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Early Retirement Extreme Forums » Resources & Recommended Reading

1. 

   Robert Muir
   

   Journeyman
   Joined: Jul '10
   Posts: 280

   This book is a must-read. It shows how to reach your full potential, succeed in your goals, and above all, how to overcome Resistance with a capital 'R'. You can read more about it at Amazon, but I wanted to mention it today because for 10/20 and 10/21/2010, he is selling the ePub or PDF version of the book for $1.99. Pressfield is a prolific and engrossing author and I think he's just dipping his toe into the ebook stream to test the waters.

   http://www.stevenpressfield.com/ - click on the link there.

   Even if you miss the sale, it's a great book!

   Posted 2 years ago #
2. 

   jacob
   

   Expert
   Joined: Jul '10
   Posts: 3,291

   No, no, no, and ten times no. Well, okay, I don't like the book. I think it works fine if you can professionalize your work and somehow separate yourself from your writing. I can't.

   I guess this is more of an "I don't like it, because I disagree"- kind of opinion. If you're a professional anything, it's great book!

   My favorite Pressfield book remains Gates of Fire.

   Posted 2 years ago #
3. 

   tlaloc
   

   Apprentice
   Joined: Aug '10
   Posts: 31

   +1 for an inspiring read. It's not really a step by step type of deal, but more along the lines of something where you read a few pages and think about things for a while (i.e. meditate on it). I might have to add this to the list of things to check out from the library again...

   Posted 2 years ago #
4. 

   Robert Muir
   

   Journeyman
   Joined: Jul '10
   Posts: 280

   Jacob, after seeing the book you wrote, I can say you already have professionalism in spades. Even if you do disagree. :)

   I don't understand what you mean about separating yourself from your writing though.

   Posted 2 years ago #
5. 

   jacob
   

   Expert
   Joined: Jul '10
   Posts: 3,291

   I can't write if I'm not in the right mood or if I'm not inspired.

   Okay, yes, I can write boiler plate articles about index funds and how to make a budget(*), but I can't sit down day after day and grow a book consistently one hour at a time.

   (*) This is what I mean by separating: Writing stuff I don't really care about.

   The ERE book was written in spurts. Sometimes it would be a few weeks between writing anything. Some days I'd spend 12+ hours writing. Other days 5 minutes.

   So my habits are those of an amateur, not a professional, even if the writing holds up to professional standards.

   Posted 2 years ago #
6. 

   tlaloc
   

   Apprentice
   Joined: Aug '10
   Posts: 31

   @Jacob

   One of the things that I took from the book was the idea of practice. By going through the motions of trying, making mistakes, being unable to succeed, etc., we're better able to take advantage of larger challenges when they come.

   I think it is a focus on mastering the basics through daily practice so you can accomplish the larger feats. In order to ride a century you have to be on your bike every day. In writing your book, you had put plenty of practice into writing the blog.

   Posted 2 years ago #
7. 

   dpmorel
   

   Journeyman
   Joined: Aug '10
   Posts: 137

   I am 100% with Jacob.

   Sort of...

   One potential caveat is if you are *new* to something. There is often a mental hurdle to get into a task. Doing that task often helps lower the mental hurdle.

   But once you reach a certain level of comfort/expertise with your craft I think you realize that those periods of amazing productivity/inspiration are not dependent on *grinding it out* with daily hour activities.

   Having said all that, I have tactics I try to use to help me be in the zone on any given day. For instance, I try really really hard to sit down and start writing code as soon as I sit at my computer... no internet, no trolling forums, no reading newspaper, etc. Just sit down and start outputting crackerjack code.

   Posted 2 years ago #

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