#501: Steven Pressfield — How to Overcome Self-Sabotage and Resistance, Routines for Little Successes, and The Hero’s Journey vs. The Artist’s Journey
The Tim Ferriss Show
Tim Ferriss: Bestselling Author, Human Guinea Pig
4.6 • 17.7K Ratings
🗓️ 26 February 2021
⏱️ 114 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Steven Pressfield — How to Overcome Self-Sabotage and Resistance, Routines for Little Successes, and The Hero’s Journey vs. The Artist’s Journey | Brought to you by Tonal smart home gym, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, the best version of LinkedIn for sales professionals, and Athletic Greens all-in-one nutritional supplement. More on all three below.
Steven Pressfield (@SPressfield), a former Marine and graduate of Duke University, became an overnight success as a writer after 30 years of abject failure. Identifying the omnipresence of “Resistance,” the interior force of self-sabotage he described in The War of Art, has saved his own artistic life and has helped many others struggling to find their creative calling. Steven’s novels of the ancient world, including the nonfiction The Warrior Ethos, are required reading at West Point, Annapolis, and in the Marine Corps. He lives in Los Angeles.
His new book is A Man at Arms, an epic saga about a reluctant hero, the Roman Empire, and the rise of a new faith.
Please enjoy!
This episode is brought to you by Tonal! Tonal is the world’s most intelligent home gym and personal trainer. It is precision engineered and designed to be the world’s most advanced strength studio. Tonal uses breakthrough technology—like adaptive digital weights and A.I. learning—together with the best experts in resistance training so you get stronger, faster. Every program is personalized to your body using A.I., and smart features check your form in real time, just like a personal trainer.
Try Tonal, the world’s smartest home gym, for 30 days in your home, and if you don’t love it, you can return it for a full refund. Visit Tonal.com for $100 off their smart accessories when you use promo code TIM21 at checkout.
*
This episode is also brought to you by Athletic Greens. I get asked all the time, “If you could only use one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually Athletic Greens, my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body in 2010 and did not get paid to do so. I do my best with nutrient-dense meals, of course, but AG further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system.
Right now, Athletic Greens is offering you their Vitamin D Liquid Formula free with your first subscription purchase—a vital nutrient for a strong immune system and strong bones. Visit AthleticGreens.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive the free Vitamin D Liquid Formula (and five free travel packs) with your first subscription purchase! That’s up to a one-year supply of Vitamin D as added value when you try their delicious and comprehensive all-in-one daily greens product.
*
This episode is also brought to you by LinkedIn Sales Navigator! LinkedIn Sales Navigator is the best version of LinkedIn for sales professionals. Tap into the power of LinkedIn’s 700 million+ member network. LinkedIn Sales Navigator gives you 20 monthly InMail messages, Lead Recommendations, Unlimited Searches, Actionable Insights and News, and access to free courses on LinkedIn Learning. Target the right prospects and decision-makers, unlocking 15% more pipeline from sourced opportunities, a 17% lift when saving leads on Sales Navigator, and 42% larger deal sizes.
Start your 60-day free trial—that’s a two-month free trial!—of LinkedIn Sales Navigator today by going to LinkedIn.com/Navigator.
*
If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!
For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.
Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.
For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.
Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.
Follow Tim:
Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss
Instagram: instagram.com/timferriss
Facebook: facebook.com/timferriss
YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
Past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, and many more.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This episode is brought to you by Tonal T-O-N-A-L. I'm super excited about this one, |
| 0:05.3 | and I was skeptical of it in the beginning. Tonal, quote, |
| 0:08.8 | tonal is the world's most intelligent home gym and personal trainer. End quote, |
| 0:12.6 | that's the tagline from their website, folks, to give you the one sentence summary. |
| 0:16.7 | And this device, it's really a system, is perfect for anyone looking to take their home workouts |
| 0:21.4 | to the next level, or someone who just wants to get maximum bang for the buck in a tiny, |
| 0:28.0 | foot print of space. Tonal is precision engineered to be the world's most advanced |
| 0:32.7 | strength studio and personal trainer. It uses breakthrough technology of all different types |
| 0:36.4 | to help get you stronger, faster. I was introduced to Tonal by three different friends. |
| 0:40.6 | All of them are tech savvy. One of them is a former competitive skier who's doubled his strength |
| 0:46.0 | in a number of movements using Tonal. Even though he has a long athletic background, |
| 0:51.9 | and I'll paint a picture for you. By eliminating traditional metal weights, dumbbells and barbells, |
| 0:56.4 | Tonal can deliver 200 pounds of resistance, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it's actually, |
| 1:00.7 | it feels like a lot more at the high end. In a device smaller than a flat screen TV, and you can |
| 1:06.3 | perform at least 150 different exercises. And these different technologies are exclusive to Tonal, |
| 1:13.3 | and you can dial weights up and down with the touch of a button in one pound increments |
| 1:17.7 | using magnets and electricity. So the movement is extremely smooth. And even though I have a |
| 1:22.9 | home gym already in my garage, I'm still getting a Tonal installed. I've used Tonal for multiple |
| 1:28.8 | workouts now to do things I just cannot do in my home gym, such as the chop and lift exercises |
| 1:35.8 | from the four-hour body, all sorts of cable exercises that would usually involve much, much |
| 1:40.8 | bigger piece of equipment, eccentric training. For instance, you can do to give a simple example |
| 1:46.4 | bicep curls where you are lifting, let's just say, 20 pounds in each hand up, and then Tonal |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Tim Ferriss: Bestselling Author, Human Guinea Pig, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Tim Ferriss: Bestselling Author, Human Guinea Pig and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.