Podcasts about Steven Pressfield

In this inspiring episode of The Greatness Machine, host Darius Mirshahzadeh sits down with legendary author Steven Pressfield to discuss his newest novel "The Arcadian" and dive deep into the creative process. Pressfield, author of over 20 books including "The War of Art," "The Legend of Bagger Vance," and "Gates of Fire," shares his journey from a 30-year struggle to published success at age 52. The conversation explores the spiritual and practical aspects of creativity, the concept of resistance, and the warrior mindset needed for artistic achievement. In this episode, Darius and Steven will discuss: (00:00) Introduction to Steven Pressfield (01:05) Steven's Origin Story and Journey to Writing (04:02) Reflections on Past Struggles and Regrets (06:57) The Creative Process and the Role of the Muse (10:02) Uncovering Ideas: The Artist's Journey (12:08) The Impact of 'The War of Art' and Resistance (15:01) Understanding Self-Sabotage and Resistance (18:00) The Spirituality of Creativity vs. Blue Collar Work (21:06) The Importance of Grit and Hard Work (23:54) Expectations vs. Reality in Creative Work (27:05) The Process of Writing and Overcoming Perfectionism (29:54) The Long View: Building a Body of Work (33:02) Channeling Creativity and Letting Go of Outcomes (34:21) The Power of Surrender and Channeling Creativity (37:34) Warrior vs. Mother: The Duality of Creative Virtues (41:58) The Arcadian: A Journey Through Time and Identity (46:31) Striving for Agency: The Artist's Quest (49:41) Making the Unconscious Conscious: The Role of Art (53:10) Reincarnation and Relationships: A Storytelling Device (55:05) Mortality and Legacy: Reflections on the Creative Journey (57:50) AI and Authenticity: The Future of Creativity (59:26) The Grind: Overcoming Barriers to Greatness Steven Pressfield is the bestselling author of The War of Art, with over a million copies sold worldwide. His historical novel Gates of Fire is required reading at West Point and on the recommended reading list of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The author of more than 18 books, Pressfield lives and writes in California. Connect with Steven: Website: https://stevenpressfield.com/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steven_pressfield/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StevePressfield/  Connect with Darius: Website: https://therealdarius.com/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dariusmirshahzadeh/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imthedarius/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Thegreatnessmachine  Book: The Core Value Equation https://www.amazon.com/Core-Value-Equation-Framework-Limitless/dp/1544506708 Write a review for The Greatness Machine using this link: https://ratethispodcast.com/spreadinggreatness.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"A good day is when the flow starts to happen and you kind of lose yourself in it. But you cannot count on those days. So I'm a real believer in grinding — just get in there and take what the defense will give you." — Steven PressfieldORDER THE ARCADIAN HERE: https://amzn.to/4nYHV5eSteven Pressfield is your favorite writer's favorite writer.But years before his best-selling hits like Gates of Fire and The War of Art, Steven Pressfield didn't sell his first novel until he was 52. After over two decades of trying!In Part 2 of our conversation, he and Rain dig into what kept him going, and what keeps him going still.From his daily gym ritual to his philosophy on the Muse, from building a catalog instead of betting everything on one book to his relationship with mentor Robert McKee, this episode is a masterclass in the long game of creative work.If you're in the weeds, struggling to finish, or wondering whether it's too late, this is the conversation you need to hear.In this episode, you will learn to:Build a daily creative habit that beats Resistance even when inspiration doesn't show upThink in catalogs, not single projects, to take pressure off any one piece of workUse physical movement and morning routines as momentum for the creative work that followsTrust the Muse over the market — your least commercial idea may be your most resonant oneEmbrace the long game and stop measuring yourself against overnight success storiesSpecial Thanks to our Presenting Sponsor for this episode, Vocatales → https://www.vocatales.comLinks & ResourcesFollow Steven Pressfield:Website → https://www.stevenpressfield.comInstagram → https://www.instagram.com/steven_pressfield/Book → The Arcadian by Steven Pressfield (out May 2025) https://amzn.to/4dA7yFJBook → A Man at Arms by Steven Pressfield https://amzn.to/4uvYojvBook → Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield https://amzn.to/4nVT5aTBook → The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield https://amzn.to/4tXWiYMBook → The War of Art by Steven Pressfield https://amzn.to/43wWTWnPerson Referenced → Robert McKeePerson Referenced → Randy Wallace (screenwriter, Braveheart)Person Referenced → Rick RubinPerson Referenced → Jack Carr (thriller writer)Nove/Film Referenced → Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir)For more storytelling tips and strategies, visit:Website → https://rainbennett.comPodcast → https://thestorytellinglabpodcast.comOr follow along at:TikTok → https://www.tiktok.com/@chiefstorytellingofficerTwitter/X → https://twitter.com/rainbennettInstagram → https://www.instagram.com/rainbennettFacebook → https://www.facebook.com/thestorytellinglabYouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@RainBennett Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Marcus Aurelius Anderson sits down with bestselling author and creative legend Steven Pressfield in Santa Monica for a wide-ranging conversation centered on Pressfield's new historical fiction novel, The Arcadian. The two explore the novel's ancient mercenary protagonist Telamon, the philosophy of resistance, the role of vulnerability in transformation, and what it means to keep doing the work — even after losing everything in a wildfire. Episode Highlights: 9:55 — The Magical Horse and the Hope of ReleasePressfield unpacks the inciting incident of The Arcadian — Telamon spotting a horse he recognizes from the year 70 AD bearing the brand of the 10th Roman Legion. The horse, appearing 1,400 years later, becomes a symbol of potential redemption and drives the entire story forward. 10:35 — Westerns, Vulnerable Characters, and Human TransformationPressfield reveals that The Arcadian is structurally a Western — like Unforgiven or Shane — and explains why the genre's conventions (a man of violence, a lawless landscape, a vulnerable character) are the perfect vehicle for stories about overcoming emotional isolation and finding humanity. 28:38 — Resistance, the LA Fires, and the Work That Saves You Pressfield opens up about losing his home in the 2025 LA wildfires, including a 40-year-old handwritten copy of the Empedocles quote. He reflects on how devotion to the work — and an acorn from Thermopylae returned by a Special Forces friend — helped hold him together. Steven Pressfield is one of the most influential American authors of the past three decades. Best known for The War of Art, Gates of Fire, and The Legend of Bagger Vance, Pressfield has built a body of work that spans historical fiction, nonfiction on creativity, and screenwriting. A former Marine and advertising copywriter, he spent years living in a Chevy van before finally breaking through as a writer. His concept of "Resistance" — the internal force that blocks creative work — has become a touchstone for artists, entrepreneurs, and warriors worldwide. His newest novel, The Arcadian, was released May 26, 2025. He publishes a weekly blog, Writing Wednesdays, at StevenPressfield.com. Learn more about the gift of Adversity and my mission to help my fellow humans create a better world by heading to www.marcusaureliusanderson.com. There you can take action by joining my ANV inner circle to get exclusive content and information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Steven Pressfield spent 27 years writing before his first novel was published — enduring 21 jobs, living in 11 states, and at times out of his car. Finally, at age 52, Steve finally, what Joseph Campbell calls, “Seized the Sword”.Since then, he's written over 20+ books and sold millions of copies. His most famous works are: The War of Art, Turning Pro, Gates of Fire (Gates is on the US Marine Corps commandant's mandatory reading list), and he also wrote the 2000 Oscar-nominated film, The Legend of Bagger Vance. His newest book, The Arcadian, was just released May 26th.Steven comes on Men Talking Mindfulness to talk about the inner war every man is fighting — against Resistance, and the risks of actually Turning pro.IN THIS EPISODE:What Resistance is — and why it wants to kill you, not just stop youThe one question Steven asks at the end of every day — and why it changes everythingWhy warrior virtues and artist virtues are identicalThe Muse — what it is, where it comes from, and how to tune inAmateur vs. pro: the mindset shift that separates people who do from people who mean toThe authentic swing — Bagger Vance, the Bhagavad Gita, and your true callingRELATED EPISODES:Overcoming ProcrastinationThe Shadow Holds Your Power, Not Your Pain with Connor BeatonFinding Your PurposeCuriosity Is Key to Breaking Men Free from Judgment and RuminationPRE-ORDER THE ARCADIAN BOOK &FOLLOW STEVEN PRESSFIELD:stevenpressfield.comGET MORE FROM MTM:Text MTM to 33777 — free weekly newsletterSubscribe: mentalkingmindfulness.comA2A COURSE:Change is Possible, this is where it starts - 12 modules on attention, presence & performance. Self-paced.https://focusnowtraining.com/a2a-course- Maps to Module 2 of A2A: Observing Your Inner World Without Being Owned By ItBRING FNT TO YOUR TEAM:focusnowtraining.com/contactCo-produced by Robert Lopez cratesaudio.comHosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

► Ready to go deeper and work with Randy directly:https://randygage.com/breakthroughu/► Prefer audio? Get the podcast (and exclusive content):https://randygage.com/podcastWhat separates successful entrepreneurs from everyone else? In this episode, Randy sits down with bestselling author Steven Pressfield to explore why writing, storytelling, and building signal are some of the most valuable skills in business today.They discuss entrepreneurship, creativity, branding, market positioning, and the discipline required to create meaningful work in an AI-driven world. Steven also shares insights into his upcoming novel The Arcadian and the deeper mystical direction of the Telamon series.If you're an entrepreneur, creator, writer, or speaker looking to stand out in a crowded market, this conversation is packed with valuable insights.Key TakeawaysWhy writing is a superpower skill for entrepreneursThe difference between sales and building signalHow storytelling creates influence and market gravityWhy clear writing starts with clear thinkingThe importance of personal branding in today's worldShow NotesSteven Pressfield Website: https://stevenpressfield.com/Breakthrough U: https://randygage.com/breakthroughu/Wealth Without Apology: https://amzn.to/4tPAD4LWho is This Guy?Randy isn't some influencer who listened to a couple podcastsand started posting hot takes. He's the streetwise founder of Prosperity Factory, Inc., who has been building and scaling businesses for more than 40 years. Randy has authored 16 bestselling books, translated into 25+languages, including his latest—Wealth Without Apology—and spoken to more than 2 million people across 50 countries. He's been inducted into both the Speaker Hall of Fame and Direct Selling Hall of Fame.But none of that is why people follow him.They follow him because he calls BS…and says what most people are too afraid to admit. When he's not rocking the stage or building his next project, you'll probably find him coaching a softball team somewhere.Connect with Randy: Instagram: randy_gage Twitter: randy_gage Facebook: randygage

It turns out Steven's readers split into two camps with little overlap. I figure most listeners belong to the War of Art camp. If you haven't read the book and want to live a better life, I recommend it, in the top few percent of recommendations. It's powerful, engaging, memorable, and short.The other camp reads his fiction books. His latest is The Arcadian, which stands alone but connects with his last book A Man at Arms. I read both and now belong to both camps, proudly. One goal of this conversation is to entice listeners to join both Pressfield camps too.This podcast is about leadership applied to sustainability, not just personal leadership and art. Just because I like his books doesn't mean his fiction is relevant to this podcast. I found one part delivered a powerful gut punch that I found relevant to our lives.Blog readers will have seen my post about that part after reading The Arcadian Wounded Warriors, by Steven Pressfield, and Ourselves. That part describes what happens to people when we are induced to violate our values. Steven and I talked about that section. He described it as the core of the book.The situation warriors face and must deal with is more concentrated than we do, but their ways of handling it are similar to how we do, despite our violations being more diffuse. We would help ourselves handle our lives by facing that we are violating our values, even if, like the warriors, society rewards us for it. Only by facing it can we resolve it. In our case, we can change our culture to stop corrupting us.We can learn a lot from Steven. Not many people sell millions of books. Many followers is a top sign of leadership.Steven's home pageHis booksHis weekly blogMy recent blog post about The Arcadian, about the section of the book we talked about it: Wounded Warriors, by Steven Pressfield, and Ourselves Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Back for a second time on Open Books is a living legend: Steven Pressfield!!! He's spent his entire career writing about warriors, and what he told me in this conversation stopped me cold: the only way out of the cycle is through the pain, not around it. This is one of the great writers of our generation, and trust me, you do not want to miss this one. Steven Pressfield is the author of the best-selling novels Gates of Fire and Tides of War, as well as The Legend of Bagger Vance. He is also the author of the classics on creativity, The War of Art and Turning Pro. Get a copy of his brilliant new book, The Arcadian: A Novel. Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment firm, and founder and chairman of SALT, a global thought leadership forum and venture studio. Pre-order my next book, All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, out on the 17th of September in the UK and the 22nd of September in the US: ⁠https://www.scaramucci.net/allthewrongmoves Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, we welcome Steven Pressfield back to the show. He is an author of historical fiction, non-fiction, and screenplays. His notable works include: Gates of Fire, The Legend of Bagger Vance, A Man at Arms, The War of Art, Turning Pro, Do the Work, The Warrior Ethos, Tides of War, and over a dozen more. In this interview, we discuss how he is doing in the aftermath of losing his home during the California wildfires from 2025, how he is able to maintain his sanity and work ethic even though he lost his creative haven, why he decided to bring back the character of Telamon in his newest novel, how he decides whether or not to kill off a character or continue their story, how different it is writing fiction versus nonfiction, the reason why he feels the need to present a foil for intense characters that he creates, how the main character of The Arcadian relates to his own alter ego, what he is working on now, and much more. Let's get into it… Episode notes and links HERE. Donate to support our mission of equipping men to push back darkness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 385) — Have you ever wondered how much of The Legend of Bagger Vance is rooted in history? Steven Pressfield, author of the 1995 novel that inspired the 2000 film, joins Based on a True Story to unpack the story's connections to the Bhagavad Gita, the real-life golfing legends Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen, and the choices Hollywood made when bringing the book to the screen. They also explore Steven's approach to writing historical fiction and his latest novel, The Arcadian.Guest LinksThe Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven PressfieldThe Arcadian by Steven PressfieldSteven Pressfield's WebsiteChapters0:00 Intro and movie synopsis2:43 Meet Steven Pressfield5:35 Is Bagger Vance based on history?11:32 Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, and real golf history18:07 The missing 10 years after World War I27:18 What the movie changed from the book40:02 Writing historical fiction with Steven Pressfield52:06 The Arcadian and final thoughtsSupport my workSupport my sponsorsBecome a BOATS Producer (name in credits + ad-free episodes)Join the BOATS DiscordGet the BOATS email newsletterEmail me: dan@basedonatruestorypodcast.comGet my video podcasting classSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"Sometimes you write a character that asserts himself—something you didn't plan. It's like he wanted to come back, and he brought his own story with him. It was kind of my job as a writer to ask myself what that story was." — Steven PressfieldORDER THE ARCADIAN HERE: https://amzn.to/4nYHV5eSteven Pressfield is your favorite writer's favorite writer.And in this episode, Rain sits down with him in person in Los Angeles to talk about the craft behind The Arcadian, the new novel in his Telamon series.What starts as a conversation about a centuries-spanning warrior with a karmic curse quickly becomes a writing advice masterclass in how great fiction actually gets made: through instinct, detail, observation, and a willingness to follow a character wherever he leads.Steven breaks down how he discovered Telamon's immortality only after writing him across multiple books, why physical and historical details are what make the impossible believable, and how a 2500-year-old quote from an ancient Greek philosopher became the seed of an entire novel.If you write anything—novels, screenplays, brand stories, or scripts—this conversation will change how you think about finding and following a story.In this episode, you will learn to:- Trust instinct over planning in your writing and follow your characters even when you don't understand where they're going- Use specific physical details to earn the reader's trust before asking them to believe the extraordinary- Find story seeds in quotes, lyrics, and observations, and let them percolate until the full shape emerges- Get the story first and research second to avoid using research as a form of Resistance- Move the camera inside your prose, shifting perspective the way a cinematographer would, to write vivid, immersive scenesSpecial Thanks to our Presenting Sponsor for this episode, Vocatales → https://www.vocatales.comLinks & ResourcesFollow Steven Pressfield:Website → https://www.stevenpressfield.comInstagram → https://www.instagram.com/steven_pressfield/Book → The Arcadian by Steven Pressfield (out May 2025) https://amzn.to/4dA7yFJBook → A Man at Arms by Steven Pressfield https://amzn.to/4uvYojvBook → Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield https://amzn.to/4nVT5aTBook → The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield https://amzn.to/4tXWiYMBook → The War of Art by Steven Pressfield https://amzn.to/43wWTWnFilm Referenced → Past Lives directed by Celine SongFor more storytelling tips and strategies, visit:Website → https://rainbennett.comPodcast → https://thestorytellinglabpodcast.comOr follow along at:TikTok → https://www.tiktok.com/@chiefstorytellingofficerTwitter/X → https://twitter.com/rainbennettInstagram → https://www.instagram.com/rainbennettFacebook → https://www.facebook.com/thestorytellinglabYouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@RainBennett Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“I would rather be alive than digestible.” Diese Folge gejt um die Angst anzuecken und wie wir dadurch Anderen dabei zuschauen, wie sie Dinge machen, die wir gerne tun würden . In dieser Solo-Folge spricht Lea über einen Satz, der sie diese Woche komplett gehitted hat und plötzlich irgendwie präziser war als alles, was Therapie, Bücher oder 47 offene Tabs sonst gerade so anbieten.Es geht um People Pleasing, das „falsche Selbst“, kreative Resistance, Dopamin, Sichtbarkeit, psychosomatische Zusammenhänge und die Frage, warum wir uns manchmal so sehr daran gewöhnen, verdaulich zu sein, dass wir irgendwann vergessen, wie sich echtes Lebendigsein eigentlich anfühlt.Oder warum Resistance sich am liebsten als Vorbereitung verkleidet. Warum wir noch einen Podcast hören, noch ein Buch lesen, noch eine Strategie bauen, anstatt einfach anzufangen.“Suppression always collects interest.”Anpassung ist immer auf Pump.Eine Folge über unbequeme Ehrlichkeit, die 2 % der Menschen, die die Treppe nehmen obwohl es einen Aufzug gibt, grüne Cowboyboots als Identitätsswitch, das Nervensystem, das immer noch denkt wir werden aus dem Stamm geworfen und warum die Dinge, die uns am meisten Angst machen, oft genau die sind, die uns wieder fühlen lassen.Oder kurz:eine Folge darüber, wieder ein bisschen unverdaulicher zu werden.Worüber Lea spricht:​Simone Sylvester und der Satz, der dieses Jahr für sie alles verändert hat​Die 2%-Regel von TikTok-Creatorin Lindsiann: Rolltreppe oder Treppe?​Winnicott und das „falsche Selbst“​Warum People Pleasing 200.000 Jahre Evolution sind und keine Charakterschwäche​Die Eisenberger-Studie: was im Gehirn passiert, wenn wir anecken​Pressfields „Resistance“: die Kraft, die sich am liebsten als Vorbereitung verkleidet​Anna Lembkes „Dopamine Nation“: warum nur Reibung uns wieder spüren lässt​Drei Fragen, die Lea sich gerade jeden Abend stellt

There's a hidden force that is hurting your creative work.Steven Pressfield is the author behind The War of Art, Gates of Fire, and The Legend of Bagger Vance. After spending the past few years writing my own first book, I had a lot of questions for him about what actually gets in the way of creative work.In this episode, we talk about the difference between writing for ego and writing in service of something larger. I told him about the fear of success that crept in once my manuscript got close to being done, the dread of asking people for endorsements, and the strange grief of finishing a project you've lived inside for years.He shared things I didn't expect. The War of Art was a 10-year slow burn. He's been "terrified every minute" of his career and never gave in. He believes resistance is a real force with one job: to stop you. And he writes ninety pages into his next book before the current one ships.Read: The Arcadian: A Novel by Steven Pressfield: https://amzn.to/4ufrFhSYou'll learn:[00:00] Introduction[14:49] Two kinds of loneliness, and how spiritual grounding resolves both[20:29] Why writing alone doesn't feel lonely, and how the muse shows up in the creative space[34:54] Resistance, shadow careers, and addiction as misrouted creativity[56:34] Steven's pre-writing ritual: invoking the muse and checking ego at the door[1:04:45] Why over-editing is a form of resistance, and how to know when a work is done[1:07:49] Building a body of work instead of betting everything on one book[1:09:41] Creative discipline: why Steven distrusts breaks and why the muse likes knowing where to find you[1:14:10] Losing his home in the Malibu fire: detachment, grief, and what the goddess still has to offer[1:22:42] The Arcadian: karma, reincarnation, and whether the universe has a mechanism for justiceResources Mentioned:Read: A Horse Named Lonesome: Tales and Teachings to Reclaim Connection, Transcend Separation, and Discover the Divine Within by Luke Storey | BookRead: Govt Cheese: A Memoir by Steven Pressfield | BookRead: Animal Power: 100 Animals to Energize Your Life and Awaken Your Soul by Alyson Charles | BookRead: The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield | BookRead: The Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield | BookRead: The Legend of Bagger Vance: A Novel of Golf and the Game of Life by Steven Pressfield | BookThe Joe Rogan Experience #1901 – Steven Pressfield | PodcastOprah's Super Soul #164 – Steven Pressfield: Unlock Your Creative Genius | PodcastRead: The Odyssey by Homer and T. E. Lawrence | BookRead: Lawrence of Arabia: The Authorized Biography of T.E. Lawrence by Jeremy Wilson | BookFull show notes at lukestorey.com/pressfield2Related The Life Stylist Episodes:Steven Pressfield: Overcoming Resistance to Discover Your Creative Genius | PodcastThe Heart/Mind Connection & Supernatural Healing With Dr. Joe Dispenza | PodcastFind more from Steven: Steven Pressfield | Website | Instagram | Facebook | X | TikTokFind more from Luke:Luke Storey | Instagram | Facebook | X | YouTube | LinkedInSUNLIGHTEN | Save up to $600 when you go to lukestorey.com/sunlighten and use code LUKESTOREY in the pricing form.BIOPTIMIZERS | Visit bioptimizers.com/luke and use code LUKE15 to save 15% off sitewide. Plus, get a free bottle of MassZymes while supplies last.LEELA QUANTUM | Go to lukestorey.com/leelaq and use code LUKE10 for 10% off your first order.REAL PROVISIONS | Visit realprovisions.com/luke and enter code LUKE to get a free bag of Venison Chips with your order.

Steven Pressfield is the Author of some 28 books including The War of Art, Going Pro, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Gates of Fire, The Warrior Ethos, A Man at Arms, and his latest book being released in a few days on May 26th, The Arcadian. This was truly an honor to have the opportunity to sit down with Steven and learn more about him, his process, and his work!  You can find Steven on his website https://stevenpressfield.com/home/ You can find this shows website here https://www.thedistinguishedsavage.com You can find this shows sponsor RallyPointISRSolutions here https://www.rallypointisrsolutions.com You can find our sponsor Absolute Security and Lock here http://absolutesecurityandlock.com You can Greenville Combatives Academy here https://greenvillecombatives.com You can find Patrick Odles website here https://www.mccdefense.com The views, information, and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the host and guest speakers and do not necessarily represent those of any associated organizations, employers, or sponsors. The opinions and views shared do not reflect the positions of our sponsors or their affiliated companies. This podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only and should not be considered professional advice in any field including but not limited to legal, medical, financial, or technical matters. All content is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. We make reasonable efforts to ensure accuracy but cannot guarantee that all information presented is correct, complete, or up-to-date. Listeners should verify any critical information independently. Guest opinions belong to them alone. Our interviews with various individuals do not constitute endorsement of their views, products, or services. By listening to this podcast, you agree that we are not responsible for any decisions you make based on the information provided. Please consult with qualified professionals before making important decisions related to your health, finances, or legal matters. This podcast may contain explicit language or mature themes. Listener discretion is advised. © 2025 The Distinguished Savage, Savage Concepts LLC

Episode Notes The Wedding and the Marriage: On Creative Devotion and the Gift of the Slow Burn What does it actually mean to be devoted to your work — not the version of it you imagined, but the version that wants to exist? In this deeply personal episode, Michael reflects on the six-year journey of writing Resonance: The Art and Science of Human Connection — and the humbling gap between the grand launch he envisioned and the initiation the universe had in store. Recorded live from Tulum, Mexico, just weeks after the book's release, this is a raw and honest meditation on ego, surrender, patience, and what it means to stay in the work when the fanfare doesn't come. What You'll Hear in This Episode: The moment Michael nearly folded after five years — and the four-month ultimatum that changed everything Why he moved to Austin, found the right environment, and finally cracked the book's structure The emotional experience of recording the audiobook and hearing his "composition" for the first time How a crypto portfolio hit by 100% China tariffs wiped out his marketing budget — and what he did next The difference between the wedding (the launch) and the marriage (the lifelong commitment to the work) Why he stopped chasing the bestseller list and started thinking like Ryan Holiday's perennial bestseller What Esther Perel's Mating in Captivity and Steven Pressfield's The War of Art teach us about the slow burn The Miles Davis principle: music is what lives in the space between the notes Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom as a model for creative endurance How the principles of Resonance — listening, devotion, releasing transactional expectation — apply to your creative life, not just your relationships Key Themes: Creative initiation and the fire that forges you Releasing egoic expectation vs. listening to what wants to live The gift of the slow burn and the perennial work Environment as a creative catalyst Dissonance vs. resonance in relationships — and in your work What vision fasts and initiatory rituals teach us about patience and preparation Quotes From This Episode: "It's not about the night of the wedding. It's going to be about the years of commitment in the marriage." "How can I listen to what wants to live — and become an instrument for that song?" "Music is what lives in the space between the notes." — Miles Davis "I wasn't positive how the ideas came together in the most poignant way. But I knew it was in there." Referenced in This Episode: Resonance: The Art and Science of Human Connection by Michael Trainer — available wherever books are sold The War of Art — Steven Pressfield Mating in Captivity — Esther Perel Long Walk to Freedom — Nelson Mandela The Ryan Holiday perennial bestseller framework Connect with Michael:

What actually separates people who build lasting wealth from everyone else? Not the tips. Not the apps. The habits. Joe put the question to a panel of financial planners, coaches, and bloggers -- and turned it into a game. Seven habits, three rounds, two points up for grabs. Monica Scudieri, who paid off $257,000 in debt and reached financial independence in 10 years, joined OG and Jesse Cramer to find out how well the conventional wisdom matches what actually works.What You'll Walk Away WithThe seven millionaire habits Kiplinger identified -- and which ones the panel nailed, missed, and argued aboutWhy continuously educating yourself about money remains one of the highest-leverage habits at any income levelThe networking truth wealthy people understand that most people don't -- and why "who not how" changes everything about how you approach your career and financesMonica's story: how she turned a divorce, $257,000 in debt, and three rounds of unemployment into financial independence in a decadeWhy living below your means isn't about deprivation -- it's about creating the margin that makes every other habit possibleThe pay yourself first argument that actually holds up when your budget is genuinely tightWhy OG thinks waking up early is the worst advice in personal finance -- and what he thinks actually matters insteadThe book recommendations that shaped each panelist's financial philosophy -- including a deep dive on why passive investing still winsWhy diversifying your income streams landed on the millionaire habits list -- and what that looks like in practiceThe complete list of seven habits, revealed at the end -- including the two the panel never guessedWhy This Matters NowMillionaire habits get discussed constantly and followed inconsistently. The gap isn't usually knowledge -- it's the unsexy reality that these habits have to run in the background for years before the results become visible. This roundtable is worth listening to not because the list is surprising, but because the people talking about it have actually lived it.From the BasementJoe, OG, Jesse Cramer, and Monica Scudieri from Grab Your Slice play two rounds of the millionaire habits game while the year-long trivia competition quietly shifts -- Monica guesses closest on a 1940 McDonald's complete meal price and earns Paula Pant's first point in a while. OG extends his lead. Jesse goes 0 for the day and seems fine about it. Doug intervenes on the trivia question to add a milkshake, which turns out to be decisive.Resources MentionedGrab Your Slice of Financial Independence by Monica Scudieri -- available wherever books are soldMonica Scudieri financial coaching -- schedule a free 30-minute call at grabyourslice.comPersonal Finance for Long-Term Investors -- Jesse Cramer's podcast, wherever you listen; upcoming two-part series on the 14 risks retirees faceAutomatic Wealth by Michael Masterson -- recommended by Monica as her foundational bookA Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel -- recommended by JesseThe War of Art by Steven Pressfield and Essentialism by Greg McKeown -- recommended by OGThe Truth About Money by Ric Edelman -- recommended by JoeNetworking With the Affluent by Dr. Thomas Stanley -- referenced in discussionStacking Benjamins Vault -- stackingbenjamins.com/vaultStacking Benjamins Community -- stackingbenjamins.com/basementStacking Benjamins "Benjamins After Dark" Meetups -- stackingbenjamins.com/BADSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Life Lessons From Jeremiah Pt. 2: Be On Mission By Louie Marsh, 5-10-2026   IF I'M GOING TO SERVE GOD…   1) It helps to know WHAT I'm supposed to do!   See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant." Jeremiah 1:10 (ESV)   The three pairs of verbs-pull up/tear down, take apart/demolish, build/plant-are all-involving. In the way of faith we do not escape because it is too much for us; we plunge into it because we are commanded and equipped. It is not our feelings that determine our level of participation in life, nor our experience that qualifies us for what we will do and be; it is what God decides about us.   · To uproot and tear down   "13He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up." (Matthew 15:13, ESV)   "7If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it." (Jeremiah 18:7–8, ESV)   • Sin-corrupted structures must be pulled up at the roots (Jeremiah 18:7-8; Matthew 15:13).   • "Tear down" pictures dismantling false worship, injustice, and empty confidence.   · To destroy and overthrow   "52he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate;" (Luke 1:52, ESV)   • Intensified verbs stress total demolition of prideful kingdoms.   • Nothing withstands the Lord's decree—not Jerusalem's walls, Babylon's empire, nor modern idols (Jeremiah 25:29; Luke 1:52).   • Destruction here is mercy: it halts evil before it devours further   · To build and plant   "6I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down; I will plant them, and not pluck them up." (Jeremiah 24:6, ESV)   • Judgment clears ground for restoration.   • "Build" promises stability; "plant" promises fruitfulness.   • God never leaves ruins unattended; His ultimate aim is a people and a place flourishing under His reign. · This is Jeremiah's MISSION STATEMENT.   Other Biblical Mission Statements:   John the Baptist;    A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Isaiah 40:3 (ESV)    Jesus:   "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Luke 4:18-21 (ESV)   Paul:   But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles— to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.' Acts 26:16-18 (ESV)   For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 1 Corinthians 1:17 (ESV)   My Mission Statement:   To go anywhere, at anytime, to teach anyone God's Word, and to Empower Disciples.   2) To fulfill God's call I need lots of REASSURANCE!   · 1st Assurance – God is WATCHING over him.   And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Jeremiah, what do you see?" And I said, "I see an almond branch." Then the LORD said to me, "You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it." Jeremiah 1:11-12 (ESV)   The almond tree is one of the earliest trees to bloom in Palestine. Before it puts forth leaves, it puts forth blossoms, white and snowy.   The vision is accented with a word play. The word almond and the word watching are nearly identical in Hebrew. "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I see a shaped ("almond"). "Good eyes! I'm sticking with you. I am shoqed ("watching") my word to make every word I give you come true. I am watching my word like a shepherd watching his flock.   ·  2nd Assurance – BELIEVE that God limits evil in this world.   The word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north." Then the LORD said to me, "Out of the north disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land. For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the LORD, and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah. And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands. Jeremiah 1:13-16 (ESV)   "I believe in getting into hot water, it keeps you clean." - G. K. Chesterton   The subject of the vision is negative (in contrast to the almond vision) but its message is positive, for its effect is to contain evil. The boiling pot is a container of evil, and it poured out by someone – it is limited and controlled.   The boiling pot reduces evil to a location and a use. We cannot afford to be naive about evil-it must be faced. But we cannot be intimidated by it either. It will be used by God to bring good.   "7For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way." (2 Thessalonians 2:7, ESV)   The first vision convinced Jeremiah that the word of God bursts with wonders and that its wonders are not illusions. The second vision convinced Jeremiah that the world is very dangerous but that the danger is not catastrophic.   3) I must be SHAPED by God's Word & Vision, nothing else!   Jeremiah was shaped by the visions, not by the fashions of the day, not by his feelings about himself. We know that he often felt terrible and that he was treated terribly. He often felt weak; he often was near despair. In fact, he was always strong. His emotions often failed him; his faith always held fast. His strength was not achieved by growing calluses over his highly sensitive spirit.   "18And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. 19They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you."" (Jeremiah 1:18–19, ESV)   Educated by the almond rod, his inward responsiveness to the personal, whether God or human, deepened and developed. Educated by the boiling pot, his outward capacity to deal with dehumanizing evil and to resist depersonalizing intimidation became invincible: "impregnable as a castle, immovable as a steel post, solid as a concrete block wall." Not bad for someone who started out as "only a boy."   4) Now it's time to get to work – be PROFESSIONAL.   But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you… Jeremiah 1:17a (ESV)   "6Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey." (Mark 1:6, ESV)   Pictures – map of E.Timor, story of when you first taught this.   THE UNLIVED LIFE – taken from The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. (Gates of Fire) Resistance is the most toxic force on the planet. It is the root of more unhappiness than poverty, or disease. To yield to Resistance deforms our spirit. It stunts us and makes us less than we are and were born to be. If you believe in God (and I do) you must declare Resistance evil, for it prevents us from achieving the life God intended when He endowed each of us with our own unique genius.   Genius is a Latin word; the Romans used it to denote an inner spirit, holy and inviolable, which watches over us, guiding us to our calling. A writer writes with his genius; an artist paints with hers; everyone who creates operates from this sacramental center. It is our soul's seat, the vessel that holds our being-in-potential, our star's beacon and Polaris.   WHAT IS THIS RESISTANCE?   · I won't let my FLESH stop me.   For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. Romans 7:14-20 (ESV)   5) To overcome I must RELY on God's strength.   … Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the LORD, to deliver you." Jeremiah 1:17b-19 (ESV)   · God's strength shows itself in my WEAKNESSES.   Jeremiah 1:17b-19; 2 Corinthians 4:7–10, 12:7-10   "17... Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. 18And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. 19They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you."" (Jeremiah 1:17b–19, ESV)   "7But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies." (2 Corinthians 4:7–10, ESV)   "7So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:7–10, ESV)

EPISODE 709 - Sandra Schnakenburg - The Housekeeper's Secret - Uncover the story hidden by a family's beloved housekeeper, Lee MetoyerIn this episode of Living The Next Chapter, author Sandra Schnakenburg shares the extraordinary origin of her memoir The Housekeeper's Secret, born from a deathbed promise to her beloved housekeeper, Lee Metoyer. A corporate finance veteran with no formal writing training, Sandra recounts how Lea, who raised her from age three on their 44-acre estate starting in 1965, lived with them for 30 years under a fabricated identity. Lee often teased the family about her unbelievable life story she planned to write, but lung cancer cut her plans short in 1994, leading her to implore Sandra to tell it instead.​Fifteen years later, while clearing her late mother's home, Sandra discovered Lee's ashes hidden in a closet, reigniting her quest. What began as a search for Lee's supposed husband and son—lost in a car accident, per her cover story—unraveled a shocking truth: Lee had reinvented herself to escape a traumatic past tied to a prominent Creole family in Louisiana, marked by resilience amid hardship. Clues like her aversion to baths, frostbitten feet, false teeth, and evasive one-word answers to Sandra's probing questions fueled the mystery, transforming the book into Sandra's own healing journey through 3,000 pages over a decade.​Sandra dove into writing classes at Rice University, formed critique groups, and battled resistance, inspired by books like Stephen King's On Writing and Steven Pressfield's The War of Art. The memoir blends family love, historical Creole lore, and investigative suspense, readers experience the unveiling alongside her, falling for Lea's electric spirit before grappling with revelations of survival and reinvention. Now a top seller celebrating its first birthday, it's sparking film interest and global resonance on themes of abuse, narcissism, and legacy.​Key Takeaway: Honor the call to share your story, no matter your background; perseverance uncovers truths that heal and connect across generations, proving words outlive ushttps://sandraschnakenburg.com/Send us Fan MailSupport the show___https://livingthenextchapter.com/podcast produced by: https://truemediasolutions.ca/Coffee Refills are always appreciated, refill Dave's cup here, and thanks!https://buymeacoffee.com/truemediaca

Bestselling author Steven Pressfield on what it means to have a creative calling, battling resistance, the role of faith in writing, and his memoir Govt Cheese. A remastered version of episode #058. You'll learn: Why a typewriter sat untouched in the back of a van for seven years before becoming a career. How self-sabotage shows up at the finish line, not just at the start. A rule of thumb for telling resistance apart from legitimate doubt. Why the more important a project is, the more terrifying it should feel. When you can finally write about pain, and why distance matters more than rawness. How an idea for a book might arrive as a single sentence and refuse to leave. A one-page method for outlining a novel, and why one page is enough. What John Keats's concept of negative capability can teach a writer in the dark middle of a draft. The metaphor that reframes writers as delivery drivers rather than creators. Why faith in the muse matters most when the writing feels too good to be your own. Resources & Links

Marcus Aurelius Anderson sits down with technology entrepreneur and AI strategist Stephen Scott for a candid, practical conversation about artificial intelligence and how everyday people can use it to improve their lives. Rather than approaching AI as a threat, Stephen reframes it as a personal force multiplier — one that can help anyone navigate job searches, manage finances, optimize health, and make better decisions. The conversation covers the emotional anxiety surrounding AI, the coming digital divide, deepfake security threats, and why the best time to start engaging with AI is right now. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: Use AI to Future-Proof Your Career — 7:22AI doesn't take jobs — people who know how to use AI replace those who don't. Stephen breaks down a practical step-by-step method for using AI to build a custom resume and cover letter optimized to beat Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and land more interviews. Build Personal AI "Folders" for Every Area of Life — 14:09Stephen shares how he uploads personal health records, financial statements, and life goals into AI platforms to get highly personalized guidance — essentially putting the world's most knowledgeable advisor on call 24/7 for your health, finances, and relationships. Don't Seed Your Intellect to AI — Challenge It — 17:36AI wants to please you, which means its first answer isn't always its best. Stephen explains his "daisy chain" method — bouncing responses between ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini — to converge on the highest level of truth and avoid AI hallucinations. AI Security: Deepfakes, Scams, and Protecting Your Family — 47:33From phishing emails that look indistinguishable from your bank to deepfake video calls impersonating your loved ones, Stephen outlines the growing threats and practical defenses — including using a family "cold word" to verify real communications. Stephen Scott is a technology entrepreneur, author, and builder of practical AI tools with more than two decades of experience in digital platforms and business development. He has worked extensively helping companies strategize AI implementation at the enterprise level, and now dedicates much of his work to helping everyday people humanize AI — using it to simplify work, strengthen relationships, and make smarter decisions in daily life. He is also a committed advocate for closing the global digital divide, connecting underserved communities worldwide to technology and education. Stephen works closely with author Steven Pressfield and can be reached directly through his website at stephenscott.us. Learn more about the gift of Adversity and my mission to help my fellow humans create a better world by heading to www.marcusaureliusanderson.com. There you can take action by joining my ANV inner circle to get exclusive content and information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Books That Matter for Photographers: John Szarcowski and ‘The Photographer's Eye' — The Thing Itself, The Detail, The Frame, Time, and Vantage PointIn this episode of Beyond the Lens, Richard revisits John Szarkowski's 1966 classic The Photographer's Eye for the latest episode in the Books That Matter series. Szarkowski spent nearly thirty years as Director of Photography at MoMA, studying thousands of images across every era and genre. What he discovered was a quiet internal logic that the best photographs share, regardless of style or subject.Richard breaks down all five of Szarkowski's core themes, including the tethering of photography to reality, the power of isolation and detail, and why a camera is, at its heart, an instrument of selection rather than invention.Notable Links: John Szarcowski The Photographer's Eye Beyond The Lens Episode 106: Steven Pressfield and 'The War of Art'  The Thing Itself essay on Substack The Frame essay on SubstackThis episode is brought to you by:Muench Workshops - Photography workshops and expeditions to the coolest places on the planet.Luminar Neo - Try Luminar Neo today at skylum.com, and use promo code "RICHARD" for a 15% discount, just for my listeners.Kase Filters - My listeners can get 10% off the Kase Filters Amazon page when they visit. beyondthelens.fm/kase and use coupon code BERNABE10 Follow Richard Bernabe:Substack: https://richardbernabe.substack.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/bernabephoto/Twitter/X: https://x.com/bernabephotoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/bernabephoto

How did the Apostle Paul's letters inspire a novel about a "one-man killing machine" and the eternal battle for the human soul? Bestselling author Steven Pressfield joins Trey to discuss the historical and spiritual friction that ignites his novels, including his forthcoming book, The Arcadian. They explore the "atomic bomb" of the ancient world—the early Christian faith—and why life, both on the page and in our minds, remains a constant battle. The Arcadian will be available May 26, 2026, pre-order it HERE! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My guest today on the Online for Authors podcast is Terry Weaver. We are going to chat about the differences between writing a novel and writing a screen play. Terry grew up in San Bernardino, a suburb of Los Angeles, California. After graduating high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Military as a Navy Corpsman. He was deployed as a combat medic with the U.S. Marines and served a tour of duty in Kuwait and Iraq from 2002 to 2003. After five years of active duty, Terry received an honorable discharge.  He attended Mays Business School at Texas A&M and received the Pat Tillman Foundation Scholarship, established in the namesake of Army Ranger and NFL star player Pat Tillman, who was killed in action while serving his country.   Terry earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in 2011 and completed his Master of Arts in Biblical Studies in 2020 at Grace School of Theology. He spent over a decade in sales and marketing, and while doing so he founded VEL INSTITUTE, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit. Terry has published five books, two non-fiction and three fictional works. His latest book is titled A Long Night Cry.  He's the award-winning lead actor in the television series, Breaking Strongholds. Additionally, he has acting credits and writing credits in television and narrative film and has produced multiple short films and commercials.   In 2025, Terry wrote, produced and directed his first feature film titled The Beast of Trinity Texas, which is available to watch on Amazon and Tubi.  He's happily married to Chelley Weaver. They have four children and reside in a suburb of Houston Texas.  Terry's life mission is to inspire those he loves and the world through his faith, creativity and writing.  Books mentioned during the podcast: The Anatomy of Story by John Truby: https://amzn.to/47t5xHM Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk: https://amzn.to/4cx8vyA The War of Art by Steven Pressfield: https://amzn.to/4stpGFM Subscribe to Online for Authors to learn about more great books! https://www.youtube.com/@onlineforauthors?sub_confirmation=1  You can follow Author Terry Weaver Website: https://terryweaver.substack.com/ FB: @Terry Weaver FB: @thebeastoftrinitytexas IG: @terryweaverjr IG: @thebeastoftrinitytexas/ Watch Terry's film, The Beast of Trinity Texas, streaming on Amazon, Tubi, and Apple TV - https://thebeastoftrinitytexas.com/  Teri M Brown, Author and Podcast Host: https://www.terimbrown.com FB: @TeriMBrownAuthor IG: @terimbrown_author X: @terimbrown1 Want to be a guest on Online for Authors? Send Teri M Brown a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/member/onlineforauthors #terryweaver #terimbrownauthor #authorpodcast #onlineforauthors #characterdriven #researchjunkie #awardwinningauthor #podcasthost #podcast #readerpodcast #bookpodcast #writerpodcast #author #books #goodreads #bookclub #fiction #writer #bookreview  *As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

300 by Frank Miller (1998) vs Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield (1998)

Patricia Ryan Madson, writer, speaker, Professor Emerita at Stanford University, and founder of the Stanford Improvisors, joins me on this episode. Patricia is the author of Improv Wisdom, a powerful book on applying the principles of improvisational theater to everyday life, whether you're navigating a demanding boss, a tired child, or life's constant surprises. As author Steven Pressfield said, "There are very few books on creativity that I would take with me to a desert island. One for sure is Patricia Ryan Madson's Improv Wisdom."

Welcome to Episode 65 of the QR Lab Podcast — Creative Work and the War WithinIn this episode, we dive into the mysterious and powerful world of creative work, inspired in part by the ideas presented in the book The War of Art by The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. Pressfield argues something both inspiring and unsettling: when we ignore our creative calling, we are not just failing ourselves—we may actually be cheating the world of the contribution we were meant to give.Why is it so difficult to pursue creative work? Why do we resist the very thing that seems to call us the most deeply? In this conversation, we examine the internal battle between inspiration and resistance, discipline and doubt, courage and fear.But the discussion quickly moves into deeper territory. Where does creativity actually come from? Do we invent art purely from our own minds, or does it somehow flow through us from a deeper source? Many artists, scientists, and thinkers throughout history have described creativity less as an act of ownership and more as an act of reception—as if ideas exist somewhere beyond us, waiting to be discovered.So what is the artist's role? Are we creators, conduits, or something in between?Website: https://www.qrlabpod.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@qrlabpod/shortsInstagram: https://instagram.com/qrlabpodEMAIL: qrlabpod@gmail.comJoin us as we explore the nature of creative work, the resistance that stands in its way, and the profound responsibility each of us may have to bring something new into the world. Because if creativity truly moves through us, the real question becomes: what happens if we refuse to let it?

This episode is presented by Mercury, the banking platform that makes this show possible. I can't imagine trying to run my business without them. Learn more at https://mercury.com Steven Pressfield is a master in the art of storytelling. He spent decades studying what great stories have in common. So that's what we're going to talk about: the principles of storytelling and character building. I want to know the things that transcend genre and culture, and speak to the heart of the human condition. I want X-ray vision into what makes stories great. I want to know what makes you get to the end of the story and just say "wow". That's what this conversation is all about. About the host Hey! I'm David Perell and I'm a writer, teacher, and podcaster. I believe writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. I seek to help as many people publish their writing online as possible. Follow me Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-write/id1700171470 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DavidPerellChannel Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2DjMSboniFAeGA8v9NpoPv X: https://x.com/david_perell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some advisors seem born with bold voices — but most are still whispering in thecorner. In this episode, hosts Justin Lakin and Wes Young sit down with Matt Halloran, co-founder of ProudMouth and creator of Sonic Boom Coaching, to unpack one of themost uncomfortable (and essential) topics in growth: resistance. They explore whywe avoid change, why good marketing often falls flat, and what it really takes tobuild and scale your influence. This episode isn't a pitch; it's a call to leadership. If you've ever felt stuck behind thescenes in your business, this one's for you. What to expect: Why most advisors think they're good at marketing, but aren't The three mindset barriers keeping you from real progress (fear, fatigue, andarrogance) The five returns on podcasting and why downloads aren't one of them How to build a brand worth talking about (and coaching tips to get there) And more! Resources: Submit your questions here Transform Learning Series “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield “10x Is Easier Than 2x” by Dan Sullivan & Dr. Benjamin Hardy Other Listening Platforms: Listen on Apple Podcasts Stream on Spotify Watch on YouTube Connect with Us: Instagram X Facebook LinkedIn Youtube Wes Young Live Website Connect with Matt Halloran: ProudMouth LinkedIn: Matt Halloran matt@proudmouth.com Calendly: Matt Halloran

How do you build a creative life that spans music, writing, film, and spiritual practice? Alicia Jo Rabins talks about weaving multiple creative strands into a sustainable career and why the best advice for any creator might simply be: just make the thing. In the intro, backlist promotion strategy [Written Word Media]; Successful author business [Novel Marketing Podcast]; Alliance of Independent Authors Indie Author Bookstore; Bones of the Deep – J.F. Penn This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Alicia Jo Rabins is an award-winning writer, musician, performer, as well as a Torah teacher and ritualist. She's the creator of Girls In Trouble, a feminist indie-folk song cycle about biblical women, and the award-winning film, A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff. Her latest book is a memoir, When We Are Born We Forget Everything. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights, and the full transcript is below. Show Notes Building a sustainable multi-disciplinary creative career through teaching, performance, grants, and donations Trusting instinct in the early generative stages of creativity and separating generation from editing Adapting and reimagining religious and cultural source material through music, writing, and performance The challenges of transitioning from poetry to long-form prose memoir, including choosing a lens for your story Making an independent film on a shoestring budget without waiting for Hollywood's permission Finding your creative voice and building confidence by leaning into vulnerability and returning to the practice of making You can find Alicia at AliciaJo.com. Transcript of the interview with Alicia Jo Rabins Joanna: Alicia Jo Rabins is an award-winning writer, musician, performer, as well as a Torah teacher and ritualist. She's the creator of Girls In Trouble, a feminist indie-folk song cycle about biblical women, and the award-winning film, A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff. Her latest book is a memoir, When We Are Born We Forget Everything. So welcome to the show, Alicia. Alicia: Thank you so much. I'm delighted to be here. Joanna: There is so much we could talk about. But first up— Tell us a bit more about you and how you've woven so many strands of creativity into your life and career. Alicia: Yes, well, I am a maximalist. What happened in terms of my early life is that I started writing on my own, just extremely young. I'm one of those people who always loved writing, always processed the world and managed my emotions and came to understand myself through writing. So from a very young age, I felt really committed to writing. Then I had the good fortune that my mother saw a talk show about the Suzuki method of learning violin—when you start really young and learn by ear, which is modelled after language learning. It's so much less intellectual and much more instinctual, learning by copying. She was like, that looks like a cool thing. I was three years old at the time and she found out that there was a little local branch of our music conservatory that had a Suzuki violin programme. So when I was three and a half, getting close to four, she took me down and I started playing an extremely tiny violin. Joanna: Oh, cute! Alicia: Yes, and because it was part of this conservatory that was downtown, and we were just starting at the suburban branch where we lived, there was this path that I was able to follow. As I got more and more interested in violin, I could continue basically up through the conservatory level during high school. So I had a really fantastic music education without any pressure, without any expectations or professional goals. I just kept taking these classes and one thing led to another. I grew up being very immersed in both creative writing and music, and I think just having the gift of those two parts of my brain trained and stimulated and delighted so young really changed my brain in some ways. I'll always see the world through this creative lens, which I think I'm also just set up to do personally. Then the last step of my multi-practice career is that in college I got very interested in Jewish spirituality. I'm Jewish, but I didn't grow up very religious. I didn't grow up in a Jewish community really. So I knew some basics, but not a ton. In college I started to study it and also informally learned from other people I met. I ended up going on a pretty intense spiritual quest, going to Jerusalem and immersing myself after college for two years in traditional Jewish study and practice. So that became the third strand of the braid that had already been started with music and writing. Torah study, spiritual study, and teaching became the third, and they all interweave. The last thing I'll say is that because I work in both words and music, and naturally performance because of music, it began to branch a little bit into plays, theatre, and film, just because that's where the intersection of words, performance, and music is. So that's really what brought me into that, as opposed to any specific desire to work in film. It all happened very organically. Joanna: I love this. This is so cool. We are going to circle back to a lot of this, but I have to ask you— What about work for money at any point? How did this turn into more than just hobbies and lifestyle? Alicia: Yes, absolutely. Well, I'm very fortunate that I did not graduate college with loans because my parents were able to pay for college. That was a big privilege that I just want to name, because in the States that's often not the case. So that allowed me to need to support myself, but not also pay loans, which was a real gift. What happened was I went straight from college to that school in Jerusalem, and there I was on loans and scholarship, so I didn't have to worry yet about supporting myself. Then when I came back to the States, I actually found on Craigslist a job teaching remedial Hebrew. It was essentially teaching kids at a Jewish elementary school who either had learning differences or had just entered the school late and needed to be in a different Hebrew class than the other kids in their grade. That was my first experience of really teaching, and I just absolutely fell in love with it. Although in the end, my passion is much more for teaching the text and rituals and the wrestling with the concepts, as opposed to teaching language. So all these years, while doing performance and writing and all these things, I have been teaching Jewish studies. That has essentially supported me, I would say, between 50 and 70 per cent. Then the rest has been paid gigs as a musician, whether as a front person leading a project or as what we call a sideman, playing in someone else's band. Sometimes doing theatre performances, sometimes teaching workshops. That's how I've cobbled it together. I have not had a full-time job all these years and I have supported myself through both earned income and also grants and donations. I've really tried to cultivate a little bit of a donor base, and I took some workshops early on about how to welcome donations. So I definitely try to always welcome that as well. Joanna: That is so interesting that you took a workshop on how to welcome donations. Way back in, I think 2013, I said on this show, I just don't know if I can accept people giving to support the show. Then someone on the podcast challenged me and said, but people want to support creatives. That's when I started Patreon in 2014. It was when The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer came out and— It was this realisation that people do want to support people. So I love that you said that. Alicia: It's not easy. It's still not easy for me, and I have to grit my teeth every time I even put in my end-of-year newsletter. I just say, just a reminder that part of what makes this possible is your generous donations, and I'm so grateful to you. It's not easy. I think some people enjoy fundraising. I certainly don't instinctively enjoy it, but I have learned to think of it exactly the way that you're saying. I mean, I love donating to support other people's projects. Sometimes it's the highlight of my day. If I'm having a bad day and someone asks for help, either to feed a family or to complete a creative project, I just feel like, okay, at least I can give $36 or $25 and feel like I did something positive in the last hour, even if my project is going terribly and I'm in a fight with my kid or something. So I have to keep in mind that it is actually a privilege to give as well as a privilege to receive. Joanna: Absolutely. So let's get back into your various creative projects. The first thing I wanted to ask you, because you do have so many different formats and forms of your creativity—how do you know when an idea that comes to you should be a song, or something you want to do as a performance, or written, or a film? Tell us a bit about your creative process. Because a lot of your projects are also longer-term. Alicia: Yes. It's funny, I love planning and in some ways I'm an extreme planner. I really drive people in my family bonkers with planning, like family vacations a year in advance. In terms of my creativity, I'm very planful towards goals, but in that early generative state, I am actually pure instinct. I don't think I ever sit down and say, “I have this idea, which genre would it match with?” It's more like I sit on my bed and pick up my guitar, which is where I love to do songwriting, just sitting on my bed cross-legged, and I pick up my guitar and something starts coming out. Then I just work with that kernel. So it's very nebulous at first, very innate, and I just follow that creative spirit. Often I don't even know what a project is, sometimes if it's a larger project, until a year or two in. Once things emerge and take shape, then my planning brain and my strategy brain can jump on it and say, “Okay, we need three more songs to fill out the album, and we need to plan the fundraising and the scheduling.” Then I might take more of an outside-in approach. At the beginning it's just all instinct. Joanna: So if you pick up your guitar, does that mean it always starts in music and then goes into writing? Or is that you only pick up a guitar if it's going to be musical? Alicia: I think I'm responding to what's inside me. It's almost like a need, as opposed to, “I'm going to sit down and work.” I mean, obviously I sit down and work a lot, but I think in that early stage of anything, it's more like my fingers are itching to play something, and so I sit down and pick up my guitar. Sometimes nothing comes out and sometimes the kernel of a song comes out. Or I'm at a café, and I often like to write when I'm feeling a little bit discombobulated, just to go into the complexity of things or use challenging emotions as fuel. I really do use it as a—I don't know if therapeutic is the word, but I think it maybe is. I write often, as I always have, as I said before, to understand what I'm thinking. Like Joan Didion said—to process difficult emotions, to let go of stuck places. So I think I create almost more out of a sense of just what I need in the moment. Sometimes it's just for fun. Sometimes picking up a guitar, I just have a moment so I sit down and mess around. Sometimes it's to help me struggle with something. It doesn't always start in music. That was a random example. I might sit down to write because I have an hour and I think, I haven't written in a while. Or I do have an informal daily writing thing where I'll try to generate one loose draft of something a day, even if it's only ten pages. I mean, sorry, ten words. Joanna: I was going to say! Alicia: No, no. Ten words. I'm sorry. It's often poetry, so it feels like a lot when it's ten words. I'll just sit down with no pressure, no goal, no intention to make anything specific. Just open the floodgates and see what comes out. That's where every single project of mine has started. Joanna: Yes, I do love that. Obviously, I'm a discovery writer and intuitive, same as you. I think very much this idea of, especially when you said you feel discombobulated, that's when you write. I almost feel like I need that. I'm not someone who writes every day. I don't do ten lines or whatever. It's that I'll feel that sense of pressure building up into “this is going to be something.” I will really only write or journal when that spills over into— “I now need to write and figure out what this is.” Alicia: Yes. It's almost a form of hunger. It feels to me similar to when you eat a great meal and then you're good for a while. You're not really thinking of it, and then it builds up, like you said, and then there's a need—at least the first half of creativity. I really separate my generation and my editing. So my generative practice is all openness, no critique, just this maybe therapeutic, maybe curious, wandering and seeing what happens. Then once I have a draft, my incisive editing mind is welcome back in, which has been shut out from that early process. So that's a really different experience. Those early stages of creativity are almost out of need more than obligation. Joanna: Well, just staying with that generative practice. Obviously you've mentioned your study of and practice of Jewish tradition and Jewish spirituality. Steven Pressfield in his books has talked about his prayer to the muse, and I've got on my wall here—I don't talk about this very often, actually — I have a muse picture, a painting of what I think of as a muse spirit in some form. So do you have any spiritual practices around your generative practice and that phase of coming up with ideas? Alicia: I love that question, and I wish I had a beautiful, intentional answer. My answer is no. I think I experience creativity as its own spiritual practice itself. I do love individual prayer and meditation and things like that, but for me those are more to address my specifically spiritual health and happiness and connectedness. I'm just a dive-in kind of person. As a musician, I have friends who have elaborate backstage rituals. I have to do certain things to take care of my voice, but even that, it's mostly vocal rest as opposed to actively doing things. There's a bit of an on/off switch for me. Joanna: That's interesting. Well, I do want to ask you about one of your projects, this collaboration with a high school on a musical performance, I Was a Desert: Songs of the Matriarchs, and also your Girls in Trouble songs about women in the Torah. On your website, I had a look at the school, the high school, and the musical performance. It was extraordinary. I was watching you in the school there and it's just such extraordinary work. It very much inspired me—not to do it myself, but it was just so wonderful. I do urge people to go to your website and just watch a few minutes of it. I'm inspired by elements of religion, Christian and Jewish, but I wondered if you've come up against any issues with adaptation—respecting your heritage but also reinventing it. How has this gone for you. Any advice for people who want to incorporate aspects of religion they love but are worried about responses? Alicia: Well, I have to say, coming from the Jewish tradition, that is a core practice of Judaism—reinterpreting our texts and traditions, wrestling with them, arguing with them, reimagining them. I don't know if you're familiar with Midrash, but just in case some of your listeners aren't sure I'll explain it. There's essentially an ancient form of fanfic called Midrash, which was the ancient rabbis, and we still do it today, taking a biblical story that seems to have some kind of gap or inconsistency or question in it and writing a story to fill that gap or recast the story in an interestingly different light. So we have this whole body of literature over thousands of years that are these alternate or added-on adventures, side quests of the biblical characters. What I'm doing from a Jewish perspective is very much in line with a traditional way of interacting with text. I've certainly never gotten any pushback, especially as I work in progressive Jewish communities. I think if I were in an extremely fundamentalist community, there would be a lot of different issues around gender and things like that. The interpretive process, even in those communities, is part of how we show respect for the text. When I was working with the high school—and I just want to call out the choir director, Ethan Chen, who has an incredible project where he brings in a different artist every two years to work with the choir, and they tend to have a different cultural focus each time. He invited me specifically to integrate my songwriting about biblical women with his amazing high school choir. I was really worried at first because most of them are not Jewish—very few of them, if any. I wanted to respect their spiritual paths and their religious heritages and not impose mine on them. So I spent a lot of time at the beginning saying, this project has religious source material, but essentially it is a creative reinterpretive project. I am not coming to you to bring the religious material to you. I'm coming to take the shared Hebrew Bible myths and then reinterpret those myths through a lens of how they might reflect our own personal struggles, because that's always my approach to these ancient stories. I wanted to really make that clear to the students. It was such a joy to work with them. Joanna: It's such an interesting project. Also, I find with musicians in general this idea of performance. You've written this thing—or this thing specifically with the school—and it doesn't exist again, right? You're not selling CDs of that, I presume. Whereas compared to a book, when we write a book, we can sell it forever. It doesn't exist as a performance generally for an author of a memoir or a novel. It carries on existing. So how does that feel, the performance idea versus the longer-lasting thing? I mean, I guess the video's there, but the performance itself happened. Alicia: I do know what you mean. Absolutely. We did, for that reason, record it professionally. We had the sound person record it and mix it, so it is available to stream. I'm not selling CDs, but it's out there on all the streaming services, if people want to listen. I do also have the scores, so if a choir wanted to sing it. The main point that you're making is so true. I think there's actually something very sacred about live performance—that we're all in the moment together and then the moment is over. I love the artefacts of the writing life. I love writing books. I love buying and reading books and having them around, and there's piles of them everywhere in this room I'm standing in. I feel like being on stage, or even teaching, is a very spiritual practice for me, because it's in some ways the most in-the-moment I ever am. The only thing that matters is what's happening right then in that room. It's fleeting as it goes. I'm working with the energy in the room while we're there. It's different every time because I'm different, the atmosphere is different, the people are different. There's no way to plan it. The kind of micro precision that we all try to bring to our editing—you can't do that. You can practice all you want and you should, but in the moment, who knows? A string breaks or there's loud sound coming from the other room. It is just one of those things. I love being reminded over and over again of the truth that we really don't control what happens. The best that we can do is ride it, surf it, be in it, appreciate it, and then let it go. Joanna: I think maybe I get a glimpse of that when I speak professionally, but I'm far more in control in that situation than I guess you were with—I don't know how many—was it a hundred kids in that choir? It looked pretty big. Alicia: It was amazing. It was 130 kids. Yes. Joanna: 130 kids! I mean, it was magic listening to it. And yes, of course, showing my age there with buying a CD, aren't I? Alicia: Well, I do still sell some CDs of Girls in Trouble on tour, because I have a bunch of them and people still buy them. I'm always so grateful because it was an easier life for touring musicians when we could just bring CDs. Now we have to be very creative about our merch. Joanna: Yes, that's a good point because people are like, “Oh yes, I'll scan your QR code and stream it,” but you might not get the money for that for ages, and it might just be five cents or whatever. Alicia: Streaming is terrible for live musicians. I mean, I don't know if you know the site Bandcamp, but it's essentially self-publishing for musicians. Bandcamp is a great way around that, and a lot of independent musicians use it because that's a place you can upload your music and people can pay $8 for an album. They can stream it on there if they want, or they can download it and have it. But, yes, it's hard out there for touring musicians. Joanna: Yes, for sure. Well, let's come to the book then. Your memoir, When We Are Born We Forget Everything. Tell us about some of the challenges of a book as opposed to these other types of performances. Alicia: Well, I come out of poetry, so that was my first love. That's what I majored in in college. That's what my MFA is in. Poetry is famously short, and I'm not one of those long-form poets. I have been trained for many years to think in terms of a one-page arc, if at all. Arc isn't even really a word that we use in poetry. So to write a full-length prose book was really an incredible education. Writing it basically took ten years from writing to publication, so probably seven years of writing and editing. I felt like there was an MFA-equivalent process in the number of classes I took, books I read, and work that went into it. So that was one of my main joys and challenges, really learning on the job to write long-form prose coming out of poetry. How to keep the engine going, how to think about ending one chapter in a way that leaves you with some torque or momentum so that you want to go into the next chapter. How many characters is too many? Who gets names and who doesn't? Some of these things that are probably pretty basic for fiction writers were all very new to me. That was a big part of my process. Then, of course, poets don't usually have agents. So once it was done, I began to query agents. It was the normal sort of 39 rejections and then one agent who really understood what I was trying to do. She's incredible, and she was able to sell the book. The longevity of just working on something for that long—I have a lot of joy in that longevity—but it does sometimes feel like, is this ever going to happen, or am I on a fool's errand? Joanna: I guess, again, the difference with performance is you have a date for the performance and it's done then. I suppose once you get a contract, then for sure it has to be done. But memoir in particular, you do have to set boundaries, because of course your life continues, doesn't it? So what were the challenges in curating what went into the book? Because many people listening know memoir is very challenging in terms of how personal it can be. Alicia: Yes, and one thing I think is so fascinating about memoir is choosing which lens to put on your story, on your own story. I heard early on that the difference between autobiography and memoir is that autobiography tries to give a really comprehensive view of a life, and memoir is choosing one lens and telling the story of a life through that lens, which is such a beautiful creative concept. I knew early on that I wanted this to be primarily a spiritual memoir, and also somewhat of an artistic memoir, because my creativity and my spirituality are so intertwined. It started off being spiritual, and also about my musical life, and also about my writing life. In the end, I edited out the part about my writing life, because writing about writing was just too navel-gazing. So there's nothing in there about me coming of age as a writer, which used to be in there, but that whole thing got taken out. Now it's spiritual and musical. For me, it really helped to start with those focuses, because I knew there may be things that were hugely important in my life, absolutely foundational, that were not really going to be either mentioned or gone deeply into in the book. For example, my husband teases me a lot about how few pages and words he gets. He's very important in my life, but I actually met him when I was 29, and this book really mainly takes place in the years leading up to that. There's a little bit of winding down in the first few years of my thirties, but this is not a book about my life with him. He is mentioned in it. That story is in there. Having those kinds of limitations around the canvas—there's a quote, I forget if it was Miranda July, but somebody said something like, basically when you put a limitation on your project, that's when it starts to be a work of art. Whatever it is, if you say, “I'm taking this canvas and I'm using these colours,” that's when it really begins, that initial limitation. That was very helpful. Joanna: It's also the beauty of memoir, because of course you can write different memoirs at different times. You can write something about your writing life. You can write something else about your marriage and your family later on. That doesn't all have to be in one book. I think that's actually something I found interesting. And I would also say in my memoir, Pilgrimage, my husband is barely mentioned either. Alicia: Does he tease you too? Joanna: No, I think he's grateful. He is grateful for the privacy. Alicia: That's why I keep saying, you should be grateful! Joanna: Yes. You really should. Like, maybe stop talking now. Alicia: Yes, exactly. I know. Marriage, memoir—those words should strike fear into his heart. Joanna: They definitely should. But let's just come back. When I look at your career— You just seem such an independent creative, and so I wondered why you decided to work with a traditional publisher instead of being an independent. How are you finding it as someone who's not in charge of everything? Alicia: It's a great question. The origin story for this memoir is that I was actually reading poetry at a writing conference called Bread Loaf in the States. This was 16 years ago or something. I was giving a poetry reading and afterwards an agent, not my agent, came up to me and said, you know, you have a voice. You should try writing nonfiction because you could probably sell it. Back to your question about how I support myself, I am always really hustling to make a living. It's not like I have some separate well-paying job and the writing has no pressure on it. So my ears kind of perked up. I thought, wait, getting paid for writing? Because poetry is literally not in the world. It's just not a concept for poets. That's not why we write and it's not a possibility. So a little light turned on in my brain. I thought, wow, that could be a really interesting element to add to my income stream, and it would be flexible and it would be meaningful. For a few years I thought, what nonfiction could I write? And I came up with the idea of writing a book about biblical women from a more scholarly perspective, because I teach that material and I've studied it. I went to speak to another agent and she said, well, you could do that, but if you actually want to sell a book, it's going to have to be more of a trade book. So if you don't want an academic press, which wouldn't pay very much, you would have to have some kind of memoir-like stories in there to just sweeten it so it doesn't feel academic. So then I began writing a little bit of spiritual memoir. I thought, okay, well, I'll write about a few moments. Then once I started writing, I couldn't stop. The floodgates really opened. That's how it ended up being a spiritual memoir with interwoven stories of biblical women. It became a hybrid in that sense. I knew from the beginning that this project—for all my saying earlier that I never plan anything and only work on instinct, I was thinking as I said that, that cannot be true. This time, I actually thought, what if, instead of coming from this pure, heart-focused place of poetry, I began writing with the intention of potentially selling a book? The way my fiction writer friends talked about selling their books. So that was always in my mind. I knew I would continue writing poetry, continue publishing with small presses, continue putting my own music out there independently, but this was a bit of an experiment. What if I try to interface with the publishing world, in part for financial sustainability? And because I had a full draft before I queried, I never felt like anyone was telling me what to write. I can't imagine personally selling a book on proposal, because I do need that full capacity to just swerve, change directions, be responsive to what the project is teaching me. I can't imagine promising that I'll write something, because I never know what I'll write. But writing at least a very solid draft first, I'm always delighted to get notes and make polish and rewrite and make things better. I took care of that freedom in the first seven years of writing and then I interfaced with the agent and publisher. Joanna: I was going to say, given that it's taken you seven to ten years to do this and I can't imagine that you're suddenly a multimillionaire from this book. It probably hasn't fulfilled the hourly rate that perhaps you were thinking of in terms of being paid for your work. I think some people think that everyone's going to end up with the massive book deal that pays for the rest of their life. I guess this book does just fit into the rest of your portfolio career. Alicia: Yes. One of the benefits of these long arcs that I like to work on is, one of them—and probably the primary one—is that the project gets to unfold on its own time. I don't think I could have rushed it if I wanted. The other is that it never really stopped me from doing any of my other work. Joanna: Mm-hmm. Alicia: So it's not like, oh, I gave up months of my life and all I got was this advance or something. It's like, I was living my life and then when I had a little bit of writing time—and I will say, it impacted my poetry. I haven't written as much poetry because I was working on this. So it wasn't like I just added it on top of everything I was already doing, but it was a pleasure to just switch to prose for a while. It was just woven into my life. I appreciated having this side project where no one was waiting for it. There were no deadlines, there was no stress around it, because I always have performances to promote and due dates for all kinds of work. It was just this really lovely arena of slow growth and play. When I wanted a reader, I could do a swap with a writer friend, but no one was ever waiting for it on deadline. So there's actually a lot of pleasure in that. Then I will say, I think I've made more from selling this than my poetry. Probably close to ten times more than I've ever made from any of my poetry. So on a poetry scale, it's certainly not going to pay for my life, but it actually does make a true financial difference in a way that much of my other work is a little more bit by bit by bit. It's actually a different scale. Joanna: Well, that's really good. I'm glad to hear that. I also want to ask you, because you've done so many things, and— I'm fascinated by your independent film, A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff. I have only watched the trailer. You are in it, you wrote it, directed it, and it's also obviously got other people in, and it's fascinating. It's about this particular point in history. I've written quite a lot of screenplay adaptations of my novels, and I've had some various amounts of interest, but the whole film industry to me is just a complete nightmare, far bigger nightmare than the book industry. So I wonder if you could maybe talk about this, because it just seems like you made a film, which is so cool. Alicia: Oh yes, thank you. Joanna: And it won awards, yes, we should say. Alicia: Did we win awards? Yes. It really, for an extremely low-budget indie film, went far further than my team and I could ever have imagined. I will say I never intended to make a film. Like most of the best things in my life, it really happened by accident. When I was living in New York— I lived there for many years—the 2008 financial collapse happened and I happened to have an arts grant that gave a bunch of artists workspace, studio space, in essentially an abandoned building in the financial district. It was an empty floor of a building. The floor had been left by the previous tenant, and there's a nonprofit that takes unused real estate in the financial district and lets artists work in it for a while. So I was on Wall Street, which was very rare for me, but for this year I was working on Wall Street. Even though I was working on poems, the financial collapse happened around me, and I did get inspired by that to create a one-woman show, which was more of a theatre show. That was already a huge leap for me because I had no real theatre experience, but it was experimental and growing out of my poetry practice and my music. It was a musical one-woman show about the financial collapse from a spiritual perspective, apparently. So I performed that. I documented it, and then a friend who lives in Portland, Oregon, where I now live, said, “I'm a theatre producer, I'd like to produce it here.” So then I rewrote it and did a run here in Portland of that show. Essentially, I started to tour it a little bit, but I got tired of it. It was too much work and it never really paid very much, and I thought, this is impacting my life negatively. I just want to do a really good documentation of the show. So I wanted to hire a theatre documentarian to just document the show so that it didn't disappear, like you were saying before about live performance. But one of the people I talked to actually ended up being an artistic filmmaker, as opposed to a documentarian. She watched the archival footage, just a single camera of the show, and said, “I don't think you should do this again and film it with three cameras. I think you should make it into a feature film. And in fact, I think maybe I should direct it, because there's all this music in it and I also direct music videos.” We had this kind of mind meld. Joanna: Mm. Alicia: I never intended to make a film, but she is a visionary director and I had this piece of IP essentially, and all the music and the writing. We adapted it together. We did it here in Portland. We did all the fundraising ourselves. We did not interface with Hollywood really. I think that would be, I just can't imagine. I love Hollywood, but I'm not really connected, and I can't imagine waiting for someone to give us permission or a green light to make this. It was experimental and indie, so we just really did it on the cheap. We had an amazing producer who helped us figure out how to do it with the budget that we had. We worked really hard fundraising, crowdfunding, asking for donations, having parties to raise money, and then we just did it and put it out there. I think my main advice—and I hear this a lot on screenwriting podcasts—is just make the thing. Make something, as opposed to trying to get permission to make something. Because unless you're already in that system, it's going to be really hard to get permission to make it. Once you make something, that leads to something else, which leads to something else. So even if it's a very short thing, or even if it's filmed on your phone, just actually make the thing. That turned out to be the right thing for us. Joanna: Yes, I mean, I feel like that is what underpins us as independent creatives in general. As an independent author, I feel the same way. I'm never asking permission to put a book in the world. No, thank you. Alicia: Exactly. We have a vision and we do it. It's harder in some ways, but that liberation of being able to really fully create our vision without having to compromise it or wait for permission, I think it's such a beautiful thing. Joanna: Well, we're almost out of time, but I do want to ask you about creative confidence. Alicia: Hmm. Joanna: I feel I'm getting a lot of sense about this at the moment, with all the AI stuff that's happening. When you've been creating a long time, like you and I have, we know our voice and we can lean into our voice. We are creatively confident. We'll fail a lot, but we'll just push on and try things and see what happens. Newer creators are struggling with this kind of confidence. How do I know what is my voice? How do I know what I like? How do I lean into this? So give us some thoughts about how to find your voice and how to find that creative confidence if you don't feel you have it. Alicia: I love that. One thing I will say is that I always think whatever is arising is powerful material to create from. So if a lack of confidence is arising, that's a really powerful feeling to directly explore and not just try to ignore. Although sometimes one has to just ignore those feelings. But to actually explore that feeling, because AI can't have that, right? AI can't really feel a crisis of confidence, and humans can. So that's a gift that we have, those kinds of sensitivities. I think to go really deep into whatever is arising, including the sense that we don't have the right to be creating, or we're not good enough, or whatever it is. Then I always do come back to a quote. I think it might have been John Berryman, but I'm forgetting which poet said it. A younger poet said, “How will I ever know if I'm any good?” And this famous poet said something like—I'm paraphrasing—”You'll never know if you're any good. If you have to know, don't write.” That has been really liberating to me, actually. It sounds a little harsh, but it's been really liberating to just let go of a sense of “good enough.” There is no good enough. The great writers never know if they're good enough. Coming back to this idea of just making without permission—the practice of doing the thing is being a writer. Caring and trying to improve our craft, that's the best that we can have. There's never going to be a moment where we're like, yes, I've nailed this. I am truly a hundred per cent a writer and I have found my voice. Everything's always changing anyway. I would say, either go into those feelings or let those feelings be there. Give them a little tea. Tell them, okay, you're welcome to be here, but you don't get to drive the boat. And then return to the practice of making. Joanna: Absolutely. Great. So where can people find you and your books and everything you do online? Alicia: Everything is on my website, which is AliciaJo.com, and also on Instagram at @ohaliciajo. I'd love to say hello to anyone who's interested in similar topics. Joanna: Brilliant. Well, thanks so much for your time, Alicia. That was great. Alicia: Thank you. I love your podcast. I'm so grateful for all that you've given the writing world, Jo.The post Creative Confidence, Portfolio Careers, And Making Without Permission with Alicia Jo Rabins first appeared on The Creative Penn.

Guest Bios Dr. Suhas Kshirsagar, BAMS, MD (Ayurveda) One of the most academically accomplished Ayurvedic physicians in the Western world. Former personal physician to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Bestselling author of Change Your Schedule, Change Your Life and co-author of Awakened Sleep. Faculty at numerous integrative medicine programs. Trained in both classical Ayurvedic medicine and modern clinical research. His work bridges 5,000 years of Vedic wisdom with cutting-edge neuroscience and AI-driven health research. Renowned globally for his clinical expertise and his ability to make the ancient tradition accessible, scientific, and immediately practical. Dr. Sheila Patel, MD Board-certified family medicine physician and a leading voice in integrative health. Former Chief Medical Officer of the Chopra Center. Co-author of Awakened Sleep. Dr. Patel's clinical practice synthesizes conventional medicine with Ayurvedic principles, meditation, and mind-body approaches. She has spent decades helping patients understand the connection between emotional regulation, sensory awareness, and physical health — with sleep as the connective thread. Brought to you by MTE — More Than Energy, the performance formula designed for those who live life at full resonance. Trusted by top performers worldwide, MTE blends adaptogens, nootropics, and essential minerals to fuel focus, vitality, and flow — without the crash.  Code Michael Elevate your day, sharpen your mind, and feel More Than Energy. 15% OFF YOUR ORDER:: https://getmte.com/products/mte-daily-energy-wellness?ref=MICHAEL Key Themes & Timestamps  [00:00] Introduction — launching Resonance, the long tail of a book [02:28] What is Awakened Sleep? The Vedic perspective on sleep as a journey into consciousness [06:13] Modern science validates ancient wisdom — the convergence [08:13] The doshas explained — Vata, Pitta, Kapha and your sleep constitution [14:24] Universal sleep principles — temperature, light, timing, and the Stanford AI study [17:19] Personalized sleep — why one size doesn't fit all [20:00] The nervous system connection — parasympathetic tone and sensory overload [23:47] Your evening meal is your sleep prescription [25:50] The world has changed more since 1992 than in the previous thousand years [28:14] Orthosomnia — the new tech-induced sleep disease [29:09] Email apnea and text apnea — we literally stop breathing [30:15] Somniphobia — the fear of being alone in the dark (and why loneliness is the real insomnia) [37:47] Breath as medicine — the yogic prescription for sleep [40:11] Mantra, sound, and the neuro-associative conditioning of sleep [42:27] Creating your evening routine — the practice Michael is starting tonight [45:05] The dress rehearsal for dying — sleep as a journey into consciousness [51:17] Awakened Sleep as meditation's companion — the fourth state of consciousness [56:04] Geography, doshas, and the places that heal us [59:56] Vedic astrology, the eclipse, and the chapter we're entering [1:02:49] Closing — guiding us home in a noisy world Key Quotes Dr. Suhas: "We are doing a dress rehearsal of dying every night. We go to the same place where we were before we were born and long after we will be gone." "Sleep outweighs diet and exercise. If you rank lifestyle things, sleep is even higher ranked than diet and exercise and loneliness." "Orthosomnia — about 40% of Gen Z adults are experiencing sleep anxiety because of the gadgets they are wearing." "Where your attention goes, that's where the energy is flowing." "These techniques are not free. They are very expensive — because the most expensive commodity right now is me time." "An introspective sage is awake when the rest of the world is sleeping." — Bhagavad Gita Dr. Sheila: "Sleep is an active process. It's not just rest — it's an active rest." "So much of depression, anxiety is that disconnect from nature, disconnect from community. Everyone's all in their own individual bubbles." "Pick the weeds, plant some seeds, water them with gratitude." "We have so many tools within us — and with our breath, it's free." Michael: "I think a lot of us as humans have lost our way with all of the conflicting signals. And it's hard in a noisy world to find true signal that reminds us of who we are and how we can find our way home." Resources Mentioned Awakened Sleep by Dr. Suhas Kshirsagar & Dr. Sheila Patel Change Your Schedule, Change Your Life by Dr. Suhas Stanford Medicine AI Sleep Study (January 2025) — 65,000 participants, 600,000 hours of sleep data, predicting 130+ health conditions Oura Ring — wearable sleep tracking Vedic Meditation / Mantra practice Temescal (traditional sweat lodge) ceremony Bhagavad Gita — "Yānishā sarva-bhūtānāṁ tasyāṁ jāgarti saṅyamī" Rathri Sukta — Vedic hymn to the twin sisters Usha (dawn) and Nisha (dusk) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) Connect Dr. Suhas Kshirsagar: [website] | [Instagram]  Dr. Sheila Patel: [website] | [Instagram]  Michael Trainer: michaeltrainer.net | @michaeltrainer | Resonance Podcast Pre-Order Resonance Resonance: The Art and Science of Human Connection arrives May 5, 2026 from BenBella Books. Foreword by Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art. "Outstanding. I wouldn't change a word." — Steven Pressfield  Companion Substack Read Michael's full essay on this conversation: "The Dress Rehearsal for Dying: What Vedic Sleep Science Reveals About Why We Can't Connect" — exploring how orthosomnia, somniphobia, and the loneliness epidemic collide with the Resonance framework and the Seven Pillars of authentic connection. https://substack.com/@michaeltrainer Michael Trainer has spent 30 years learning from Nobel laureates, neuroscientists, and wisdom keepers worldwide. He's the author of RESONANCE: The Art and Science of Human Connection (March 31, 2026), co-creator of Global Citizen and the Global Citizen Festival, and host of the RESONANCE podcast.Featured in Forbes, Inc, Good Morning America. Follow on YouTube

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3926: Nir Eyal reveals how inventing an imaginary adversary can help us overcome self-sabotage and reclaim control over our behavior. By understanding the psychology of scapegoating, reactance, and perceived powerlessness, he shows how we can channel resistance into fuel for focus, discipline, and lasting behavior change. When applied thoughtfully, this counterintuitive strategy can strengthen willpower and help us follow through on what truly matters. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://www.nirandfar.com/2017/02/goals-enemy.html Quotes to ponder: "Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance." "Resistance is always plotting against you." "The practice of imagining a villain that's conspiring against us, scapegoating can be an effective way to motivate ourselves and change our behaviors." Episode references: SuperBetter by Jane McGonigal: https://www.amazon.com/SuperBetter-Power-Living-Gameful-Life/dp/0143109774 The War of Art by Steven Pressfield: https://www.amazon.com/War-Art-Through-Creative-Battles/dp/1936891026 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3926: Nir Eyal reveals how inventing an imaginary adversary can help us overcome self-sabotage and reclaim control over our behavior. By understanding the psychology of scapegoating, reactance, and perceived powerlessness, he shows how we can channel resistance into fuel for focus, discipline, and lasting behavior change. When applied thoughtfully, this counterintuitive strategy can strengthen willpower and help us follow through on what truly matters. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://www.nirandfar.com/2017/02/goals-enemy.html Quotes to ponder: "Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance." "Resistance is always plotting against you." "The practice of imagining a villain that's conspiring against us, scapegoating can be an effective way to motivate ourselves and change our behaviors." Episode references: SuperBetter by Jane McGonigal: https://www.amazon.com/SuperBetter-Power-Living-Gameful-Life/dp/0143109774 The War of Art by Steven Pressfield: https://www.amazon.com/War-Art-Through-Creative-Battles/dp/1936891026 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3926: Nir Eyal reveals how inventing an imaginary adversary can help us overcome self-sabotage and reclaim control over our behavior. By understanding the psychology of scapegoating, reactance, and perceived powerlessness, he shows how we can channel resistance into fuel for focus, discipline, and lasting behavior change. When applied thoughtfully, this counterintuitive strategy can strengthen willpower and help us follow through on what truly matters. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://www.nirandfar.com/2017/02/goals-enemy.html Quotes to ponder: "Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance." "Resistance is always plotting against you." "The practice of imagining a villain that's conspiring against us, scapegoating can be an effective way to motivate ourselves and change our behaviors." Episode references: SuperBetter by Jane McGonigal: https://www.amazon.com/SuperBetter-Power-Living-Gameful-Life/dp/0143109774 The War of Art by Steven Pressfield: https://www.amazon.com/War-Art-Through-Creative-Battles/dp/1936891026 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Any time we decide to do something that will make us healthier, happier, more authentic, so often, we are met with resistance. That resistance manifests in many different ways. Fear, anxiety, insecurity but no matter how that resistance shows up in our lives, it is blocking us from becoming our true self. This meditation, inspired by a quote by Steven Pressfield, the author of The War of Art, aims to help us be more mindful of the resistance that is getting in our way so we can push past it and transcend our former selves.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Calm The Bleep Down is a channel and podcast discussing the benefits and adventures that come from a practice of meditation. We will share full episodes of our show as well as abbreviated highlights from those episodes and daily meditations. We are dedicated to the uncovering the truth through mindfulness, meditation, spirituality, mental health, and wellness.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Web - http://ctbdmeditation.comInstagram - @CalmTheBleepDownTikTok - @CalmTheBleepDownEmail - calmthebleepdown@gmail.com+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----------------------------------SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCAST----------------------------------------https://www.spreaker.com/show/calm-the-bleep-downProduced and copyright by SuperMegaUltra, Inc. 2023

What does it truly take to launch a phenomenon? Most authors dream of hitting the bestseller list, but today's guest, Tim Grahl, flips that goal on its head. He's revealing the counterintuitive truth about enduring book success, explaining why chasing a fleeting "bestseller" title might actually hinder your book's long-term impact. If your vision for your book extends beyond a single week of sales to creating a lasting legacy, this episode is packed with essential strategies. Learn why "readers" trump "sales" and how to engineer word-of-mouth that propels your book for years, not just days. Prepare to redefine what a successful book launch truly means.Timestamps:00:00 Introduction00:00:51 Book launch definitions and timelines00:03:34 Redefining "bestselling" beyond the lists00:08:33 The one thing and Atomic Habits approaches00:11:35 Tim's three categories for launching a book00:14:05 Leveraging influencer networks as the biggest lever00:19:07 Influencer promotion strategies00:21:09 Getting fans to buy: creating scarcity00:24:28 The most impactful book bonuses00:28:55 Getting fans to share (the least impactful strategy)00:31:11 Why direct advertising isn't profitable for books00:34:40 The 10,000 reader rule for long-term success00:42:41 Engineering word of mouth00:46:28 Getting free copies into the hands of readers00:50:55 Identifying and reaching relevant tribes00:52:26 Tim's resources for authorsIf you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe, share it with your friends, and leave a review. I read every single one.Learn more about the podcast: https://nathanbarry.com/showFollow Nathan:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanbarryLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanbarryX: https://twitter.com/nathanbarryYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thenathanbarryshowWebsite: https://nathanbarry.comKit: https://kit.comFollow Tim:Story Grid: https://www.storygrid.comBook Launch: https://booklaunch.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StoryGridX: https://x.com/storygridTim's latest book: https://www.storygrid.com/product/the-shitheadFeatured in this episode:Kit: https://www.kit.comThe Perennial Bestseller by Ryan Holiday: https://ryanholiday.net/the-perennial-bestsellerThe One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan: https://www.the1thing.com/the-bookAtomic Habits by James Clear: https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habitsThe War of Art by Steven Pressfield: https://stevenpressfield.com/books/the-war-of-artGreat Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: https://www.amazon.com/Great-Gatsby-F-Scott-Fitzgerald/dp/0743273567Tribes by Seth Godin: https://www.sethgodin.com/books/tribesHighlights:01:38 – Why a book launch should last two years05:34 – Selling a high volume doesn't always mean long-term success13:11 – The 95/5 principle of book marketing23:06 – The most effective and least effective bonuses34:40 – The 10,000 reader rule explained43:19 – Give away as many copies as possible48:56 – Creative ways to get your book into readers' hands

Today we revisit some of the most powerful lessons from my favorite past episodes, featuring incredible guests who have shaped my perspective on success, decision-making, and personal growth. First up is Codie Sanchez, who shares the importance of quick decision-making and the risks of hesitation.  Dan Martell talks about overcoming resistance, embracing risk, and asking the right questions to break through uncertainty. Ann Mahlum reminds us why trusting our talents and convictions is critical, even when facing external doubts or judgment.   Finally, we hear from Steven Pressfield, who reflects on his journey to becoming a best-selling author. He opens up about his struggle with resistance and how writing became his true calling after years of avoiding it.   Take a step back, listen to these insights, and remember: success begins with action. If you're feeling stuck or uncertain, these lessons will inspire you to keep pushing forward, trust the process, and make quick decisions that move you closer to your goals. "Time to action is the highest indicator for success." ~ Codie Sanchez In This Episode: - Codie Sanchez on making quick decisions - Ann Mahlum: The power of belief and manifestation - Dan Martell: The law of manifestation - Steven Pressfield: Commitment and overcoming resistance - Finding your true calling - How Steven became a best-selling author Listen to the Featured Episodes: Quarter Life Crisis to 4M Followers on Social Media, Turning Down a $100M Business with Codie Sanchez:  https://youtu.be/Z3ZfGcC6EFk  How Anne Mahlum Built and Sold a $98M Business: Lessons in Scaling, Leadership, and Culture: https://youtu.be/K1hSIhe6UmE  Overwhelmed? Have No Time? Here's Where to Start with Dan Martell: https://youtu.be/1RKIwqrvXrw  Steven Pressfield's Unconventional Journey to Becoming a Bestselling Author: https://youtu.be/K3Z8bcnvNlU  Where to find me: IG: https://www.instagram.com/jen_gottlieb/    TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jen_gottlieb     Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jenleahgottlieb    Website: https://jengottlieb.com/    My business: https://www.superconnectormedia.com/    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jen_gottlieb

Steven Pressfield is the author of The War of Art, which has sold millions of copies globally and been translated into multiple languages. He is a master of historical fiction with Gates of Fire being on the required reading list at West Point and the recommended reading list of the Joint Chiefs. His other books include A Man at Arms, Turning Pro, Do the Work, The Artist's Journey, Tides of War, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Last of the Amazons, Virtues of War, The Afghan Campaign, Killing Rommel, The Profession, The Lion's Gate, The Warrior Ethos, The Authentic Swing, An American Jew, Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t, and The Knowledge. Get a copy of Steven's phenomenal books: The War of Art Gates of Fire Turning Pro The Legend of Baggar Vance The Warrior Ethos The Daily Pressfield Govt Cheese: A Memoir Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment firm, and founder and chairman of SALT, a global thought leadership forum and venture studio. He is the host of the podcast Open Book with Anthony Scaramucci. A graduate of Tufts University and Harvard Law School, he lives in Manhasset, Long Island. Pre-order my next book, All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, out on the 17th of September in the UK and the 22nd of September in the US: https://linktr.ee/anthonyscaramucci Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Jeff is joined by Dialogue Doctor Coach and author JP Rindfliesch IX to talk about The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. They discuss the impact the book had on their lives and why they disagree with.  For more on the craft of writing, check out DialogueDoctor.com

In this episode, Michele explores a powerful but often overlooked distinction that can make or break any meaningful change: strategy vs. tactics.Inspired by a coaching conversation with a client struggling through Veganuary, this episode unpacks why caring deeply—and even making a strong values-based decision—is often not enough to create consistent follow-through.Whether your goal is moving in a vegan or plant-based direction, improving your health, writing a book, changing your drinking, or following through on any important intention, this episode will help you identify what might be missing—and how to make change feel lighter instead of heavier.In this episode, you'll learn:The difference between strategy (the “why” and identity-level decision) and tactics (the real-life actions that create movement)Why many smart, motivated people feel like they keep “restarting”—and why it's not a motivation problemHow having strategy without tactics leads to exhaustion and self-blameWhy tactics without strategy often feel brittle, artificial, or short-livedHow writer Steven Pressfield's work on “Resistance” offers a powerful parallel for vegan and lifestyle changeWhy support and accountability are tactics, not strategies—and how to tell if support is actually helpingWhat “good accountability” sounds like (and what it doesn't)How routines, defaults, and reflection can help you stay engaged when life gets loudMentioned in this episode:The War of Art by Steven PressfieldThe concept of “Resistance” and the idea of “turning pro”Veganuary and values-based changeStrategy and tactics as transferable skills for any life transitionListener reflection:Ask yourself:Do I have a strategy without tactics?Or tactics without strategy?Where might support or reflection make this change lighter instead of heavier?Subscribe & Review:If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps us grow and share the message of plant-based living with more listeners.For more information, to submit a question or topic, or to book a free 30 minute Coaching session visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠veganatanyage.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠or email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠info@micheleolendercoaching.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Music, Production, and Editing by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Charlie Weinshank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. For inquiries email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠charliewe97@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Virtual Support Services: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://proadminme.com/⁠

Ever wondered why you feel stuck in your business journey, even after putting in the time, effort, and learning everything you can? What if the real obstacle isn't skills or opportunities, but how you see yourself and the way you show up to your work? This book is not about talent. It's about identity, commitment, and the moment you decide to turn pro.In this Must Read episode, Omar explores the powerful transformation of turning pro. He breaks down the key ideas from Steven Pressfield's book, showing how the shift from amateur to professional is less about talent and more about identity and commitment. You'll discover what truly separates pros from amateurs, how to confront resistance, and why embracing professionalism can change the entire trajectory of your business.Are you an amateur or a pro? This book challenges you to decide. Press play at the top and discover what it really takes to turn pro.Show Links:Turning Pro by Steven PressfieldMBA20 Must Reads: The War of ArtMBA2731 Why People Turn Against You When You Start To SucceedWatch the episodes on YouTube: https://lm.fm/GgRPPHiSUBSCRIBEYouTube | Apple Podcast | Spotify | Podcast Feed Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What does it take to create a truly special short-term rental? Maybe you want to create a boutique hotel or even a micro-resort. In today's episode, I'm talking with property owner Ian Joseph about the development of his hospitality group and West Virginia stays. We also dive into his background in both commercial banking and real estate development, and how he has combined these interests with his love for hosting to create a unique personal brand. Time-stamps:Get to know Ian Joseph (1:37)Investing in West Virginia (3:30)See the value where others might not (7:48)Overcoming doubt and managing risk (10:30)Acquiring properties with a banking background (17:57)Short-Term Rental Acquisition Checklist (28:22)Building relationships with local communities (29:14)Finding the land and developing a micro-resort (33:15)From residential to commercial real estate (39:09)Building a personal brand from a wide range of experience (43:20)Be the best in your brand and market (47:03)Mentioned in This Episode:Short-Term Rental Acquisition Checklist: brandandmarket.myflodesk.com/str-acquisition-checklist“The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield: a.co/d/a9eH8xsConnect with Ian: Instagram: instagram.com/ijoseph09Email: ian@staywithbranch.comStay with Branch on Instagram: instagram.com/staywithbranchThe Billy Motel on Instagram: instagram.com/thebillymotelSign up for the Stay with Branch email list to receive $50 off your first stay in Berkeley Springs: staywithbranch.comConnect with Ali: Website: brandandmarket.coInstagram: instagram.com/brandandmarket.coBook a discovery call with Ali: brandandmarket.17hats.com/p#/scheduling

Any time we decide to do something that will make us healthier, happier, more authentic, so often, we are met with resistance. That resistance manifests in many different ways. Fear, anxiety, insecurity but no matter how that resistance shows up in our lives, it is blocking us from becoming our true self. This meditation, inspired by a quote by Steven Pressfield, the author of The War of Art, aims to help us be more mindful of the resistance that is getting in our way so we can push past it and transcend our former selves.

Books That Matter for Photographers, Artists, Writers and all Creators: Steven Pressfield and The War of Art, Resistance, and Professionalization. Recorded on New Year's Day from a busy coffee shop in Bali, Indonesia, this solo episode of Beyond The Lens is a deep, honest meditation on why photographers, artists, writers, and creators struggle to do the work that matters most—and what to do about it.Drawing from The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, Richard unpacks the idea of Resistance: the invisible, internal force that shows up whenever we try to create, grow, or change. Procrastination. Self-doubt. Distraction. Rationalization. That voice that says, “Do it tomorrow.” That's Resistance.This episode is part book review, part personal reflection, and part practical field guide for photographers, writers, artists, and anyone trying to live a more intentional, creative life.Notable Links:The War of Art on AmazonSteven Pressfield OnlineRichard's Essay on Resistance: Beyond The Lens Newsletter*****If you're looking for that next-level boost to your creativity and photography skills, you've got to check out my Beyond The Lens Newsletter on Substack. It's like having a backstage pass to everything I explore with my guests here on the podcast - delivered straight to your email inbox.Think practical photography tips, mind-expanding ideas for personal vision, and real-world tactics to level up your craft. Plus I'm sharing my thoughts on travel, conservation, creativity and more.It's straight to the point, super actionable, and it shows you how to see the world in an entirely new way. So if that sounds like your vibe, head on over to beyondthelens.fm/go and prepare to take your creative game to new heights. *****This episode is brought to you by Kase Revolution Plus Filters. I travel the world with my camera, and I can use any photography filters I like, and I've tried all of them, but in recent years I've landed on Kase Filters.Kase filters are made with premium materials, HD optical glass, shockproof, Ultra-Low Reflectivity, zero color cast, round and square filter designs, magnetic systems, filter holders, adapters, step-up rings, and everything I need so I never miss a moment.And now, my listeners can get 10% off the Kase Filters Amazon page when they visit. beyondthelens.fm/kase and use coupon code BERNABE10Kase Filters, Capture with Confidence.

What if every symptom you've been chasing with pills and supplements is actually a frequency imbalance your body has been begging you to tune back into? Josh Trent welcomes Linda Bamber, Founder of WAVwatch, to the Wellness + Wisdom Podcast, episode 787, to explore how we've been misled by a medical system that ignores energy, why every organ and emotion vibrates at a specific frequency, how trauma lives in the body until the right healing frequencies unlock it, and why ancient frequency technology may outperform supplements, drugs, and even traditional diagnostics. Get $100 Off WAVwatch WAVwatch uses sound therapy with acoustical frequencies that run through your body. This method for improving your immune system has been used for centuries and is extremely safe and scientifically researched. Every object has a natural frequency at which it vibrates most easily, its resonant frequency. Nikola Tesla referred to this as the "Mortal Oscillation Rate," recognizing that when an external force matches this frequency, powerful effects can occur. Our bodies, from individual cells to entire organs, have natural frequencies. When exposed to matching external frequencies, resonance can occur, influencing cellular behavior and physiological processes. WAVwatch utilizes this principle by delivering precise frequencies that resonate with specific biological systems, helping to restore natural rhythms and promote balance.   Start healing today Save $100 with code JOSH100 at checkout. In This Episode, Linda Bamber Uncovers: [01:35] New Healing Frequencies How doctors don't give women enough options for treating breast cancer. Why there is a healing frequency for every health issue. How there is an easier way than taking many supplements every day. Resources: WAVwatch: $100 off with code "JOSH100" [04:45] Mammogram Is Dangerous Why it was hard for Linda's mother and sister to share about their emotions during their cancer journey. How she refused to have another mammogram ever again. Why mammogram increases the risk of breast cancer. [07:55] What Causes Breast Cancer? Why hovering is another word for vibrating. How there are many different causes linked to breast cancer. Why sound can immediately change our mood. [10:55] Science VS Simplicity How Linda updated the Rife frequency device. Why the FDA requires double-blind studies on all new products. How science is overcomplicating the simple design we've been given. Resources: Dr. Royal Raymond Rife Impact of Histotripsy on Development of Intrahepatic Metastases in a Rodent Liver Tumor Model [15:05] Using WAVwatch for Healing How the FDA obliged WAVwatch to change its wording to be FDA-approved. Why frequencies travel through our bodies at the speed of sound and heal us fast. What causes supplements not to work as effectively as frequencies. How frequencies are not as easy to monetize as drugs. [18:45] How to Use Healing Frequencies How each chakra resonates at a different frequency. Why every organ has a specific frequency. How the WAVwatch works by making our cells vibrate. Why sound in a room is different than the sound touching our body. [23:35] The Healing Power of Targeted Frequencies Why one frequency doesn't target the whole body. How doctors use frequency to break kidney stones. Why WAVwatch works better for removing kidney stones. How Linda managed to improve the Rife device and make it wearable. [27:45] You Don't Need to Hear The Sound How Linda's deafness helped her connect with people differently. Why playing the drums soothed her. The difference between hearing and feeling a sound. Why the first sense of a fetus is hearing. [33:15] Wave Defence for Virus + Bacteria The purpose of muscle testing. How WAVwatch teaches its users how to muscle test. Why people need to treat Lyme disease and parasites with frequencies first. How WAVwatch protects us from viruses, bacteria, yeast, and mold. Why everyone needs support with inflammation and trauma in the body. Resources: 758 Dr. Jud Brewer | Why You Fail Quitting Bad Habits (and How to Finally Break Free) [39:10] Trauma Healing Using Frequencies Why trauma must be felt to heal it. How healing frequencies can release trauma and PTSD. Why frequencies move energies. How frequency can self-amplify and change inside our body. Why a frequency that doesn't match our internal issues doesn't do anything. [43:40] New Wave of Healing The future of frequency healing. Why Linda's mission is to educate people about the healing power of frequencies. How frequencies improve our intuition. Why Linda hear a voice that pushed her to create the watch. When we start to feel vibrations, they can direct us towards what's meant for us. Resources: Finding Joe (2011) The War of Art by Steven Pressfield [49:45] People Can Feel Your Frequency Why many men don't trust holistic tools. Why what's in our heart is what we vibrate at. How other people feel our negative frequencies. What Linda does to maintain high frequency. Resources: The True Power of Water by Masaru Emoto [54:20] Spontaneous Healing How the WAVwatch helped Linda heal arthritis. What allows for spontaneous healing. How our trust influences the results. Why ancient technology shows everyone was wearing a bracelet that looks like the WAVwatch. [01:00:55] Nicolas Tesla's Technology Why we're indoctrinated not to believe in frequency healing. How Nicolas Tesla and Mark Twain used a vibration plate. Why Linda decided to include her children in the business. How she met her husband through WAVwatch. [01:05:30] Re-Establishing Connection Why Linda had to let go of her ego in the business. How we're trained to forget who we are. Why WAVwatch is in the process of proving that frequencies truly work. The importance of connecting with the Earth. Why all of us need to work on our emotional health. "If you've got a cold, UTI, prostate problems, breast lump, Lyme disease, parasites, or anything. There's a frequency for every single problem. 25 people had given me testimonies that their kidney stones went away in 30 minutes." — Linda Bamber Leave Wellness + Wisdom a Review on Apple Podcasts All Resources From This Episode WAVwatch: $100 off with code "JOSH100" Dr. Royal Raymond Rife Impact of Histotripsy on Development of Intrahepatic Metastases in a Rodent Liver Tumor Model 758 Dr. Jud Brewer | Why You Fail Quitting Bad Habits (and How to Finally Break Free) Finding Joe (2011) The War of Art by Steven Pressfield The True Power of Water by Masaru Emoto Josh's Trusted Products | Up To 40% Off Shop All Products Biohacking⁠

Rachael Herron's latest: The Seven Miracles of Beatrix Holland, is, truly and in so many ways, the book only she can write. It pulls from every part of her life: identity, spirituality, a love of what's magical in the world, her joy in crafting and her understanding of community and family. I, of course, wanted to know: how did you find the guts to put it all on the table? We talked about vulnerability, the challenges of writing the book of your heart, and learning to play with what you fear. Rachael says, “I'm spoiled for any smaller kind of writing. I'm not sure I can go back.”You're gonna love it. Links from the Pod:The Seven Miracles of Beatrix HollandInk in Your Veins podcastRachel's website: https://rachaelherron.comThe Jennifer Lynn Barnes “take my money” list.The War of Art, Steven Pressfield#AmReading:Careless People, Sarah Wynn-Williams This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch, Tabitha Carvan Transcript below:EPISODE TRANSCRIPTMultiple SpeakersIs it recording? Now it's recording—yay. Go ahead. This is the part where I stare blankly at the microphone. I don't remember what I'm supposed to be doing. All right, let's start over. Awkward pause. I'm going to rustle some papers. Okay, now—one, two, three.KJ Dell'AntoniaHey, listeners, this is the Hashtag AmWriting Podcast, the place where we help you play big in your writing life, love the process, and finish what matters. I am KJ Dell'Antonia, and today I am bringing to you an interview with Rachael Herron. I just finished talking to Rachael, and I really enjoyed this. We talked about vulnerability. We talked about the challenges of writing the book of your heart. We talked about what should show you where that book is, the idea that the fear is where you should play. It's, it's a really great interview, and I know that you are going to enjoy it.Let me tell you a little bit about Rachael. She is the author of so many, so many books, thrillers and romances, and most recently, in the book that we are talking about, The Seven Miracles of Beatrix Holland. And I have to read you—Rachael's going to describe this to you, but I got to read you the very short thing that basically made me say, take my money. And it went like this. A psychic tells Beatrix Holland that she'll experience seven miracles and then she'll die. No problem, though, Beatrix isn't worried. She is above all things pragmatic. She vastly prefers a spreadsheet to a tall tale. Then the miracles start to happen.It's a really great book, and more importantly, it's a big book. It is a book where Rachael is writing what comes from deep inside, and it is a book that only Rachael could write. And that is why I asked Rachael to join me today. I hope that you enjoy this interview, and before I release you to it, I just want to remind you that the place to go to talk more about writing big and playing big in your writing life is anywhere that we are: the AmWriting Podcast, Hashtag AmWriting, AmWritingPodcast.com. Find us on Substack. Find us by Googling. Grab those show notes—you should be getting them—and join us for all the different ways that we need to come together in a community to give each other the strength to do our very best and biggest work.So I'm going to ask you to describe The Seven Miracles of Beatrix Holland to me. But also before I even do, I want to say how much I enjoyed it. And also so we have been spending most of our time on the AmWriting Podcast lately talking about writing—writing big and striving big and trying to do something different and bigger and better than what you have done before. We, I think as writers, we're always trying to up our game, but there's upping your game, and there's reaching for the stars. And I felt like this book reached for the stars in a way that you maybe didn't even set out to because to me, as someone who has read much of your work and followed your career and listened to a lot of the Ink in Your Veins Podcast and sort of just knows what's going on with Rachael, this is the book that only you could write. So when I say this is your big book, I don't mean, you know, that this is, is going to be a—I'm sorry—I don't actually mean that 200 years from now, people will be passing this around.Rachael HerronExactly.KJ Dell'AntoniaWhat I mean is that this is you. This is and it's you. All of your books are you, but this was really you in a way that felt downright magical to me. And it's a magical book. So can you tell us a little bit about Beatrix Holland? And I will also say that even before I read it that you had me at the premise. So give us that.Rachael HerronWell, I don't know how to talk about it now that you've talked me up so well. But thank you. Thank you for, you know, being honestly an ideal reader for this book. The Seven Miracles of Beatrix Holland is about a woman who is pragmatic and sensible and doesn't believe in, you know, mumbo jumbo, not really worried about that kind of thing. But she is told by a psychic that she will experience seven miracles and then she will die and whatever, that's not a big deal. It doesn't bother her, because none of it is true. She doesn't believe it. And then, me… miracles start to occur; things that even she cannot say are not miracles. And so therefore, maybe, what about that death thing that's going to be preying on her mind?KJ Dell'AntoniaSo on top of that…Rachael HerronWho likes what the book is about…KJ Dell'AntoniaWe're on an island, and there's family secrets being revealed. And there are amazing family secrets that I think many of us would, I mean, they're kind of awful, and I've talked to some people, and some people would be thrilled by them, and some wouldn't, but yeah, just it just kind of keeps giving and giving and giving. And it's funny because you say I'm the ideal reader, and actually, I don't know that I necessarily would be…Rachael HerronOh, that's even better…KJ Dell'AntoniaExcept, if somebody else had written this, I would not be the ideal reader. And I don't think that's because I know you. I think it's because of the way that you wrote that. And when what I when I say, I wouldn't be the ideal reader, I am getting a little tired of books that are giving me certain specific elements that are very trendy right now and that people feel obliged to give me. And you know you have, certainly, you've got LGBTQ characters in this, but also you have LGBTQ characters in your life. You are yourself such a character.Rachael HerronAs my wife is one of them over in the other room.KJ Dell'AntoniaAnd this isn't me saying I will only read books about queer people by queer authors. No, no, no. It's that these are the thing, the elements of this book that sort of fall into that, that are just there, because that's your life and what you see…Rachael HerronRight. Right.KJ Dell'AntoniaAnd it just is perfectly natural. And of course, you have a lot of—and it's in the sort of the same way that, of course, there's a lot of witchiness and spirituality, because it's part, it's part of you and part of who you are. So it's, it's, it reads as authentic.Rachael HerronOh, that's such a, that's such a—that's such a huge compliment. I wrote this book to please myself.KJ Dell'AntoniaThat's what… that's my next question. Don't make me. Don't make me interrupt you. What? That was my question. What was your intention? What did you set out to do with this book?Rachael HerronI—so this is my sixth genre, and I've been writing for—I've been published for 15 years, and this is my 26 or 27th book. I've lost, I can't remember, maybe more. I have a list somewhere. And I have always thought about, you know, the market and what people want to read and what people want to hear, as you know, as you know this, you've been, you've been doing the same thing a long time.KJ Dell'AntoniaAnd there's nothing wrong with that.Rachael HerronThere's nothing wrong with writing tree, market around market, exactly. But, but in this case, I wanted to write a book, and I wanted to have fun, and, and, and to be honest, I talk about this regularly is that I was going to self-publish it. I didn't even want to deal with my agent coming back and saying, oh, you should edit it this way. Or, you know that this or that editor doesn't want it, or they wanted to change in some way. I wanted to write a—I wanted to write a series of about found family, and I did, I did the Jennifer Lynn Barnes thing, the adored Taylor, where I just, I just made the list of everything I love the most. You know, I love witch stuff. I love practical magic. I love sisters. I love twins separated at birth. Why wouldn't I? I love grumpy, grumpy, older women and fireflies and all of the things that I love the most. And I and I wrote that book, and it was one of the fastest books I've ever written, and not because I was rushing, just because it came easily. I was following my heart and following my gut, and I was also following my tarot cards. When I would get stuck, I would just pull a tarot card and see what it did with my subconscious and moved me forward, and I it was just play. And then I revised it quickly. I hired my favorite editor, edited it, got it copy edited, and then I decided, oh gosh, I don't think I want to do a whole series, and I'm not sure if I want to self-publish, because that's a lot of work, so I'll just let my agent have it and to see if she could sell it. And she said, okay, I'll take a look at it and see if I could sell it. And then it sold at auction because it was, I don't… there's no because there it was just no surprise. There's no because there's no because there's never a because in publishing. You can also write the book of your heart.KJ Dell'AntoniaYeah, and then this—the rest of the story wouldn't fall that way and it would never sell that way…Rachael HerronExactly. So it happened to go this way. And of course, a lot of it is a lot of it is luck. Cozy, cozy, queer fantasy is, you know, on an upswing right now, but that wasn't, you know, a couple years ago. It took a couple years for it to come out.KJ Dell'AntoniaWhat do you love most? Yeah, what do you love most about this book and the experience?Rachael HerronThe thing I love most about the whole experience is that it has spoiled me for any other kind of writing; I think now, which may be a good or a bad thing. Ask me in a few years. But I kind of refuse now to write a book that I don't desperately want to write, that I can't stop thinking of. Because I've written a lot of books that I love, but they were, you know, what they were, they were my job. They were the book I sold. And now I will write the book that I sold. Now I will do, do what the contract says. And I don't want to do that anymore. I just want to write the books that grab me and fascinate me and keep me in their thrall and what that means is that I have to, you know, focus on other ways to bring in money and to support. And really, I'm now, I'm supporting this writing passion with things like teaching and with, you know, you know, old backlist books. But I'm not, I'm not sure if I can go back. I don't want to, I don't want to be a work a day writer, writing to a contract that I don't maybe love as much as other contracts I've had, right?KJ Dell'AntoniaYeah.Rachael HerronSo, yeah, it's spoiled me a little bit that way.KJ Dell'AntoniaSo are there other ways that this book feels bigger than things that you have written before? And this is again; we're not denigrating our old work. We're not…Rachael HerronNo, of course not. Of course not. I think that every—for me, it's always been a goal that for every book that I write, it needs to be me playing bigger. It needs to be me playing truer, more, more free. And in this book, it's only recently come up in my in my consciousness that I think that I needed to leave the United States and move around the world to New Zealand. And one of the reasons we left the states was because we were scared of the way LGBTQ rights are, are trending. There's 867 pieces of legislation that are anti LGBTQ on the dockets right now in the United States, and that's, that's up by like 700% in the last four years, and it's and it's terrifying. But it I didn't strike me until recently that this is my first novel that has a queer love story. It's not a romance, but there's a queer, queer love story inside it. And I finally, perhaps, felt safe enough to do that, you know, because it and when I came into the industry, I came in writing straight romances, because that's what would sell. And when I would ask to write other things that was turned down by traditional publishing because they thought it wouldn't sell. And then, you know, obviously self-publishers came along and said, oh, there is a market. Wow, look who wants to read these books. But, and so it was me kind of exposing myself in that way, and also me exposing myself in in the way that Beatrix does is that I always, I also just want to believe in magic. I want to believe I want to believe in things out there that I can't explain, that are bigger than me, that I don't actually need a name for or to understand. Because if I could understand something that is that big, something that is powering the universes, I can't be expected to understand that. But can I, can I engage with it? Can I play with it in the in the exact same way that that Beatrix does? I think the answer is yes. And I did. When I would pull the tarot cards to help me write the next chapter if I got stuck, it was an actual process of engaging with a larger thing, saying, I don't know how to write this book. Help me write this book. Asking for help in writing this book from, from whatever is out there. I don't have, I don't have big ideas about it, but yeah. So that was, that was, it was scary, and maybe that's why I originally wanted to self-publish it, because then it, it felt like I could keep total control.KJ Dell'AntoniaSure.Rachael HerronIf I did that,KJ Dell'AntoniaOf course, you could keep anyone who wouldn't like it from reading it then.Multiple Speakers[Both laughing]KJ Dell'AntoniaYeah, okay, so maybe not so much. But no, I get it. It must have felt…Rachael HerronYeah.KJ Dell'AntoniaLess vulnerable. So I was going to ask you next, what was hard about it. And I guess that's, is that what was hard? But maybe something else was.Rachael HerronLet's see, what was that? So that was hard, being that honest and vulnerable. And you know how when we write our novels, the thing that we want to do is be as truthful as possible, even though we're just making up a pack of lies. It's it feels more true often than even memoir can when we're when we're doing this. What else felt hard? Not much felt hard about this book. And I have had books that I have struggled with like I am wrestling muddy alligators for decades at a time. It feels like those that's what those that's what those books feel like. And there's nothing wrong with those books. They were just; you know where I was at the moment. But this book, I it's one of those gift books. It just, I must have struggled, and I do not remember. I honestly do not remember struggling.KJ Dell'AntoniaWell… I wish for…Rachael HerronI just remember it being joy.KJ Dell'Antonia…all of us. I wish that. I wish that journey for all of us. Oh. Yeah, yeah…Rachael HerronAs usual, I struggle whenever I get copy edits back. When I get copy edits back, I realize I don't know how to write a sentence.KJ Dell'AntoniaSo if any of our listeners are sort of trying to find within themselves the freedom to write what they really want to write, and maybe can't even figure out what the heck that would be, what would you say to them…asking for a friend?Rachael HerronI would encourage them to do one of those “ID lists”, to sit down and write a list of the thing that if you saw that something about it was on the box of the of the video cassette at the video rental store, because that's how old I am, if you saw that listed on there, would you pick it up and rent the movie? Write down all of the things that you love the most and then actually use it as an exercise in creativity within constraints. How many of those things can you actually shove in there? Can you get them? Can you get them all in there? The other thing I like to ask myself when this question comes up is, if I am alone—well, it doesn't actually matter if I'm alone or not—but if I, if I walk into the bookstore, any bookstore, and and I reject any “shoulds,” you know, should I look for that cookbook I was thinking about, or should I look for that new nonfiction I heard about on the podcast, if I'm if I'm released of all shoulds, where will I want to—and say somebody tells me you can only look at one section of the store today. What is the section of the store that I will go stand in front of and pull books off the shelf and look at? And perhaps that is a clue as to where you should be writing.KJ Dell'AntoniaAnd how about freeing yourself up to actually do it. We can't all move to New Zealand, Rachael.Rachael Herron[Laughing] Freeing yourself up do you mean to write the book, to write that book?KJ Dell'AntoniaTo write that book. I don't. Yeah, most of my listeners—well, most of our listeners aren't you know, we tend to be a podcast for professionals or people that are playing professional so, you know, these aren't people who can't put their butt in the chair, but to be vulnerable and admit that you want to go bigger and then do it. That's a different question. Got any advice for that?Rachael HerronI do like to think of Steven Pressfield's advice from his book The War of Art, where he talks about resistance with the capital R. And the place where you feel the most resistance, that's your that's your compass that is pointing north to what you what, what you are meant to do. And a lot of times when we think about these bigger stories that we may want to write someday, the someday, right when I get there, I'll write it someday, that you've already got this compass pointing you there, and it is terrifying. And the fear of how can I do that now is maybe the thing that says that you do not need to put aside the fourth book in the series that you're writing that you need to finish before you write this next series. You can do that. But maybe listening to that resistance, listening to that fear, and dedicating 15 minutes, three times a week, to playing with the idea of this book. If you were to start to write it anytime in the future, you can, you can at least be courting it and flirting with it, making it know that you are going to be available to write that, that book of your heart, because everybody, every we all need that. We all need that. We also need to pay the bills and do the professional writing and do all that too.KJ Dell'AntoniaYeah, yeah.Rachael HerronBut…KJ Dell'AntoniaWe got to; we got to try to do the biggest things we can. All right. Well, that's a great place to lead into my next question, which is, what have you read recently where you really thought the writer was playing big?Rachael HerronCan I give you two?KJ Dell'AntoniaOf course!Rachael HerronOkay, the first one, and strangely, these are both nonfiction. So make of that what you will, Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams, who is a QE. Have you heard of this one?KJ Dell'AntoniaOh yeah. This is the…Rachael HerronOh yeah, the Facebook book.KJ Dell'AntoniaThe Facebook book. We moved fast, and we did indeed break things.Rachael HerronWe did move fast. We broke things. And Sarah has a uniquely Kiwi sense when she's looking at them, because she goes in and she's really watching it all happen. And I don't care about Facebook. I don't actually engage with all of the stuff that said about it. And this book is written basically it felt like a thriller. It was—I couldn't put it down. And she was fearless, the things that she said. No wonder Zuckerberg wanted to silence it. He looks like a moron. And she was absolutely fearless. And it was one of those schadenfreudy, why am I reading this? Why can't I put this down? But I can't put it down. And I think it was because of her bravery.KJ Dell'AntoniaYeah.Rachael HerronSo I really enjoyed it for that. And then the other one I want to tell you about is kind of on the flip side. And you may not have heard about this one. It's called This Is Not a Book About Benedict CumberbatchKJ Dell'AntoniaNot only have I heard about this one, it's entirely possible that I sent it to you.Rachael HerronReally?!KJ Dell'AntoniaI love this book! All right, go on. Go on.Rachael Herron…The Joy of Loving Something--Anything--Like Your Life Depends On It, by Tabitha Carvan. Oh, my god, isn't it brilliant? She writes about how, yes, she does love Benedict Cumberbatch, who I'd really never considered very much in my lifeKJ Dell'AntoniaNo, I couldn't pick him out of a lineup of youthful-ish…Rachael HerronYeah.KJ Dell'AntoniaBritish-ish…Rachael HerronYeah.KJ Dell'AntoniaActor-ish,Rachael HerronAnd she loves him, loves him, loves him, no, no joke, loves him. And the whole book is about recovering from any shame around loving the thing that you were put on this earth to freaking love with your whole heart, no matter what anybody says. And I really think the Benedict Cumberbatch is a really great thing to tie this whole book in.KJ Dell'AntoniaIt had to be something like that, because if it was like knitting, I mean,Rachael HerronRight, exactly.KJ Dell'AntoniaOkay, that's fine, honey, you can love your knitting. And you know it also is…Rachael HerronExactly,KJ Dell'AntoniaYou know, it also is…Rachael HerronThis is not a book about yogurt. Who cares, you know. But Benedict Cumberbatch is funny to say. He's actually kind of funny to look at when you do look at him, when you do look him up. And it's so evocative, and it is, and it is something that people would snicker at.KJ Dell'AntoniaYeah.Rachael HerronRight? People would snicker.KJ Dell'AntoniaStill even… yeah, it's like, she snickers it herself. But also she's like, okay, why? Why is that, you know? Why would it be? What if I were super obsessed with the stats of some obscure ball—baseball player, no one would mock that. If I wanted to watch every football game played by, you know…Rachael HerronThat blew my mind when she said that, of course, of course. So, and she goes deep. She's again, she's so brave. She plays big. She goes into what it means. How does it like? How does it affect her husband? What does she think about how it affects her husband? Like she goes all of the places. I'm so, I bet you did tell me about it, and I'm so glad that you did.KJ Dell'AntoniaI love, I love. I keep extra copies to force people to read it. I tie people up in like, you know parts of my house and force them… no. I don't really do that.Rachael Herron[Laughing] I love that. But, and what are those all have in common? I think that what are, the both those books have in common? Is these women who, who, at any point, anybody in the whole world could have told them that's not really a good idea to write.KJ Dell'AntoniaYeah, no, that's exactly right.Rachael HerronAnd it would've been true.KJ Dell'AntoniaYeah. It would have been true. It would have been excellent advice.Rachael HerronExcellent advice not to write that book.KJ Dell'AntoniaReally, you should not admit that you love Benedict. Or really, I mean, you're never going to work in this town again, man.Rachael HerronYou're never going to work in this town again. And the whole, during the whole book of Careless People, she's talking about being inside, she is inside the beast that is doing the damage. And that's and that's brave too. And I don't think Seven Miracles is as brave as those books, but there was, but there was bravery and resistance around moving, moving toward, really putting yourself on display.KJ Dell'AntoniaRun towards the fear.Rachael HerronAnd that's what we writers do.KJ Dell'AntoniaThat's our theme.Rachael HerronYeah, run towards the fear. Even if you can only give it 15 minutes a day or so, three times a week, that's enough. That's good enough to tell your bravery. It should come back more.KJ Dell'AntoniaYes.Rachael HerronScooch, door bravery, little scooches.KJ Dell'AntoniaEdge towards the fear. Tip toe.Rachael HerronOh, that's beautiful. I love that you're doing this series.KJ Dell'AntoniaWe love it too. So, yeah, it's going great. Well again, thank you. I was really excited to talk to you about this book. I was really excited to read this book. I enjoyed the heck out of it, and I think, listeners, that you would too. You should absolutely check it out as well as all the rest of Rachael's work. Links of course, as always, in the show notes, and follow Rachael in all the places. Although, to me, the best thing to do is to go and listen to the Ink in Your Veins Podcast. Because obviously, people, you're a podcast listener, you wouldn't be here. Where do you most like to be followed, Rachael?Rachael HerronAt Ink in Your Veins or on Rachaelherron.com/write, if you are a writer and want to get on the on the writing encouragement list. But I just want to thank you for doing this amazing show and for having me. I feel very, very honored to be here.KJ Dell'AntoniaWell, thank—thank you. All right. And as we say in every episode, until next week, kids, keep your butt in the chair and your head in the game.NarratorThe Hashtag AmWriting Podcast is produced by Andrew Perrella. Our intro music, aptly titled Unemployed Monday, was written and played by Max Cohen. Andrew and Max were paid for their time and their creative output, because everyone deserves to be paid for their work. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

“The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.” – W.M. LewisIn this solo episode, Michael reflects on the ways we delay the life that's calling us. He shares how he waited years to launch this very podcast and over a decade to write his book, Resonance, and what finally helped him get out of his own way.Drawing on Steven Pressfield's The War of Art and Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic, he explores the idea of the “muse” – that creative force that wants to move through us – and the counterforce Pressfield calls “resistance.” He weaves in stories from elders facing the end of their lives, including a man who had never once been met at the airport, and contrasts that with memories of his father, a man who always showed up.In this conversation, you'll hear about:Why we wait so long to begin the life that's meant for usThe muse, resistance, and how to finally start dancing with your creative callingThe difference between résumé goals and eulogy goalsWhat elders' regrets can teach us about how to live nowWhy relationships — the people who would pick you up at 2 a.m. — matter more than anythingThis is an invitation to stop postponing your real life, to sing your unique song, and to surround yourself with the people who help you play it beautifully. Michael Trainer has spent 30 years learning from Nobel laureates, neuroscientists, and wisdom keepers worldwide. He's the author of RESONANCE: The Art and Science of Human Connection (March 31, 2026), co-creator of Global Citizen and the Global Citizen Festival, and host of the RESONANCE podcast.Featured in Forbes, Inc, Good Morning America. Follow on YouTube

Confronting the universal internal battle against "resistance" - the invisible force of procrastination, fear, and self-doubt that stops us from doing our most important work - McKay draws upon the powerful distinction between an "amateur" and a "pro” to argue that we can consciously decide to adopt a professional mindset in any area of our lives. This decision, he notes, is not about a title or a paycheck; it's an act of will that transforms our approach to challenges, failures, and our ultimate potential.Opening the episode with the core lesson from Steven Pressfield's book The War of Art - the hardest part of any task is simply starting - McKay then illustrates the professional mindset through a series of compelling stories. Listeners hear about Kobe Bryant's legendary work ethic that reset the culture of the 2012 US Olympic basketball team; Captain Tammie Jo Shults' incredible composure while landing a crippled Southwest jet; and astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell's steadfast focus on her work, even after being overlooked for a Nobel Prize. The episode culminates with the idea that, like the Apostle Peter, even when we fail, we can "decide again" to be a pro, recommitting to our purpose with even greater strength.Main Themes:The greatest obstacle to achieving our goals is an internal force called "resistance," which manifests as procrastination and fear.An amateur works when they feel inspired, but a professional does the work regardless of their mood, the circumstances, or their fear."Turning pro" is a conscious decision - an act of will to show up and do the work, especially when it's hard.True professionals don't dwell on mistakes; they learn from them and immediately focus on the "next play."A pro is defined by their commitment to their purpose, not by external validation, credit, or praise.Even after a setback, you can always choose to recommit and be "twice born" into your professional mindset, emerging stronger than before.Top 10 Quotes:“It's not the writing part that's hard. What's hard is the sitting down to write. What keeps us from sitting down is resistance.”“That's the price for being in the arena and not on the sidelines. Stop complaining and be grateful.”“Pros do the work regardless of how they feel.”“You can't win the next play by thinking about the last one.”“We make up our minds to view ourselves as pros and we do it. Simple as that.”“Pros don't get overly excited, emotional, or moved off their professional approach.”“Every day that you sit around trying to figure out what to do, someone else is already doing it.”“This time, having decided twice, he is stronger than ever.”“You can choose to be a pro again.”Show Links:Open Your Eyes with McKay Christensen

Want to stop self-sabotaging and start achieving? Steven Pressfield explains why overcoming resistance is the key to fulfilling your greatest creative potential. He also reveals some of the revolutionary ideas from his books: The War of Art, Turning Pro, and The Artist's Journey. I love Steven so much and could not be more honored to have him in the studio. This conversation is what every dreamer needs to do their life's work, no matter how unconventional. Thanks for listening! New episodes drop every Tuesday. Make sure you hit the follow button to get notified.

Feeling stuck, heavy, or like you're constantly fighting yourself? That's not failure, it's resistance showing up to invite you into your next level. In this episode, I share how I've been navigating my own season of resistance and what it's really trying to teach you. I break down how to use resistance as proof that your calling is close, not proof that you're off track. I also share the 5-step process for identifying, reframing, and moving through resistance so you can stop sabotaging your progress and start building unstoppable momentum. Get ready to evolve into the person your dream requires. Check out our Sponsors: SKIMS - I finally tried SKIMS and I get all the hype. Shop SKIMS Fits Everybody collection at SKIMS.com and let them know we sent you in the dropdown after checkout. Brevo - the all-in-one marketing and CRM platform designed to help you connect with customers and grow your business. Get started for free today - go to www.brevo.com/happy Blinds.com - Blinds.com makes it easy to get the designer look without the showroom markups. Get an exclusive $50 off when you spend $500 or more with code EARN at checkout. Shopify - Try the ecommerce platform I trust for Glōci, Sign up for your $1/month trial period at Shopify.com/happy Northwest Registered Agent - protect your privacy, build your brand and get your complete business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes! Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/earnfree Headway - the #1 daily growth app that delivers key insights from the world's best non fiction books in bite sized 15 minute reads and audio. Save 25% off when you go to  makeheadway.com/happy. HIGHLIGHTS How resistance is actually a sign that your next level is calling. The quote from Steven Pressfield that will completely change how you see your challenges. How I'm personally working through resistance in business, content creation, and leadership. The 5-step method to name, reframe, and move through resistance. Why choosing comfort over your calling keeps you stuck. RESOURCES Join the Audacity Challenge HERE! Join the most supportive mastermind on the internet HERE! Check out our FREE 90-Day Business Blueprint HERE! Listen to my free SECRET PODCASTS SERIES - Operation: Rekindle This B*tch Get glōci HERE Use code: HAPPY at checkout for 25% off! FOLLOW Follow me: @loriharder Follow glōci: @getgloci

My guest is Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art and expert in how to overcome the inner force of "resistance"—the self-sabotaging tendency to procrastinate on your life's most important work that keeps you from realizing your professional and creative potential. Steven shares actionable tools for defeating inner resistance that work. His approach is concrete, not based on slogans or inspirational messages. As the author of numerous best-selling books and screenplays, Steven's routines for cultivating discipline and focus, including his physical training regimen (he is incredibly mentally and physically vigorous at 82), are applicable by anyone. He gives you effective practical strategies for how to structure your day, overcome procrastination and self-doubt and do your best, most meaningful work. Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AGZ by AG1: https://drinkagz.com/huberman Helix Sleep: https://helixsleep.com/huberman BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/huberman Rorra: https://rorra.com/huberman Function: https://functionhealth.com/huberman David: https://davidprotein.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Steven Pressfield (00:04:55) Ideas & Resistance, Tree & Shadow Analogy (00:08:45) Military, Pushing Through Resistance, War of Art (00:10:14) Physical Training, Tools: Capturing Ideas, Little Successes (00:16:11) Sponsors: Helix Sleep & BetterHelp (00:18:36) Ideas, Invocation of the Muse, Goddess (00:23:19) Writing, Focus, Inner Critic, Perfectionism, Tool: Think in Multiple Drafts (00:28:21) Writing Session; Workout Analogy & Concentration (00:32:28) Aspiring Writers & Focused Hours; Work Session Timing; Phones (00:35:31) Inner Voice; Storytelling, Advertising (00:39:45) Soul & Growth, Creativity, Your Calling & Voices of Resistance, Suppression (00:48:10) Loved Ones: Projection, Resistance & Sabotage (00:51:04) Sponsors: AGZ by AG1 & Rorra (00:53:52) Angry & Numbing Out, Resistance, Internet; Following Your Calling (00:59:00) Mentors: Lessons on Focus & Quitting (01:06:46) Perfectionism (01:10:42) Contemplating Your Mortality, Family Honor (01:16:49) Proving Yourself & Competition (01:22:01) First Movie, Failure, Analyze Feedback?, Tool: Self-Evaluation (01:28:28) Book Success, One-Hit Wonders; Book Titles (01:34:22) Sponsor: Function (01:36:09) Personal Sacrifice; High Achievers & Unbalanced Life; Social Media (01:44:44) Tool: Turning Pro, Amateur vs Professional Habits, Failure, Feelings (01:49:32) Cost of Turning Pro, Tool: Taking Oneself Seriously & Others' Reactions (01:56:42) Creativity: Practical Advice & Muse; Acts of Faith; Surrender (02:04:00) Sponsor: David (02:05:17) Workspace, Uncomfortable Chair, Physical Labor, Complaining (02:08:13) Forthcoming Book, Book Recommendations (02:13:46) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow, Reviews & Feedback, Sponsors, Protocols Book, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter Disclaimer & Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In one week, Trey's debut true-crime novel The Color of Death will be available for readers to dive into a captivating fictional world about a shocking murder in a small town, written by a real-world prosecutor.   Ahead of the release, Trey speaks with one of his favorite authors, Steven Pressfield to hear his literary expertise, discuss their individual writing processes and share the inspiration behind their novels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices