Coaching practices for The War of Art During Conflict

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For The War of Art During Conflict, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• Every time I avoid the work that matters most I pile it onto the heap of evidence that I’m just lazy or not cut out for this
• I try to do my real work in the exact same spot, on the same screen, where I answer email and scroll and take calls
• My whole approach is to wait until I’m in the mood to do the work, and the mood comes maybe one day in ten, so weeks go by with almost nothing made
• The moment an argument heats up I either shut down and flee or cave just to make it stop
• The instant someone pushes at me I push right back twice as hard, and it just locks us both into a standoff where one of us has to win

Practices that may help

1. The War of Art, Made Practical
   Steven Pressfield’s "Resistance" is his name for the internal force that opposes any meaningful creative or entrepreneurial act. His core practices — turning pro, showing up daily, and treating creative work as a profession rather than an inspiration-dependent activity — are grounded in practitioner wisdom from a working novelist. They align with self-regulation and deliberate practice research but are not derived from formal studies.
2. Name and externalize Resistance
   Recognize the internal force opposing your creative work as Resistance — a universal opponent, not a personal failing.
   The War of Art, Made Practical
3. Define your territory: where creative work belongs
   Name the specific space, time, and conditions that constitute your creative work territory and defend them.
   The War of Art, Made Practical
4. Turn pro: do the work on a schedule, not a mood
   Commit to showing up for your creative work at the same time every day, regardless of how you feel.
   The War of Art, Made Practical
5. Use fierce self-compassion to stay in hard conversations
   Stay present in conflict by meeting your own distress with compassion, so you don't flee or attack.
   Fierce Self-Compassion, Made Practical
6. Yielding — meeting force with softness
   Respond to conflict or resistance with suppleness rather than counterpressure.
   The Tao Te Ching, Made Practical
7. Treat your creative work as the highest-priority obligation
   Do the most important creative work first, before any obligation that feels more pressing.
   The War of Art, Made Practical
8. Working with Multiple Selves (Chair Work in CFT)
   Give voice to different internal parts — the critic, the anxious self, the compassionate self — to understand and change the dialogue.
   Compassion-Focused Therapy: Calming the Inner Critic
9. Using relationship crucibles as growth opportunities
   Treat the moments your relationship is most difficult as the exact situations where growth becomes possible.
   Differentiation of Self: David Schnarch’s Framework for Passionate Marriage
10. Competing (assertive, uncooperative)
    Pursue your own position firmly when speed, principle, or stakes outweigh the relationship cost.
    The Five Conflict-Resolution Styles

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