Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t
And Other Tough-Love Truths to Make You a Better Writer
When I first saw the title for this book I thought to myself, “Really, Steve? THIS is what you think I need to hear? That nobody wants to read my sh*t? I thought we were working on our Resistance and winning the War of Art!" Then I bought the book and embraced the tough love with a growth mindset. Big Ideas we explore include WHY people don't want to read your sh*t (or engage with your product/or listen to your talk, etc.) (hint: they're REALLY BUSY!), how to be worthy of their attention, why the hero's journey is essential for effective storytelling (the 10 main points), doing what scares you the most, and the importance of giving us your gift (mine the gold, please!!).
Big Ideas
- Nobody wants to read your sh*tAnd what to do about it.
- The Hero’s JourneyIn ten steps. (How’s yours?)
- The Voice of AuthorityBe an exemplar. (Now, please.)
- Your White whaleWhat scares you? (Go toward it.)
- Give us your gift (please and thank you!)Pretty please and thank you.
“In a long career as a writer, you find yourself working in a number of different disciplines. Each one teaches its own lessons. Not surprisingly, many carry over from one field to another. What you learn writing movies helps you when you move on to novels, and what you pick up writing fiction proves invaluable when you turn to nonfiction.
My first writing job was in the field I hated most and respected least—advertising. Yet the ad biz taught me the most, and it was stuff that served me powerfully in every subsequent incarnation.
Next I tried novels but I learned practically nothing because I was alone and kept making the same mistakes over and over. It wasn’t until I got to Hollywood and began writing for the movies that I really started to understand what a story was. So when I went back to novels after that, I had a sound foundation in narrative structure—what makes a story work and what makes it not work.
Moving into nonfiction taught further lessons, but not the ones I expected. And writing self-help took me into a whole other arena that to my non-surprise was at least as much about narrative as it was about content.
But of everything I learned, the most important lesson came at the beginning, on the very first day of my very first job. The lesson was, ‘Nobody wants to read your shit.’”
~ Steven Pressfield from Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t
When I first saw the title for this book I thought to myself, “Really, Steve? THIS is what you think I need to hear? That nobody wants to read my sh*t? I thought we were working on our Resistance and winning the War of Art! I already have a voice in my head telling me that nobody wants to read my stuff way too often and now YOU’RE going to scream it at me from the cover of this book as well?! Come on, good sir!”
<- That was literally pretty much my internal dialogue when I first saw the title on Amazon. (Hah!) Then I thought to myself, “Alright. What’s this about? I love Pressfield. He’s a creative genius. I’m all about the growth mindset so let’s lean in to some tough love and see if we can sharpen the tools for mastering our craft while sharpening our weapons for our war of art!”
Then I bought the book. I read it in between his newest book The Artist’s Journey and another book his publishing company put out called Running Down a Dream. (Check out those Notes, of course.) And… Here we are.
The book is great. It’s primarily for writers but it’s really for all storytellers and creators (that’s all of us on both fronts). If you like Pressfield and are obsessed about reading every nonfiction book he’s written (like me) then you’ll love the book. (Get a copy here.)
For our purposes, recognizing the fact that most of us are NOT writers, I’m excited to connect these ideas to the hero’s story we’re all writing for our own lives every moment of every day. So… Let’s jump in to this sh*t! :)
Download MP3
Download PDFAre you a CEO preparing a speech for your stockholders? Write it like a novel or a movie. Use the principles of storytelling. Write your Ph.D. dissertation the same way. And your grant proposal. And your plea to your landlord not to raise your rent. Stories work. Tell me a story.
Get the BookNobody wants to read your sh*t
“It isn’t that people are mean or cruel. They’re just busy.
Nobody wants to read your shit.
What’s the answer?
Streamline your message. Focus it and pare it down to its simplest, clearest, easiest-to-understand form.
Make its expression fun. Or sexy or interesting or scary or informative. Make it so compelling that a person would have to be crazy NOT to read it.
Apply that to all forms of writing or art or commerce.
When you understand that nobody wants to read your shit, your mind becomes powerfully concentrated. You begin to understand that writing/reading is, above all, a transaction. The reader donates his time and attention, which are supremely valuable commodities. In return, you the writer must give him something worthy of his gift to you.
When you understand that nobody wants to read your shit, you develop empathy.
You acquire the skill that is indispensable to all artists and entrepreneurs—the ability to switch back and forth in your imagination from your own point of view as writer/painter/seller to the point of view of your reader/gallery-goer/customer. You learn to ask yourself with every sentence and every phrase: Is this interesting? Is it fun or challenging or inventive? Am I giving the reader enough? Is she bored? Is she following where I want to lead her?”
Alright. First thing we need to know: Nobody wants to read our sh*t.
Ouch. I know, it hurts. But it’s not because people are mean-spirited or because we’re somehow flawed or unworthy or that our writing (or talk or products or whatever) sucks. (All those stories are just Resistance or Part X talking.) It’s just that people are busy. SUPER busy.
We need to keep that in mind and have a super-deep respect for JUST how busy people are. With THAT awareness, we tune in to their perspective as we strive to shuttle back and forth from our normal consciousness to our superconsciousness as we recently discussed in The Artist’s Journey—finding that nexus point where what we feel most inspired to share lands right at the spot of what people most need to hear.
Steve shares three steps. Let’s review them. (As we do, consider: How’re you doing with each?)
First:
“
Streamline your message. Focus it and pare it down to its simplest, clearest, easiest-to-understand form.
” <-
More Wisdom (or Whatever!) in Less Time style, eh?!
Second:
“
Make its expression fun. Or sexy or interesting or scary or informative. Make it so compelling that a person would have to be crazy NOT to read it.
”
<- Love this one!
Third:
“
Apply that to all forms of writing or art or commerce.
”
<- Got it!
As I read that section, I was reminded of Dan Pink’s great bookTo Sell Is Human. He tells us that we’re pretty much ALL selling pretty much all the time. He teaches us the new “ABC’s” of selling: Attunement + Buoyancy + Clarity. They’re similar/complementary to Steve’s tips.
Dan tells us that, first, we need to be attuned to other people—to have empathy. We need to appreciate that other people are busy. And try to see the world from their eyes—what are their hopes and aspirations and needs and how can we strive to meet them?
Second, we need to be buoyant. We need to have a high level of energy—such that we simultaneously have what he (and Barbara Fredrickson) calls “levity” and “gravity.” We have a high-level of grounded, calm, energized confidence. (That helps make things interesting. :)
Third, we need clarity. Enter: Steve’s point that our message needs to be concise and on point. The ABC’s of selling and storytelling. How’re yours? Here’s to creating sh*t that’s so good people would be CRAZY *not* to want to read it! :)
P.S. It’s funny because I just got Brené Brown’s newest book Dare to Lead. Literally yesterday. I took into the sauna with me for my 30 minutes of reading while I got my sweat on (after clocking in my first 5 hours of Deep Work).
In the first few pages she tells us a story about one of her first big talks. She was terrified. Why? One of the primary reasons, she says, is that people were giving her their most precious resource: their time. She didn’t want to waste it. She knew that, well, nobody wanted to listen to her sh*t.
She also knew that they DID want to listen to her share her deepest, most authentic truths in a meaningful, interesting way. So, after panicking and doubting herself and nearly abandoning her planned talk, she had the courage to deliver a talk that left people in tears and laughter.
P.P.S. One of the Big Ideas on how to gain clarity so we can tell an effective story is to “Come Up with a Concept.” Steven tells us: “When you as a writer carry over and apply this mode of thinking to other fields, say the writing of novels or movies or nonfiction, the first question you ask yourself at the start of any project is, ‘What’s the concept?’
Every work of art, from the Sistine Chapel to the Golden Gate Bridge to the King James Bible, is founded on a concept. A diet should have a concept. An invasion of a foreign country should have a concept. A salad should have a concept.”
(One of the primary underlying concepts of my work? More Wisdom in Less Time. But the more essential concept is: Optimize: Be a Modern Hērō. How about YOU?)
A novel will take you two years to write. Or three or four or five. Can you do that? Can you sustain yourself financially? Emotionally? Can your spouse and children handle it? Can you maintain your motivation over that length of time? Your self-belief? Your sanity? If necessary, can you scrap your first eighteen months’ work and start from scratch?
If there is a single principle that is indispensable to structuring any kind of narrative, it is this: Break the piece into three parts—beginning, middle, and end.
If the Hook in The War of Art is, ‘Here’s the problem’ ... If the Build is, ‘Here’s the solution’ ... Then the Payoff is, ‘Ms. Writer, your role in this timeless, epic struggle is noble, valorous, and necessary. Heed the calling of your heart. Stand and go forth.’
The Hero’s Journey
“The mega-success of Star Wars had made every studio exec ask of any potential movie project, ‘Where is its “hero’s journey”? What scene represents “the Call”? Which character is “the mentor”? Which “allies and enemies” does the hero encounter along the way?’
What is the hero’s journey anyway?
The hero’s journey is the Ur-Story of every individual from Adam and Eve to Ziggy Stardust. It’s the primal myth of the human race, the cosmic pattern that each of our lives (and a thousand increments thereof) follows, whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not. Here’s the nutshell version:
1) Hero starts in Ordinary World. 2) Hero receives Call to Adventure. 3) Hero rejects Call. 4) Hero meets mentor. Mentor gives hero courage to accept Call. (If you’re following along, this is Luke on the evaporator farm. Luke finds R2D2, Luke uncorks distress hologram from Princess Leia, Luke takes R2 to Obi-Wan Kenobi.) 5) Hero crosses Threshold, enters Special World. 6) Hero encounters enemies and allies, undergoes ordeal that will serve as his Initiation. 7)Hero confronts Villain, acquires Treasure. 8) The Road Back. Hero escapes Special World, trying to ‘get home.’ 9) Villain pursues Hero. Hero must fight/escape again. 10) Hero returns home with Treasure, reintegrates into Ordinary World, but now as a changed person, thanks to his ordeal and experiences on his journey.
Cut up any movie from Casablanca to The Martian, including films with seemingly rulebook-defying structures like Pulp Fiction or Charlie Kaufman’s Adaptation. At the heart of each, in one form or another, you will find the hero’s journey.”
There’s the Hero’s Journey in a nutshell. (Thank you, Steve.)
It’s the heart of ALL great stories—from the narrative that is YOUR LIFE to the talk you’re giving to colleagues (or the PTA) next week to whatever story you’re crafting these days.
In fact, in the micro-chapter that follows this one, Steve tells us:“Are you beginning to see the contours of what makes a story a story? Can you see the universal architecture that underlies virtually every tale from the Norse sagas to South Park and Keeping Up with the Kardashians? Three-Act Structure[Beginning + Middle + End] + Hero’s Journey = Story.”
Now, as we all know, George Lucas created Star Wars. And, as you probably know, his mentor was Joseph Campbell—the mythology guru who wrote The Hero with a Thousand Faces. That book is a classic, must-read. Check out those Notes for more.
For our high-level purposes today, let’s check in: How’s YOUR hero’s journey? Are you living your life in such a manner that you wake up every morning and you want to see what happens next? Or is your story so boring that you’ve permanently closed the book? :)
Think about it: Where are you in your hero’s journey? What’s your next step, Hero?! Here’s to weaving a myth so compelling you leap out of bed and we all can’t wait to read about it!
The War of Art is nonfiction. Like your TED talk or your presentation on geraniums, it has no characters. No story. No hero. No villain. No archetypal mentors or spirit animals. No All Is Lost Moment. Or does it? The hero of The War of Art is the reader. The villain is Resistance. The All Is Lost moment happened in the reader’s heart long before she picked up the book. Me? I’m Obi-Wan Kenobi. My last words to you are, Trust the Force, Luke.
The Voice of Authority
“If you’re a woman writing a book for weight loss for women, you’d better have a size two with washboard abs and have photos of yourself prominently displayed throughout the book. Otherwise we readers will have trouble accepting you as an authority.
Authority is critical for self-help because not only is the voice almost always that of the author addressing us readers directly (as opposed to a character in fiction or a third-person author telling a story), but also because that voice is prescribing something to us—a new mindset, a course of action—and urging us to change our life in accordance with that prescription.
How can a voice establish authority?
1) It can come pre-loaded by reputation in the field, like Stephen King’s in On Writing or Twyla Tharp’s in The Creative Habit. 2) It can speak with the backing of extensive academic research, as Susan Cain did in Quiet. 3) It can cite its own professional or academic credentials, like Dr. Phil or Dr. Oz or Dr. Gupta. 4) Or its record of sales and success, like Tony Robbins or Eckhart Tolle. 5) The voice in self-help can establish credibility via its TV or web show, its podcast, its blog, its YouTube channel, its number of followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or by its dominating presence in social media. … 6) The hardest and maybe the best way to establish authority is through the quality and integrity of the voice itself.
Nature cannot be tricked or cheated. She will give up to you the object of your struggles only after you have paid her price.”
The book consists of 119 micro-chapters within 8 Books. The various “Books” focus on different writing domains—from Advertising (Book One) to Fiction (Book Two) to Self-Help (Book Six). This wisdom, of course, is from Book Six on Self-Help.
Now, of course, it doesn’t matter WHAT FIELD we’re in—whether we’re talking about writing a self-help book or coaching or parenting or being an effective leader of ANY kind. Want to influence someone? Optimize. BE THE CHANGE you want to see. Period.
P.S. At some point we’ll roll out the Optimize Coach program we *almost* rolled out a couple years ago. When I described the essence of the program, I said that, by far, THE most important aspect of being an effective Optimize Coach would be being an exemplar—basically being the most inspired person you know (or at least the most inspiring version of you that you can be at your current stage of development).
Why else would someone pay you to coach them? You BETTER be further ahead on whatever line of development on which you think they’ll hire you to coach them. Right?
So… Again, same rules apply to EVERY domain. How can you establish your authority by getting in even more integrity TODAY?
P.P.S. Confucius said the same thing 2,500 years ago when he taught us to focus less on being recognized for our merits and more on being WORTHY of being recognized. That’s why I have “DIGNITY” written in bold white chalk on the upper-right corner of my blackboard. The word dignity literally means “to be worthy.” <- Here’s to our dignity!
Narrative device is supremely important in self-help. You, the writer, *are* the reader. The reader will hear you and listen to you only to the extent that she knows you know what you’re talking about and that you are there only to help.
Your White whale
“The #1 question that writers ask themselves: ‘I’ve got a million ideas. How do I know which one to work on?’ Answer: Write your White Whale.
Which idea, of all those swimming inside your brain, are you compelled to pursue the way Ahab was driven to hunt Moby Dick? Here’s how you know—you’re scared to death of it.
It’s good to be scared. You should be scared. Mediocre ideas never elevate the heart rate. Great ones make you break out in a sweat. …
Is there a White Whale out there for you? There is or you wouldn’t be reading this book. You’ll know that whale by these qualities: Its accomplishment will seem beyond your resources. Your pursuit of it will bear you into waters where no one before you has sailed. To hunt this beast will require everything you’ve got.”
Got a ton of ideas?
Wonder which one you should pursue?
Go for the White Whale. The one that freaks you out the most.
In The Artist’s Way, one of the ideas/passages that didn’t make it into our Note (alas, the constraints of six pages leaves so much goodness on the editing floor!), Steve shared similar wisdom. In a micro-chapter entitled “The Artist Learns to Be Brave” he says: “Elite warriors are trained to ‘run toward the sound of the guns.’
The artist lives by that principle too. What project terrifies her the most? What work is she certain she can never pull off? What role will push her past her limits, take her into places she has never gone? What journey will carry her off the map entirely? The artist hears the guns. She feels the battle lines inside her and senses which quarter of the field terrifies her the most. She goes there. She runs there.”
How about YOU?
What’s your White Whale? Where is the sound of the guns? Meet you there.
Creative work can be hell, but it can be heaven too. What could be better than beating our brains out on a problem that’s exactly the problem you need to solve to get better? We learn by increments. One word, one image, one piece of code at a time.
Give us your gift (please and thank you!)
“What Nobody Wants to Read Your Shit means is that none of us wants to hear your self-centered, ego-driven, unrefined demands for attention. Why should we? It’s boring. There’s nothing in it for us. Can you sing the blues? Can you make a shoe? Make it beautiful. Make it fun and interesting and I’ll buy it. I’ll wear it. I’ll tell my friends about it. Your book, your poem, your movie can even be despairing, as long as its profoundly conceived and takes my understanding of life a little bit deeper.
What Nobody Wants to Read Your Shit means is that you/we/all of us as writers must learn to leave space for the reader, to work our offerings like a miner refines ore, until what comes out on the page is solid, glistening gold.
If it’s our soul that we’re talking about (rather than just What We Write), then our passage through the varying disciplines of this life, if we’re truly paying attention, is an education in editing out the ego, in stepping away from our fear and self-concern and aspirations for recognition, for material rewards, and for earthly payoffs, until we move into the realm of the gift, where what we offer is for the reader’s good and not our own.
Want me to read your shit? Do that and I will.”
Those are the final words of the book.
Steve always has a way of leaving a lasting impression.
He and Dan Pink must have studied the same playbook on effective selling/storytelling—the one that tells us to remember the fact that humans are wired to create memories based on the “peak” moments in an experience and the “end” of that experience. It’s called the “Peak-end Rule.”
Here’s how Wikipedia puts it: “The peak–end rule is a psychological heuristic in which people judge an experience largely based on how they felt at its peak and at its end, rather than based on the total sum or average of every moment of the experience. The effect occurs regardless of whether the experience is pleasant or unpleasant. According to the heuristic, other information aside from that of the peak and end of the experience is not lost, but it is not used.”
So… Back to you and your sh*t.
Go hunt your White Whale. Create something beautiful. And share it with the world.
Please and thank you and LET’S DO THIS!!!
Like the monk and the mystic, the artist enters a mental space. He becomes a child. She becomes a vessel. They tune in to the Cosmic Radio Station and listen to whatever song is being broadcast specifically to them.
About the author
