The War of Art

I hope you found value in Magic Words last month, and were able to test some of the concepts laid out in your conversations and trainings. But now, new month and new thoughts!

Do you like Rhinoceros Success?

That was a trick question - I know you do, you’re an NM MP!

I have to admit, as much as I like it, I didn’t know if it still translated to this generation as well as it did when I first read it as a College Agent in 1991. Out of curiosity, I gave the book to a group of 1st year advisors in one of the offices I was working with last year and we had an hour long debrief of each of their learnings. I was happily surprised when, to a person, they all said it was exactly what they needed in that moment. As a result, it was a great tool for the leaders to utilize in reframing their thinking when feeling stressed and frustrated.

The next level for all you Rhinos should be Steven Pressfield’s book The War of Art. Steven is a very accomplished author and screenwriter, but has all the same issues as every entrepreneur, every advisor, every leader, every MD, every MP…and me. How do we get over self-defeating thinking? How do we make sure we’re focusing on our most important tasks every day? How do we separate the lack of immediate results of our work from our drive to do the work? How do we not get paralyzed in moments and just do the work we enjoy instead of the work we uniquely need to do to drive our organizations and people to the next level?

I reread two books every January, Man’s Search for Meaning, and The War of Art. One to remind me what is important in life, and the other to help me execute on it regardless of circumstance.

The War of Art is written in short 1-3 page chapters aligned to three sections: Resistance; Overcoming Resistance; Beyond Resistance. Through these three sections he helps people identify why they are feeling resistance (spoiler alert, you only resist doing things that are important to you, if you didn’t care, you wouldn’t resist!), strategies to overcome it, then how to thrive as a professional in your craft. The book is really well written, easy to digest, and easy to apply the concepts to yourself and your work. My short book notes are attached below.

Read my notes on The War of Art (FPP Library)

What should you do with this?

First, read the book - I promise you will find great value. Second, go through it with your leaders who run different areas of your business and are experiencing the pressure of selling, recruiting, managing, developing, etc and use it as a continual touchpoint in your development meetings with them. It will help them in their work, and to be better mentors to their direct reports and advisors. Third, let Rhinoceros Success take advisors through their first year or so of learning, but then introduce this into your client builders/study groups when they really need to begin thinking as a business owner - it’s one thing to tell someone they need to do more/better activity, it’s another to help them understand what is going on in their brain and natural biology that might be standing in their way…we have to normalize an issue in order to see it for what it is and move past it!

Now, in the rallying cry of new Milwaukee MP, Frank DiMeglio: “GO TAKE THE HILL!”

Think Differently,

Steve