Business Book Review: Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Is by Steven Pressfield
This is for anyone who has suffered resistance. Be it procrastination, self-sabotage, fear or self-doubt. It’s the manual for creating your heart's desire.
My Rating: ★★★★
Length: 124 pages
Publisher: Sarsaparilla Media
Released: 2022
Key takeaway for personal branding
Resistance with a capital ‘R'
Whatever your profession, Steven Pressfield’s message is clear. As the title says, put your ass where your heart is.
For his mantra, Pressfield posits he means this physically, mentally, metaphorically and spiritually.
The War of Art author has become a champion for rallying against the dreaded enemy - Resistance. Pressfield argues Resistance appears right before a breakthrough.
Resistance wears many guises. Manifesting itself as procrastination, fear, self-doubt or self-sabotage.
A great personal brand strategy will push your comfort zone. And you’ll likely confront Resistance at its borders. It tells you no one cares about your message. It urges you to give up after a few flailing attempts. It makes you doubt your unique gifts.
For all of this self-imposed toxicity, putting your ass where your heart is becomes the antidote.
Of all Pressfield’s suggestions, one stands out:
One hour at a time
Personal branding strategies can often involve out-of-hours commitment. If you’re growing a personal brand project this way, the book is a reminder you can be 100% committed for 10% of your time. Your efforts will compound.
Just one hour a day for 365 days, equates to nine forty-hour work weeks.
Consistency is key. And Pressfield shares some important advice:
Whatever your art may be, decide on:
A time
A space
Then, put your ass where your heart is. If you’re a writer, sit at the keyboard. Pressfield says that the muses will then know where to meet you. And the universe will respond to your commitment.
Favourite Quotes
The most formidable antagonist of all resides inside each of our own skulls.
Station your physical body in the spot where your dream-work will and must happen.
Magic happens when we put our ass in the same space with other dreamers who have already put their asses there.
The universe responds to the hero or heroine who takes action and commits. It responds positively. It comes to the hero’s aid.
The universe is self-ordering…Books are self-organizing too. So are albums, entrepreneurial ventures, and statues of David. The process unfolds infallibly.
You too have a body of work. It exists inside you, on the Plane of Potentiality.
One hour a day is seven hours a week, thirty hours a month, 365 hours a year. Three hundred and sixty hours is nine forty-hour weeks.
Pressfield is equal parts the bearer of brutal honesty and your biggest cheerleader. The 81 chapters in this otherwise short book are delivered with razor-sharp precision. He displays unrivalled empathy for the challenges of a creator. Whatever creating means for you.
If you’ve ever met with internal Resistance, read Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Is.
Put Your Ass Where Your Heart is: Available on Amazon.
