Win the Inner War & Let Your Art Shine - The Heart To Start

Excellent guidance on how to overcome the sometimes invisible psychological barriers that prevent people from starting a project and/or pursuing a goal. Mental traps like the "Fortress Fallacy" and perfectionism are insidious not only in their ability to prevent people from pursuing a goal, but also in their ability to erode confidence over time until so much avoidance turns to a life of regret. The author shows readers how these barriers convincingly give us reasons to avoid projects/goals we want to accomplish, and he offers great practical advice, supported with real-life examples, on how to avoid playing the victim. Recognizing that you don't (can't) simply eliminate or ignore mental barriers, but instead you work deliberately around them, was a key realization for me.

This book also delves into how to choose projects/goals that will ensure you'll stay with them, and how to sustain momentum once you've started. In these sections, about seeing a project through, I think the book lacks the psychological underpinnings and oversimplifies to a degree. I feel that advice like, "break the project down into manageable pieces," "start with a step so small you'd be embarrassed to *not* finish," and "find an immutable motivating factor," while decent practical advice, don't truly get at the psychological mindsets that the successful use to take projects to completion. I think perhaps the author could have either addressed the topic of momentum/finishing in a separate work, or delved into the psychological root causes of quitting in more detail in later chapters.

All told, this book provides the insights and action steps for anyone to start building the all-important foundation for a project/goal in their life. While finishing, I think, is a bit of another topic, starting thrusts people onto the steepest part of the learning curve and presents the most fundamental challenge. With this book, the author helps people confidently accept that challenge and puts them well on their way to living more fulfilling lives.

This is a great book for all of us who are creative but struggle with STARTING our projects (not so helpful if you are already good at jump-starting your art, or if you are NOT creative but wish you were: this book won't give you any hindsight on how to become (more) creative). First, it is short and to the point; very refreshing when compared to other self-help books that force you to read 300 pages to learn something that could be summarised in 3 paragraphs. Then it is artfully written: Mr Kadavy knows how to tell a story and his mastery at crafting sentences is evident there (again a nice change from sloppy writers and awful editing that one encounters way too often those days). Actually, the Kindle version demonstrates without a doubt his complete understanding and committed love of beautiful typography that he previously shared in his "Design for Hackers". Finally, this book could be subtitled "The Rise of David Kadavy", as the author uses his own journey as an example of the difficulties one faces when trying to give birth to the art inside us. At first, I thought that the constant recall of those early experiences would put me off reading the whole book; haven't we all read too many times famous entrepreneurs boasting at how smart they always were, or how clever they were at meeting the right people? However, because the author is not afraid of sharing the failures and struggles that he faced along the way, it makes it really engaging, gripping and inspiring.

This book was so helpful to me! For over a year I had the outline for my book finished, but when I would sit down to write I would be overwhelmed by the task. In comes David Kadavy with Heart to Start. His idea of sitting down to write for just 10 minutes a day really made sense to me. Since I have read this book, I have committed to writing 10 minutes a day and now I have the first draft half done ?. If you need some good ideas to get your creative work done, Heart to Start will help you!

The simplest ideas are often the most profound. That holds true in this instance.

I stopped reading motivational and self help books somewhere in the late 1990's/early 2000's. This is the first I've read in the better part of two decades. I'm not the least bit disappointed.

Thank you, Mr. Kadavy, for taking the time to speak directly to me. How I wish that I had come across this earlier. Yet, I believe that all things happen in the right time.

To those of you on the fence about reading this, it is well written, easily understood, and spot on. If you're looking for a roadmap to overcoming the legions of things that you can't quite identify, but know are keeping you from jumping into the creative process, this could definitely be the book to make a real difference.

Thoughtful, engaging, and motivating. There is no hint of condescension or superiority in the author's tone. It's like having a great conversation with a friend you admire, the one who that talks you into doing the thing you know deep within that you crave to have, and do, and be.

Today marks the end of my first week as a Kindle owner. I was contemplating whether I would keep it, whether I would continue my trial subscription to Kindle Unlimited... this may be the reading experience that pushes me into the club permanently.

Read it. Then start on your art.

This was my first exposure to David Kadavy and I wonder why I haven’t run across his work before. Several people referenced by the author are people whom I also follow.

I found this book to be engaging and thought provoking. At various points, I found myself thinking, “That makes sense” or “I’ve had the same exact thought.” I appreciate the author does not try to take credit for “inventing” a particular trend or general good practice. Instead, he highlights that, in fact, many other people were thinking the same as he did, but...they took action. This is a defining feature of serial entrepreneurs and inventors. Leaders take action while others let their own thoughts, fears and insecurities hold them back.

If you are doubting yourself or you believe your thinking is crazy, you should read this book. It’s a fast read, but I found it full of useful thoughts and ideas. There were many times I stopped and had to think about a concept. I will read this again as I know there will be even more nuggets of knowledge I will glean in the second reading.

Like David says, “you really don’t need this book to get started. You already have what it takes to start...” That being said, this book helped me understand how I have been holding my own self back by justifying my procrastination in the name of perfectionism. There is so much value in this book and it is very easy to read. I am very happy o purchased this book. It has truly given me the “Heart to Start”!

I enjoyed the book, but I can’t help noticing the effect that privilege has on the life courses of people like Kadavy, whom seem able to uproot at will without consequence, and for whom obstacles outside of their individual creative pursuits rarely manifest as actual roadblocks. The book is inspiring for creators, but somewhat ignorant of the risks of living life on the cusp of bankruptcy. Maybe that’s one of Cadavy’s “lies,” but I can see young and desperate people misinterpreting this text as license to be frivolous.

Ok, you're reading the reviews, which probably means your'e hesitating to purchase this book.

Let me put it straight for you: this book has the power to change your life. In a mere 2 weeks, it has already changed mine.
What's $10 (or even just $5 if you get the kindle version) compared to an opportunity to change your life for the better? That's the price of your 2 last sandwiches (or just the last one if it was a fancy one).

Worst case scenario: you spent 10 bucks and got some nice insights that enhance your life. That's really the worst case scenario.
You're already losing time reading these reviews, stop pondering and START taking action.

By the way, I got this book for free. Yet it was so good that I went out of my way and sent 3x its price to the author, to express my gratitude for the value it added to my life.
That's how good this book is.

This is a such a terrific book. I have to admit I have YET done what was advised but I know --- because it was as if the author was INSIDE my mind ... that he knows what he's talking about and I honestly felt he wanted to help me and other writers to get started. Now. Definitely recommend this book for anyone with a dream that languishing in the ... ohhhhh I just don't know how to start recesses of your mind.

I found a few nuggets I will put to use, and will update this review then, but so far its pretty actionable and simple. Nothing brand new I havent heard before... EXCEPT for timer technique that is different than POMOdoro technique but still very concise and very helpful.

Everyone with a creative spark, or just a desire to make or do something great, should read this. By weaving personal narrative with scientific research and anecdotes about major historical figures, Kadavy effectively gives the reader all the tools they need to break through mental barriers. It's a short read but packs a big punch. In fact, its length is a strength: You're meant to read it, get inspired, get to work. I have been profoundly influenced by the lessons in the book.

Been an ardent fan of David's podcast, Love Your Work, especially after reading this book. Every chapter was a sobering reflection on the hurdles and weaknesses of my process, and so the book strongly resonated with my passion for making music.

The Heart to Start offers its readers a chance to rethink what it means to be creative and proactive. Before this read, I wouldn't have known just how much my own ego got in the way of the actual doing.

Reading the heart to start was like having an honest conversation with David Kadavy.

If you have not listened to his podcast, I recommend checking out his 97th episode of Love Your Work -- A tale of two bootstrappers. In that episode, he reflected his early days in bootstrapping with Rob Hunter. At that time, they bumped cafe to cafe in SanFrancisco to do work and seek inspiration.

This conversation felt like him sitting in that cafe talking to me.

It is appropriate that a book about starting should not take long to read. There's a lot of good tools here for figuring out how to begin and how to keep going. Practical ideas with real world examples. I would write more, but I have art to create. Worth your time and money

Well written and help me motive myself to jump into a bigger challenge. I found the book through the authors podcast (Love Your Work) which I enjoy on a regular basis and this book was no exception to that. This book helps remind us of one's creative potential and motivates us to get moving. Would recommend to creative and noncreative types.

This book is like a friend, quietly encouraging me to keep going in my creative endeavors. David reminds me that not only do have the ability to produce my craft, but that I have something unique that the world needs to hear and experience. I am grateful to this work and recommend it to anyone considering diving into their creative side.

I love that David writes about how to create structure, systems and routines (which I resist!) to support your creative output (which I need!) he writes the way he speaks and this is a wonderful compliment to the Love Your Work podcast.

I've been waiting to read this book ever since I started listening to David's podcast. It's exactly the book I needed and couldn't recommend it enough. Chuffed to bits with it and you can trust me, I'm a Lord.