Success does not happen in a vacuum.
I used to believe that great writers, artists, and athletes found success because they had somehow managed to avoid adverse circumstances. Franz Kafka, considered one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, must have written in a well-lit studio, on his own schedule, with no distractions, right?
Kafka, known mostly for The Metamorphosis, The Trial, and The Castle, actually kept his day job as an insurance agent while he scribbled out these masterpieces. He wrote in the late hours of the night or on weekends in hardly ideal conditions for writing.
And, Kafka isn’t the only writer who put together a masterpiece while working through a busy schedule. Just do a quick Google search for “great writers who kept their day jobs” and you’ll find a pretty extensive list. The same goes for great athletes and artists.
Success does not happen in a vacuum.
Remarkable athletes or artists do not work without adversity, they work despite it. Just consider the Brazilian football legend Pele. He grew up poor in rural Brazil and is said to have started out playing with coconut, mangos, and pretty much anything round that he could find because he couldn’t afford a proper football. Of course, these may well be exaggerated anecdotes, but Pele certainly did not have an easy path to stardom. Had he waited for ideal circumstances to start training, he never would have become one of the greatest players in history, much less scored over 1,200 goals in his career.
Success does not happen in a vacuum.
Maybe this seems totally obvious to you, but why then do so many of us wait for the perfect circumstances to start working toward our goals? I know I’m certainly guilty of that. I can’t even count how many times I’ve put off starting something because the conditions just weren’t right. I need more time; I’m too busy; I need better gear; I need more money, more space, a nicer office. These have all been part of the repertoire of excuses that I have used to avoid working on my goals.
These excuses make up what writer Steven Pressfield calls “resistance”. In his book The War of Art, Pressfield describes resistance as a universal force that essentially aims to sabotage our creative aspirations. Resistance is the inner voice that tries to distract or discourage us from our goals. It tells us that we’re not good enough so why even bother; it tells us that our goals are impossible; it tells us that we need this or that before we can start anything. These days resistance is that much louder thanks to our out-of-control consumerist culture that is constantly telling us we need to buy more things before we can accomplish anything. We are convinced we need the perfect notebook, the perfect pair of running shoes, the perfect gym attire, the perfect everything…Sure, having the right equipment can be important, but not having it shouldn’t prevent us from moving forward.
While reading one of my favorite Substacks recently, Poetic Outlaws, I came across a poem called “Air and Light and Time and Space” by Charles Bukowski. He speaks directly to this powerful force that Pressfield calls “resistance”.
Bukowski writes:
”– you know, I’ve either had a family, a job,
something has always been in the
way
but now
I’ve sold my house, I’ve found this
place, a large studio, you should see the space and
the light.
for the first time in my life I’m going to have
a place and the time to
create.”
No baby, if you’re going to create
you’re going to create whether you work
16 hours a day in a coal mine
or
you’re going to create in a small room with three children
while you’re on
welfare,
you’re going to create with part of your mind and your
body blown
away,
you’re going to create blind
crippled
demented,
you’re going to create with a cat crawling up your
back while
the whole city trembles in earthquake, bombardment,
flood and fire.
baby, air and light and time and space
have nothing to do with it
and don’t create anything
except maybe a longer life to find
new excuses
for.
For many years, I might as well have been the guy quoted at the start of this poem. I’ve wanted to start writing consistently for a long time and yet I never got around to it. I never even bothered to even set a time in my schedule for writing. I too wanted a nice studio and the perfect “air and light and time and space” to write.
Looking back on it though, this was a ridiculous notion. Was I expecting an angel to come down from the heavens, wave a wand in my face, and suddenly I would have the motivation and the inspiration to write an entire novel from scratch? That’s as if Pele were sitting on the floor of his home in Três Corações, Brazil in 1950 waiting for the coach of the Brazilian national team to knock on his door with a pair of football boots and say “Hey! Good news, you’re starting in the World Cup tomorrow”.
Whether you aspire to become an athlete, an artist, a writer, or you simply want to pick up a new habit, just know that “air and light and time and space have nothing to do with it”. You have to start no matter what and you have to start NOW. Life is too short to wait for better circumstances.
And, if you feel daunted by your goals just think of Kafka scribbling The Metamorphosis on a notebook by candlelight after a long shift at work, or think of Pele kicking a coconut down a dirt road. Forget about your circumstances, and just start no matter what.
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