The Authentic Swing, by Steven Pressfield

Writers and entrepreneurs love Steven Pressfield’s work. He’s written tons of novels, but two of his nonfiction books, Do the Work and The War of Art, have gained a cult following in these circles. Why? He digs into the single biggest impediment to creative success: resistance. All those inner voices you hear (My writing sucks! I’ll never sell this product! I’m in over my head!) keep you from completing (or starting) your great work. But Pressfield explains, artfully and convincingly, that these voices are just your primitive fears and are not real. Push through, mate, push through. Pressfield’s advice is wise, even life-altering, for creatives.

The Authentic Swing has a different but equally wise premise: You (yes, you!) have a voice, an idea, a style that is yours alone. You will not be successful until your work is 100% you.

What does the title refer to? The first novel Pressfield sold was The Legend of Bagger Vance. (Sounds like a great book—at least the way he tells it. But the movie, not so much—at least the way he tells it.) Anyway, Pressfield uses anecdotes about how he wrote and sold The Legend of Bagger Vance to create a golf swing analogy about writing and unique value propositions. Apparently, no two people have the same golf swing. Identical twins even have different swings. And golfers will not be successful until they strip away all else and go with their natural swing. (I’m a little skeptical about this, since it seems to me that millions of dollars are spent annually by golfers hoping to change their swing. But, that’s for another conversation.) Every writer has their own swing, their own voice, style and process. Go with it, embrace it, hone it, says Pressfield. And I believe him.

A couple of other books I read this week and recommend:

Tinkers, by Paul Harding – It won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize, impressive for a first novel. The prose is incredibly lyrical, magical. And I loved the beautifully heartbreaking way it dealt with epilepsy and dementia.

Before Happiness, by Shawn Achor – This book spends a lot of time arguing why positivity in the workplace can transform organizations. For me, that’s singing to the choir. But I did find a few points very useful, including this tip, which seems trivial at first blush, but I think can really change organizational chatter: Start conversations with a positive topic before someone can start the social script with gossip, complaints or negativity.