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This week’s guest on the 21st Century Creative Podcast is Steven Pressfield, author of the creativity classic The War of Art and a string of other bestselling fiction and nonfiction books.
Steve also has some forthright and provocative things to say about some of the myths about creativity that we allow to hold us back – so I’m expecting howls of protest from some quarters this week!
You can pick up The Knowledge via Steve’s imprint, Black Irish Books, as well as Amazon and all the usual bookstores.
I recommend you also subscribe to Steve’s blog, where he shares his hard-won creative wisdom every week.
Take Steven Pressfield’s Creative Challenge (and you could win his latest book)
Here’s how you can take part – and maybe win yourself a copy of Steve’s latest novel The Knowledge:
1. Listen to the interview part of the show, either in the player above or on iTunes or your favourite podcast platform.
2. In Steve’s words the challenge is to “examine your own life and ask yourself – did I have an All Is Lost Moment? And if so, when was it? what happened? And what epiphany, i.e what big insight, came out of that?”
As Steve says, the All Is Lost Moment is the moment when you hit rock bottom, and you really do feel that all is lost in your life or your career, that you’re as far away as it’s possible to get from reaching your goal and realising your dream or ambition – but it’s also a moment where you see the reality of your situation clearly, and gain a big insight that – somewhat paradoxically – leads to a profound change in you that helps you to move forward towards your goal. So life is very different before and after the All Is Lost Moment.
3. Once you’ve completed the challenge, leave a comment below this post telling us what commitment you’re going to make for the year ahead. So once you’ve given this some thought, and you’ve identified your All Is Lost Moment, leave a comment below, describing the moment itself, the insight it gave you, and the changes you made as a result.
You have until midnight United States Pacific time on Friday 9th June 2017 to complete the challenge and leave your comment.
5. Over the weekend I will send a bonus recording with my feedback on your comments and what we can all learn from the challenge. I’ll be looking through the comments for common patterns, whether that’s ways a lot of you get stuck, or great solutions you’re finding to the challenge. I’ll also be sharing reflections and advice from my own experience as a writer and a coach.
6. Important – the feedback recording will NOT be released on iTunes or anywhere else the show is syndicated. It will only be available via the 21st Century Creative mailing list – click here to join the list (and get a free Creative Career course).
One last thing…
If you’re enjoying the show it would be a huge help to me if you would take a moment to subscribe to The 21st Century Creative in iTunes.
And if you’d like to leave a brief review in iTunes, that would be even more helpful.
The more people who subscribe and review the show, the more visible the show will be in the iTunes store, and the more creators I can help with it.
This is particularly important in the first few weeks of a podcast – so if you enjoy the show, and you’d like to support it, taking a few moments to subscribe and/or review will give the podcast the best chance of success.
Thank you!
Mark McGuinness is a poet, a coach for creative professionals, and the host of The 21st Century Creative Podcast.
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1 2 3 Next »Long time fan of Steve's work, so no wails of protest here.
Two of my all is lost moments; one in life, one with my writing:
After many years in destructive relationship, I started to think that if I was dead, I couldn't be hurt any more. All was lost, indeed, followed by the painful epiphany that instead of dead, I could just be gone. I literally walked out of my life at 4 am, caught a cab, and left town for good. After that, art I'd only dreamed of for decades began pouring out of me. Over a hundred songs and more than a dozen books so far. I've also had the emotional energy to support other artists who've been stuck, unable to get started.
During the past year, I've realized that all my books are amateur. I've secretly known this all along, but this past year I stopped charging money for my books because I couldn't sell amateur art anymore. The epiphany: I can be a pro. I can do the work required. There's no reason not to except laziness, amateur ego nonsense.
That's what I'm committing to: doing the work to write something worthy, professional.
Since Steve already gave me a copy of The Knowledge you can leave me out of the drawing.
I don't think I've had an "All is Lost" moment, but I do love Pressfield and all his works!
I am reading The War of Art right now and it resonates with me. I am not sure I had a single "All is Lost" moment, it's been a process... But the key has been understanding the need to keep on practicing art without focusing too much on the result - it's subtle: you have to care enough to want to improve but not focus on perfection.
I had my "all is lost" moment last summer. I've been an art photographer for 30 years. I was never happy with the work. I sold a few pieces here and there but not great. I started painting my images in photoshop and sold one of those. I was so depressed and had no idea what I was going to do. Took my photos to an art fair with a friend. She sold a couple pieces and I sold nothing.
One day I was reading about encaustic. Sounded interesting. I began painting in encaustic and Loved it. Put together a body of work of abstract paintings and had a solo exhibit in April. Sold 2 large pieces. Made more cash on that show then the last 5 years in photographs. Also signed for another exhibit in July. I will never look back! I found my medium.
My "All is Lost Moment" happened two years ago after going through a pretty difficult breakup, losing my grandmother and facing a financial crisis. One day I was booked to play at a live poetry event 2 hours away by train and I couldn't find the energy to get up and board the train - I was just too physically exhausted and emotionally drained. I would also have to walk nearly 30 minutes to the nearest train station, guitar in tow. It literally felt like my life was over and I can say that I gave up on a career in art. When I eventually got to the event, many of my friends and associates came through to watch my performance (without me having asked them) and their presence there somehow energised me and got me through the gig. I was also paid for the gig via audience donation (which was not something I expected at all) - making the whole thing a lot more worth while.
The epiphany at that moment was, that no matter how down and out I felt about my career - there was still a handful of supporters who were willing to support my art and walk the journey with me - people who believe in what I do.
This year I've committed to being more proactive in my approach to getting my arts business up and running (developing it into a creative agency) and seeking out as many means of learning and educating myself as possible both online and off.
Just had my all is lost moment listening while the two of you were talking. Have to think about it a bit more and keeping my fingers crossed that I find some sort of solution. Although glad that I realized it, it's not a happy moment.
I reckon the all is lost moment is like finding your keys in the last place you look... or the stroy equivalent.
My all-is-lost moment happened in 2008. That was the year my mother died suddenly and, on my birthday, my husband snapped and threatened me with a hammer. I realized that my fantasy of a happy life was just that, a fantasy. Since then I divorced, finished grad school, wrote a book and quit the day job to build the business I wanted from the beginning. I fight resistance every day.
My all-is-lost moment happened in February, with the loss of my beloved mother. I had no career as I had given up my day job to try and be creative but had been totally side-tracked by various family illnesses and a crisis of confidence. I was out of touch with my spirit and my body and felt hollowed out.
The epiphany: life truly is short so get on with your work, get it out there and cherish every single day.
This was a great podcast! I loved the conventions of writing that Steven spoke about - if anything I found that liberating rather than restrictive!
My, "All is Lost" moment was in 1992.
My mother was dying, she was just 53 years old. I had 2 young children aged 5 and 4 years old. I was in an abusive relationship for nearly 6 years and then after years of hidden emotional and occasionally physical abuse my partner did something I never thought he'd do and assaulted me in a busy street in front of many, many witnesses.
The last bit sounds very dramatic, and of course it was - however as I lay there being kicked I heard the screams of someone, I still don't know if it was from another woman who witnessed him kicking me to the ground or if it was from me! But I remember thinking,
"This is it. When this stops... it's over. Nothing like this will ever happen to me again."
And, I'm glad to report I left him immediately after the assault...and life has been pretty damn good since then. Oh and my girls now aged 29 and nearly 28 years old are lovely! :-)