In the book, Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be, Steven Pressfield shares his inspiration and techniques to help us make the life-altering transformation.
These are some of my favorite takeaways from reading the book.
Steve talks about commitment also equals exposure. To be “exposed” means to be in a position where we can fall off a mountain, possibly a long way, and possibly to death.
Commitment is the act of moving from the “Known” to the “Unknown.” But something unknown is also scary to humans.
When Steve says, “Put your ass where your heart wants to be,” he proposes a mindset designed to outfox Fear of the Unknown. We need to remember:
“Don’t try to overcome your fear. Fear cannot be overcome. Instead simply move your body into the physical space you fear… and see what happens.”
While fear is the negative face of commitment, the positive face of commitment is self-empowerment. The very act of “putting our ass where our heart wants to be” makes a profound impression on those we wish to work with and on ourselves.
We change when we commit. We see ourselves differently; sometimes, those we are unaware of see us differently. They may come to our aid in ways we could never have anticipated.
Another thing we know is that the universe is self-ordering. Many endeavors in life are self-ordering too. Our symphony-in-the-works evolves into four movements. Our screenplay orders itself into three acts.
If we keep plugging away at it, the Law of Self-Ordering can come to our aid. The work, from day-in and day-out exertion and concentration, produces progress and order.
That is a law of the universe.