Do the Work summary

Certain things help you move toward your goals, while others get in the way. Good music might motivate you to work out, for example, while your favorite television show might make you want to stay home. These are the allies and enemies in your life.

Ambition and self-awareness are the real keys to achieving any goal, but they’re always under threat by a common enemy: resistance.

Resistance manifests itself in a number of ways. When you’re working on something meaningful that you have real passion for, but find yourself bogged down by self-criticism and doubt, that’s resistance setting in.

Any activity that requires a lot of energy and time can draw resistance. Actually, the more important an activity is to you, the more you’ll have to fight the resistance that acts against it.

Acting was so important to Henry Fonda, for instance, that he would throw up every time before he went on stage – even when he was 75 and already one of the most famous actors in the world!

Passion and dedication are strong allies, but they aren’t the only ones. Traits that we tend to perceive as negative – like ignorance and stubbornness – can be allies too, especially for artists and entrepreneurs.

Such “negative” characteristics helped famous American aviator Charles Lindbergh accomplish extraordinary feats. He had no idea how difficult it would be to fly for 33 hours straight, but his ignorance and stubbornness, along with his arrogance, made him believe he could do it.

And he succeeded: Lindbergh was the first person in history to be in New York on one day and Paris the next.

Stubbornness also helps you stay dedicated to your work, especially in difficult times. Steve Jobs was notorious for being stubborn, and this was instrumental while guiding his company, Apple, from its modest beginnings to becoming one of the most successful technology companies in the world.