Most people quit when the initial excitement wears off. They start strong, fueled by enthusiasm and the energy that comes with something new. Then reality sets in and the work gets harder. And they stop.
The novelist Steven Pressfield calls this force Resistance.
Resistance is the enemy that rises every time you attempt something important. It whispers that you’re not ready, that you should wait, that tomorrow would be better. It manufactures urgent tasks that suddenly demand your attention. The voice that tells you if you were talented, the work wouldn’t feel this exhausting.
Resistance is lying.
When I set out to write my first book, I wanted it to be excellent. I was excited about sharing the ideas I’d developed working with clients. But I had no idea how demanding the actual writing would be. There were days when writing felt like wading through wet concrete. I’d spend three hours to produce a single paragraph. I’d write a section, delete it, start over, then delete it again. The ideas felt muddy. The sentences felt flat and I questioned whether I had anything worth saying.
Resistance was in the room with me those days.
It told me I wasn’t a real writer and reminded me of other things I could be doing. It suggested I needed to do more research first, that maybe this whole project was a mistake. Resistance put me in a headlock of despair.
Other days the ideas flowed faster than I could type. The structure fell into place and examples came easily.
If I’d waited to write until I felt motivated, the book would never have been finished. The days I felt like writing were outnumbered ten to one by the days I didn’t. But the frustrating days were the ones that tested my commitment.
I knew that if I sat down and invested the time and effort, even when Resistance was screaming at me to stop, eventually I’d reach the end. And I did. The book was named one of the top business books of the year. People around the world bought it.
That’s what I’d hoped for when I started, but none of that would have happened if I’d quit on the days when writing felt impossible.
This applies to anything important you want to accomplish.
The work that would have a dramatic positive impact on your life if you did it. Resistance will fight you every step of the way. You’ll feel overwhelmed and your discipline will falter. You’ll rationalize and find reasons to delay that sound completely legitimate. Resistance will supply you with an endless stream of excuses, each one more convincing than the last.
The more resistance you feel toward something, the more certain you can be that it’s important to your growth. The work that feels too big to start is exactly the work you need to do. Resistance knows this.
There’s a moment in every difficult pursuit where you ask yourself: why am I doing this?
Most people quit at that exact moment. Resistance wins when you give it the chance.
The ones who finish understand that Resistance never goes away. They know every single day they’ll have to make the choice again. They know the work won’t suddenly become easy.
And they do it anyway.
The only fuel that lasts is routine. And you only build routine by dragging yourself forward on the days when you have no motivation. Over and over. Every single day.
Resistance is counting on you to quit. Prove it wrong.
At the end of every year I reflect on my work with clients around the world and identify patterns of what’s working and what needs attention.
In this video I share what organizations should focus on in 2026. I look at leadership behaviors that drive effectiveness, building cultures of engagement and accountability, and how to think about AI as it touches every part of your business. This is practical guidance that will help you prioritize what matters most for your organization in the coming year.
