Pressfield Made Peace With Self-Promotion. So Can We.
Caring for your work doesn’t stop at development and delivery. It includes making sure it’s amplified in the world. Even Steven Pressfield, with a massive following, says resistance shows up the moment it’s time to self-promote.
Steven Pressfield admits he was "waaaay out of my comfort zone" promoting his work.
This candid confession from the bestselling author of The War of Art hit home. In Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be, Pressfield reveals how he tracked every podcast appearance on 3x5 index cards, physical reminders of his commitment to champion his work despite the discomfort.
I laughed when I read about his struggle. Not because it's funny. Because it's TRUE.
Here's a secret. Even after writing a book literally called Bragging Rights about how to talk about your work with confidence, I still feel that pinch of resistance when championing my own creation.
Even when you know visibility matters, when you’ve studied it, practiced it, taught it, resistance still shows up like clockwork.
The brain is fascinating, isn't it? We know what we should do. We teach others to do it. And then resistance arrives, not with a bang, but with a whisper that sounds just reasonable enough to believe.
The Professional's Secret
Pressfield draws this perfect line between professionals and amateurs. It's not about talent. It's not about credentials.
It's about who shows up when resistance comes knocking.
Amateurs wait for inspiration. Professionals show up regardless.
Amateurs take rejection personally. Professionals see it as data.
Amateurs quit when it gets uncomfortable. Professionals know discomfort signals they're on the right track.
The secret? Professionals feel all the same resistance as amateurs. They just show up anyway.
When I don't feel like recording another podcast interview or crafting another social post about my work, I remind myself: This feeling is normal. Even Pressfield feels it. Now do it anyway.
The Book Needs You
"You have to be their champion," Pressfield says about his characters. "They can't do it themselves."
This framing echoes something I teach often: visibility isn’t vanity—it’s responsibility.
Your book can't get up at conferences and introduce itself.
Your podcast can't email people and say, "Hey, you should listen to me."
Your expertise can't magically transfer into others' brains without your voice carrying it there.
When I reframe promotion as championing ideas that matter, not self-aggrandizement, everything shifts. It's not about me. It's about being faithful to the work.
Winning Every Day
Here's another Pressfield gem: "You have to win every day."
Not by landing a seven-figure deal or going viral. You win by showing up to battle resistance when every part of you wants to check email, clean the refrigerator, or do literally anything else but put your work out there.
Promotion isn't something you do once when your creation launches. It's a daily practice. It's showing up to champion your work today, tomorrow, and next month.
No one teaches us how to handle rejection and come back again. Or how to sustain enthusiasm for our work over the long haul. These are professional muscles we build through practice.
Tools Against Resistance
When resistance shows up (and it WILL), here's my battle plan:
- Put systems above feelings. Pressfield's index card wall is brilliant. It exists outside his feelings. On days he doesn't feel like being "out there," the system reminds him of his commitment.
- Focus on who it helps. When I think about whose career might advance because they read Bragging Rights, resistance loses its grip. It's not about me. It's about them.
- Find your reinforcements. Every creator needs people who believe in their work even when they waver. Who reminds you why your work matters? Call them.
- Play the infinite game. Promotion isn't a sprint. It's a marathon with no finish line. The professional commits to showing up not just today but over years.
- Embrace imperfect action. In Bragging Rights, I talk about 75 percent being the new perfect. Done beats perfect every time. Post it. Share it. Send it.
The Real Win
Pressfield nails it: "There is no worse feeling for a writer or any artist than to see her book, her film, her music go out there and die. Or worse, be launched into the world and nobody even knows it exists."
After pouring your heart into creating something, the ultimate tragedy isn't rejection. It's invisibility.
If you've created something valuable, whether that's a book, a service, a product, or expertise that could help others, you owe it to that creation to champion it in the world.
It's not selling out. It's serving out.
And tomorrow, I'll keep showing up for my work. Not because it's easy, but because that's what professionals do.
What about you? What creation deserves your championship today?