A king went to cry for help from a prophet. The prophet was ill but found the strength to instruct the king. "Get a bow and some arrows." The king followed each instruction until he shot an arrow outside the east window.
It didn't end there, the king was instructed to take arrows and strike the ground. He struck it three times and stopped. The prophet was angry. He told the king that if he had shot at least five or six arrows, he would have defeated his enemies permanently.
The King would only defeat his enemies on three occasions. What I couldn't understand was the prophet's anger. Why was he angry? The revelation came when I was angry with myself. Similar to the king, I had taken the bow and arrows and shot far less than I should have.
I had stopped writing for months and was frustrated at my laziness, indiscipline, self-doubt, and lack of faith. There was definitely a force between the life I was living and the life God wants me to live. Steven Pressfield describes this force as Resistance.
I came across the book, 'The War of Art' by Steven Pressfield after watching an interview by the comedian, Ty Ngachira. He spoke about what it took to turn pro. Prior to this, I had watched a mini-documentary on the comic book writer, the late Stan Lee.
The timing was divine. I had to write again. How can we overcome the enemy within? How can we move from amateur to professional? Let's get straight to it.
What is this force within?
A writer, without hesitation, will say, writer's block. An entrepreneur will be stuck at the level of a business proposal. A new believer stuck at the basics of the faith. This is a force that is strongest when trying to achieve our purpose. Steven Pressfield says the intent of the force is to kill the unique and priceless gift we were put on earth to give.
It can manifest as fear, laziness, anxiety, perfectionism, procrastination, addictions, indiscipline, self-doubt, and indifference; the list is endless. Every day you wake up to achieve progress, this enemy will be there to destroy your efforts. So how do we recognize this enemy?
What are the characteristics of this Enemy?
Fear
The enemy has no strength of its own. It feeds off our fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of humiliation, and fear of perceived incompetence. Stan Martin Lieber always wanted to be a novelist. He was halfway there. At only 18 years, he was an editor, writing comics for Timely Publishing Company.
He didn't consider this to be a success. He was scared that publishing companies would not publish his novels if they knew he wrote comics. His fear drove him to use the alias, Stan Lee.
If Stan Lee gave in to the fear of what society and would-be publishers think of him as a writer, the world would have been robbed of the greatest stories in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The enemy feeds on fear, and if you let him you will rob the world of your genius.
Attacks with Allies
Ty Ngachira had a dream. Dream to be a dancer. He chose a High School that would bring him closer to this goal. Later that interest shifted to journalism. He excelled in his studies and scored an A-minus. His Dad convinced him to pursue another career because who studies journalism with such high scores?
The enemy attacked Ty Ngachira trying to kill his attempt at the arts by recruiting an external voice. The external voice sometimes is motivated with love, care and reason. But in some scenarios, it's others projecting their fears on us. Be vigilant.
Stan Lee at this time was the editor-in-chief. He approached the owner of Marvel Comics with the idea for a new comic series. His boss told him that it was the worst idea ever and ordered him not to pursue it.
The external pressure was intense but Stan secretly asked artist Steve Ditko to create his new superhero. He then slipped the story into a comic book that was being discontinued. Spider-Man became a best seller. In 2021, an analysis by GAME showed that Spider-Man is the most searched superhero on Google.
Attacks to Kill
The attacker's aim is not to maim but to kill. The relentless battle is meant to kill your purpose. That is why the warrior has to fight a new every day, Steven Pressfield reminds us.
Pride, fear, self-doubt, addictions, consumerism, laziness, procrastination, indiscipline, inconsistency, all these vices that feed this force are meant to kill your destiny, dreams, soul's purpose, genius, uniqueness, and God's will.
So how does the warrior survive this attack? Can the enemy within be overcome? Yes, we can move from being amateurs to professionals, shedding off unnecessary habits and putting on an amour of competence. Here's how.
Patience
The enemy will try to wear you down. It's a daily fight where the professional has to show up ready to work, ready to fight. The professional knows that if the battle is not won today it will be won the day after that.
Do you understand delayed gratification? A warrior does her bit every day not knowing when the first battle will be won. A professional doesn't know when the vine will produce fruit, all she does is labor for that fruit. She's patient.
She is forgiving of herself, realizing that making a mistake is not the end but a means to master her craft. She concentrates on technique, gradually getting better at her craft.
Faith and Favour
A professional does not wait for inspiration to work. He shows up every day with an expectant heart that inspiration will arrive. He has faith that God will send His angels to attend to him with inspiration.
Ty Ngachira had labored through it all. He ended up pursuing a law degree and got employed by a non-governmental organisation (NGO). He concurrently worked on his craft, stand-up comedy. He networked and armed himself with knowledge and skills.
He lost his job in 2020 due to Covid-19-related layoffs. He had to go back to his hometown Nyeri to start over. He didn't rest, he did a video on African accents as part of the African Accent Challenge. It was a success. He took a risk to record another video of his comedy, it only afforded him one retweet on Twitter.
After Covid-19 restrictions were lifted. He went back to his love, comedy. Things took off in 2021, he did more shows and received validation from an industry great. A few opportunities didn't work out but he soldiered on.
Comedy was part of his lifestyle. If you are someone he interacted with at work he tested his jokes on you to score a laugh. This would prove important because a client who he made laugh was the reason he got reinstated at the NGO.
Comedy had restored his bread and butter but he was unsatisfied. He wanted comedy to be his career. One day after work he attended an open mic event. He didn't perform but some foreigners in the audience were introduced to his work.
That introduction was the kiss of favour. It was the beginning of a turn of events that would make him the host of the show Too Much Information by Ty Ngachira. He left everything on the field and was rewarded with favour. God had finally opened the door.
Fruit of thy Labour
Haggai 2:4 4 But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty.
A professional works without an idea of what the fruit of the labour will be. It humbles a comedian when his work gets one retweet. A professional works on every project not knowing if that will be their big break, their chance at a promotion, or a source of scorn.
To the professional, it's a labour of love that does not need validation from the masses. All she can do is dedicate her time to doing the work as she leans on the promise that the Lord is with her.
She understands that the field is not level, and that war is hell; still, she sows strength every day. Though not guaranteed, I am hopeful the fruit of this article is you being a better professional.
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