Resistance Lets Us Know We’re On the Right Path

“The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.” — Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

Why is it that so many people fail at committing to achieve their hopes and dreams?

Not failing to achieve them — plenty of people give a valiant effort but still come up short.

But why is it so hard for so many to even commit to giving an honest effort?

Why do you see some people at the gym on a Monday, but you don’t see them for the rest of the week?

Are they lazy? Are they overcommitted to other obligations and haven’t carved out the necessary time for themselves? Or are they simply not cut out for the fitness lifestyle?

Laziness and poor time-management are legitimate issues that hold people back from getting what they want, but they are symptoms of a greater disease.

They are byproducts of resistance.

When we set our minds to go after something that will better our lives, we are guaranteeing ourselves to be attacked.

Not by critics or naysayers, but rather by forces within ourselves.

Why does resistance attack us? Because we are attacking it.

By pursuing a better version of ourselves, we are attacking resistance’s desire to keep us stagnant.

Resistance comes up with creative rationalizations to distract us from our goals.

It justifies not going to the gym by whispering to us that we’re still sore from yesterday’s workout. That we won’t write tonight because we had to stay late at work. That it’s okay to eat a bunch of junk food since we had a salad for dinner.

Resistance gives us logical (and even legitimate) excuses for why we can’t push forward with our goals.

But we can’t make true progress until we understand that resistance will never go away. It will always come up with a new reason why we can’t follow through with our plans.

To get what we want, we have to stop avoiding resistance and face it head-on.

Resistance Creates Obstacles For Us to Conquer

“The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition.” — Ryan Holiday

We need to re-frame how we think about resistance.

Many of us wilt at the first sign of it. Trying something new makes us feel uncomfortable, so we allow resistance to lull us into stumbling down the easier path, instead of confidently walking down the one we actually want.

But resistance is what tells us we’re already headed down the right track.

If we weren’t feeling any resistance in our lives, we wouldn’t be living a life worth living.

How much resistance do we feel on the days where we sit on the couch and watch Netflix all day?

It’s pretty rare for a lazy day to be interrupted by the voices in our head telling us we should be more active.

However, it’s much more common to let days slip away by giving in to resistance. We plan out productive days for ourselves, but end up wasting them by spending too much time surfing the Internet, mindlessly scrolling through social media or letting other people distract us.

Resistance is a necessary evil that we have to deal with to achieve success. The harder we work to make our dreams come true, the more resistance we will feel.

So how do we overcome resistance?

Motivation Is Temporary

“Motivation is crap. Motivation comes and goes. When you’re driven, whatever is in front of you will get destroyed.” — David Goggins

Anyone can get motivated to make a change.

When a friend tells you, “It looks like you’ve packed on some pounds,” chances are you’ll be at the gym the next day.

The pain from the remark is enough to jolt you into action. It might be so impactful that you go to the gym every day that week.

But what happens when the initial sting from the negative comment starts to subside?

Motivation can be the spark that jump-starts your journey. Sometimes, we really do just need a push to get us moving.

But motivation can overpower resistance for only a brief period of time.

If you’re solely relying on motivation to make your dreams come true, eventually resistance will squash them like ants.

Consistency Is Key

“What you do every day matters more than what you do every once in a while.” — Gretchen Rubin

Motivation can’t last forever, but consistency can.

Motivation is a flame that burns bright, but is quickly extinguished.

Consistency, however, is a steady, smoldering blaze.

When we commit to working toward our goals every day, we’re planting our flag and telling resistance that no matter what — up or down, rain or shine — we’re going to show up.

Every day, this fucker is going to have to deal with us.

Of course, resistance will still grapple with us every step of the way. It will tempt us with distractions, impulses and easy outs.

And it will win sometimes.

But as we keep gaining victories over resistance, we build momentum that propels us to greater heights.

Those wins are the bricks that create the foundation of the person we want to be.

Beating resistance isn’t easy.

But compared to the alternative of giving in and allowing it to crush our dreams, we have no choice but to stare resistance in the face and push through it.