Conquering internal resistance

One of my favorite ideas is Steven Pressfield’s concept of resistance — a catch-all term that applies to anything that stops us from taking action.

What I find particularly fascinating are the many forms in which resistance presents itself internally in the form of fear, self-doubt, and procrastination.

In many cases, it is not unusual for one part of you to be in favor of something happening and another part of you to not be in favor of it.

Take public speaking for example. It’s possible for one part of you to see the merits of having public speaking experience and another part of you to dread doing it out of fear.

Internal resistance is powerful, but it’s not undefeatable.

There are a few practical things you can acknowledge and do to help win the battle against your internal resistance every day.

First, recognize and accept that growth happens in situations that require you to adapt. Easy things don’t require adaptation; hard things do. To overcome resistance, the narrative needs to shift from “I’m not going to do this because it’s hard” to “I’m going to do this precisely because it’s hard.”

Second, don’t rely on motivation — it’s fickle, unreliable, and unlikely to be present on cue whenever it’s time to take action.

A better approach, and thirdly, is to lock in your commitment. If you know doing something difficult is going to be helpful for you in the long term, commit in a way that prevents you from talking yourself out of it or easily backing out. Put your name on the sign-up list; tell people what you’re doing.

If you can do these three things effectively, your resistance doesn’t stand a chance.