know I I I

realized I wasn't pushing myself as much

as I was you know communicating in that

first book so maybe that's uh possibly

not the biggest thing that puts people

off I think that's probably quite a

niche but very relevant one I would say

Mike the Misunderstood ele

and the rejection is probably the things

that I would see the most

of why don't should yeah what do you

think I mean definitely the fear of

rejection has to be a big one for all of

us like no one wants to be the one where

everyone's like oh that's terrible um

what I think here though is what's so

interesting when we call out that list

is when we experience things such as

you've got to press the butt but but

you've got fear of

rejection losing control fear of

success all of those

things you have the chance now in

studying this book by Steven pressfield

in fact by listening to our show

watching our show you know that it is

natural and predictable to feel this so

it's okay you don't have

to be victim to these

thoughts you can just go H I must be

putting my myself out there a little bit

this must be a bit of a stretch goal

because I'm feeling a little

uncomfortable yeah yeah and here's the

kicker and that's okay that's okay

that's okay right good as Yoko would

always say oh yeah that's good and I

think like you know we've said that

before that's the superpower if you can

change your mindset towards kind of

embracing those moments where you feel a

little bit uncomfortable and you think

hey I I I'm G to be learning from this

mhm because it is different to the easy

path that sometimes is laid out you know

those moments of imposter syndrome

control loss the fear of vulnerability

you know those are the moments when you

sort of test yourself isn't it yeah and

you realize hey you know I I can be a

little bit less vulnerable next time

what a great opportunity in life to go

out an experience yeah so you know for

example um many I've got a list here of

famous people who've been successful

despite EXP experiencing those feelings

stepen King his uh his novel carry was

rejected 30 times before it was

published I didn't know that yeah that's

that's interesting isn't it and wait for

this one Da Vinci spent years refining

the moon Alisa and left many Works

unfinished because he couldn't satisfy

his own standards not realizing he was

making the world's most famous artwork

yeah and one that will always be you

know discussed and considered with

regards to th those small uh elements

like the smile yep yep JK Rowling and

the artist Prince uh talked often about

feeling uh misunderstood or a loss of

control Oprah talked about the burden of

trying to be successful a second time

and talked about how that was hard so

that's really interesting even beyon has

talked about her fear of putting herself

out there par particularly when she did

really personal work you know songs and

albums that were really personal to her

so despite all her amazing talented

success she does a personal work and

that she feels that critique of that

work is a critique of her yeah so

despite all of that she had to push

through that so I think what's powerful

here is to remember everyone experiences

these sorts of feelings and it's okay

and the key thing is don't give in to

them right yeah big time and look again

I'm reminded of Elon Musk um you know

there will be moments in his life and

his career where he could have analysis

paralysis and lean away from let's say

entering to the Space Race and instead

what did he do well he he gave it a go

anyway and now we're in this very

exciting time of of you know getting

into the stars and so on without having

that drive without having that resil

that resilience to

resistance we probably wouldn't see you

know SpaceX and so on growing in the way

that it is well remember Marx he was

critiqued for the idea of reusable

rockets and now he does them all the

time and everyone's like yeah that's

great that's amazing cool but actually

he was criticized for even having the

idea and you can imagine the amount of

naysayers providing Maybe different

legal advice cost advice um how you do

you do it and so on social economic

advice and instead of finding the

analysis paralysis throughout all of

that oh just get it out there see what

happens learn and Bezos has this thought

like if you're not pissing a few people

off then you're not trying hard enough

like like you got to be upsetting the

apple cart come on right yeah so that

resistance as you as you pointed out to

rejection that idea of being

misunderstood

you know with Daniel Pink's um the power

of regret you know one of the key

concerns that people had when they were

approaching you know their final few

days was not having spend enough time

with family and maybe um that refusal to

try something a little bit new a little

bit harder yeah and maybe you know this

idea of trying something new releasing

something that you've created you know

those are new experiences that are going

to feel pretty uncomfortable at least um

for for most of us until you start doing

it again and again and get a little bit

more comfortable until then yeah we're

all experiencing the same discomfort and

the same pain yeah yeah yeah

um now we're not quite done with Mr

pressfield but he's got some interesting

thoughts about body parts though

Mark what a teasing uh uh reveal of this

final clip that we've got today on the

episode for do the work by Steven

pressfield we've heard Mike as you say

this idea of resistance this idea of um

just getting started pushing something

out there as well as this idea of you

know finally shipping it this closing

clip that we got from Stephen is a great

demonstration of the character of

pressfield but also an idea on

prioritization and as he's going to tell

us putting your ass where your heart

wants to

be sometimes when we can't get ourselves

started on something or when we want to

make a change in our life and we just

can't sort of figure out what the first

step is there's a there's a phrase that

I use sometimes I think is right very

helpful and on target and the phrase is

put your ass where your heart wants to

be and what I mean by that is if you

want to be a

writer sit down in front of the keyboard

if you want to learn to play the piano

you know sit down in front of that

keyboard if you want to dance get into

the studio if you want to paint get up

before an easel um or if you want to be

a mountain biker get a bike and actually

get out on the trail even if you don't

know what you're doing even if you can't

you don't know how to start there's

something about the physical act of

putting your body in a place where your

dreams can happen that creates a kind of

a magic and the uh the second aspect of

that is don't just put your ass where

your heart wants to be once put it today

put it tomorrow put it the next day put

it the next day in the continuity of

that there's tremendous power but just

simply making that first move to sit

down in front of the keyboard and just

say to yourself I'm not getting up for

the next two hours I don't care what I

do I don't care how bad it is I'm

putting my ass here and I'm going to do

my work whatever it is and there truly

is a kind of a magic anybody who's read

my stuff or knows my stuff I believe

that there's another dimension of

reality and that there are uh Muses and

so on and so forth in that dimension of

reality and that they see us when we sit

down and I can remember when years ago I

really wanted to get into going to the

gym but I was totally intimidated by it

you know you walk you go past a place

you see these big muscle men and these

women that like could lift five times

whatever I could and I just couldn't

make myself do it and finally one day I

did put my ass where my heart wanted to

be and I found that once I was once I

had crossed the threshold and was

actually in this environment then I it

wasn't that hard and the second day was

easier and the third day was easier so

if you want to be a writer sit down at

the typewriter you know if you want to

be a painter stand up before for that

easel if you want to start a new

business get the LLC or do whatever it

is you need to do to get there put your

ass where your heart wants to

be it's so good like this is

literally pressfield going Goggins on us

right yeah it is you're right yeah yeah

yeah he's going full goggin In that clip

total like coach in the locker room

moment um so so here's the thing like I

ly think about all the great habit

design uh study that we've

done and to build on this idea of

putting yourself where you want to be

like if you want to write a book then

you need to be in front of that keyboard

at the same time every single morning I

would even build on that I would say you

need to listen to the same music at the

same time drink the same coffee build

the ritual right I'm having the coffee

I'm listening to the music time to write

I'm sitting at the desk time to write

I've done my notes on the pad time to

write like build the ritual because what

happens is the more you do that the more

you are hardcoding this practice into

your habits because I believe when it

goes full

circle what was originally novel and new

becomes so much of your routine that

when you don't do it it becomes

weird when you don't put your ass where

your heart wants to be it then feels

weird and that's when you know you've

built the habit of success that you've

ingrained it so much for me got to be in

bed by 10 p.m. just got it right for me

there are so many things in my morning

ritual that get me going

that they become automated that is just

how I come to life in the mornings

working on the most important things

before lunch crucial for me these are

all things listening to Theta beater

Wave Music no vocals very specific

frequencies even like this is just

training myself I'm going to crush it

deep work here we go right so I think if

you're dreaming of

running put on your sneakers and start

the slowest jog in the world and before

you know it you'll you're running like a

demon same thing with with if you want

to be an artist or a musician get

yourself in front of it because how can

you not do it if you've got your running

shoes on and you've left the house like

yeah okay well I may as well run now

even though I'm scared to death of doing

it right you may as well like you can't

I think I think it's too easy if you're

dreaming of running but you're sitting

inside that's like there's so many

barriers between you and running right

get yourself out of the house quickly

right

yeah absolutely I mean look going back

to the swimming example I was sharing

earlier that my dream there was to go

and swim across Bondo you know I thought

that must be impossible who can do that

you do it once and you think ohy this is

amazing you know and by going out and as

Stephen would say just putting yourself

in that situation exposing yourself to

it rather than procrastinating again and

again you're right by doing it once

maybe twice another time another time it

becomes easier and easier and easier and

that habit is is slowly formed over time

but this idea of procrastination you

know we've certainly heard today a few

of those tips on how to to get around it

but I think Mike as Stephen would say

it's just the act of doing it isn't it

just putting yourself in there and again

Daniel pink comes back to my mind I

don't want to get in my life where I get

to a point where I think oh you know I

wish I'd given that dream a go you know

wish I'd dedicated five minutes a day to

work on my journal or you know 30

minutes in my mornings to really work on

that book that I always dreamed about

writing but then never did because I

didn't prioritize it I think the the

people who go out there and live their

dreams are the ones that kind of make it

happen because I guess who else is going

to make your dream happen than yourself

right no one else is going to create it

for you no that's absolutely right so

setting yourself up for success

you know putting your ass where your

heart wants to be well that's a good

sign off from Mr prfi don't don't you

think I mean come on this is like get to

it now though the big question really is

Mark what are you gonna get to what's

your go-to topic what's your follow-up

subject I'm a big fan of Revis later you

know I I think we we have spoken about

the idea of table of contents and

jotting down you know a skeleton in the

past I'm a firm believer that that is a

way for me to kind of

jot out the journey and knowing where

the destination could be in order to

make things happen but the actual

physical thing of being comfortable with

revising later that's the key that I

want to get comfortable with not having

that fear of being misunderstood at that

early stage because I know that I'm G to

come back and revise it later what about

you Mike four big Ideas couple of very

practical tips

today yeah I kind of like all of them I

I'm struggling to pick my favorite one I

think it's just been the perfect

companion to understanding that there is

resistance in the last show and now

we've kind of picked up from there and

said okay so what do we need to do if we

acknowledge that to be true what happens

now and I love like getting started

revising later shipping the work and

setting you I can't choose so I'm just

going to have to focus on the

more well that's okay you've done the

work so that's fine okay I appreciate

the permission I want to say thank you

to you Mark and thank you to you our

listeners our viewers and especially to

our members here for show

265 where we study do the work by Mr

Steven pressfield our second book by Mr

pressfield and boy did we get down to

some work we understood that there are

going to be predictable moments of

resistance and it's okay everybody has

them so you can get started and Revis

later and remember don't revise yourself

to death ship the work get yourself out

there in the world and as you go on to

create more and more work make sure you

put your ass where your heart is do this

and you will be the best version of

yourself and you can do that right here

you can learn out loud here on the

moonshots podcast that's a wrap