By nature, humans are inclined to avoid anything that appears potentially painful or overtly difficult. This instinctive aversion is not limited to our everyday lives but extends to our practice of any skill. When we first engage with a new skill, we are often drawn to the aspects that come naturally to us. Once we attain a certain level of proficiency in these areas, we tend to stick with them, repeatedly honing our strengths while neglecting our weaknesses. This approach creates an imbalance, leading us down the path of amateurism. To truly achieve mastery, however, a shift in strategy is required. This is where the concept of Resistance Practice comes into play.
Resistance Practice: The Principle of Progress
Mastery is built on the foundation of consistent, deliberate practice. However, true progress comes not from the comfort of familiar tasks but from the discomfort of facing our weaknesses. Resistance Practice involves intentionally working on areas we tend to avoid because they are difficult or uncomfortable. It’s the practice of leaning into discomfort, pushing ourselves beyond the boundaries of what we already know.
Most of us tend to shy away from difficulty. When we encounter a challenge, we’re wired to find ways to minimize the discomfort, often by choosing tasks within our comfort zone. This tendency is amplified in practice. We often gravitate toward what feels easy when we become good at something—whether playing an instrument, sports, or even professional skills. But this is the path of the amateur. The moment we become complacent in our practice is the moment we stop growing.
The key to true progress is recognizing discomfort as the gateway to improvement. We create development opportunities by actively seeking out and confronting the areas where we struggle. This is where Resistance Practice comes in. It encourages us to push through the pain and discomfort, intentionally working on the aspects of our skill that we tend to ignore. By consistently doing this, we begin to evolve beyond our current limitations. Every time we face and push through a challenge, we grow stronger, more adept, and more capable. Resistance Practice forces us to confront the places where we are weakest, and our growth is accelerated through this struggle.
Embrace the Uncomfortable
In our natural state, we resist discomfort. It’s human nature to avoid things that make us feel vulnerable, weak, or incapable. When faced with something challenging, our instinct is often to retreat. Yet, it’s precisely this retreat that limits our potential. To truly achieve mastery, we must learn to embrace discomfort, not as something to avoid but as a powerful tool for growth.
Every time you encounter a difficulty in your practice, whether it’s a mental block, a physical challenge, or an emotional barrier, instead of pulling away, lean into it. This is where true growth happens. The most difficult tasks that make you uncomfortable are the very ones that will help you level up. They’re the areas where your growth is stunted, and by working through them, you build the resilience necessary to push past limits you thought were insurmountable.
Embracing discomfort is not about forcing yourself into a struggle for its own sake. It’s about recognizing that discomfort is a necessary part of the growth process. When you resist the urge to stay comfortable, you train yourself to expand your capacity. Just as muscles grow stronger through tension and stress, your skills develop through the tension of difficult practice. By willingly stepping into this discomfort, you open yourself to a level of growth that would otherwise remain out of reach. This is not a sprint to success but a constant, incremental improvement journey.
Embrace Relentless Focus
Mastery is a result of precision, not just effort. While it’s easy to get caught up in simply “putting in the hours,” the true value of practice lies in its quality, not its quantity. Focus is the key differentiator between those who practice and those who master. The difference is in how you practice and how deeply you engage with the task at hand.
One of the greatest challenges we face in our pursuit of mastery is the temptation to ease up when things become routine. Our attention naturally wanes, especially when the task at hand becomes repetitive. But this is when we need to double down on our focus. Instead of allowing ourselves to coast, we must train ourselves to focus with double the intensity as we usually would.
This intensified focus can make even the most mundane aspects of practice feel purposeful. The difference between casual and focused practice is like the difference between wandering and knowing exactly where you’re going. Each movement, each decision, and each technique needs to be done with full engagement. It’s about treating every practice session as if it were the most important one you’ve had, treating every detail with reverence. By committing to this level of focus, you create an environment where excellence is not just a possibility—it’s the only outcome.
Focus also builds resilience. The more intensely you focus, the more adept you become at blocking out distractions, and the better your mind engages with the work in front of you. Over time, this strengthened focus leads to an ability to maintain peak performance even under pressure. Just like athletes train to perform at their best when it matters most, so must you train your ability to focus at the highest level, even when the task feels easy or when distractions arise. This relentless focus is a hallmark of mastery—what separates the great from the good.
The Satisfaction of Struggling
When you’re working toward mastery, the road is rarely smooth. There are moments when you feel like you’re not making any progress, when the work feels frustrating, or when you wonder whether it’s all worth it. But it’s precisely in these moments of struggle that the greatest growth occurs. The satisfaction of mastery isn’t found in effortless accomplishment; it’s found in overcoming difficulty, working through resistance, and pushing past barriers.
Think about when you’ve made the most significant progress—was it during the easy wins, or was it during the times you had to push through? The most satisfying moments in pursuing mastery are often the most difficult ones. The struggle itself is where you find growth. Each moment of discomfort or challenge provides an opportunity to learn, adapt, and improve.
The key to truly embracing the struggle is to reframe your mindset. Instead of viewing it as a sign of failure, see it as a sign of progress. Struggle indicates that you are stepping outside your comfort zone and pushing your limits. The sense of achievement that comes from overcoming these struggles is far more rewarding than effortlessly succeeding at something easy. The act of working through resistance builds not only skill but also confidence and resilience.
This mindset shift is essential for long-term growth. Instead of fearing setbacks or failures, view them as essential components of the process. They are the stepping stones on the way to mastery. With each challenge you overcome, you build a stronger foundation for the next one, and this cycle of overcoming difficulty leads to continuous improvement. Over time, the resistance that once seemed like a barrier becomes a source of motivation and pride.
Invent Exercises, Set Deadlines, Push Limits
To effectively practice Resistance Practice, you must introduce deliberate, structured elements into your routine. One way to do this is by inventing exercises targeting your weaknesses. Most people avoid their shortcomings because they feel too challenging, but these areas offer the greatest opportunity for growth. Identify the aspects of your skill that are underdeveloped or challenging, and then create exercises that will allow you to focus on them. You are crafting a path that forces your improvement by intentionally designing routines that push you beyond your limits.
Next, impose arbitrary deadlines. Deadlines are powerful motivators because they create urgency and structure. When you have an arbitrary deadline, it forces you to remain focused and purposeful in your practice. Set a date by which you want to master a particular aspect of your craft, and use that deadline to push yourself further than you would without it. These deadlines don’t need to come from an external source—they are a tool for self-improvement designed to keep you accountable and motivated.
Finally, constantly push the boundaries of your limits. Set higher standards than you think you can achieve, and make it a habit to surpass them. The limits you place on yourself are often based on self-perception, not reality. Every time you push past these perceived limits, you open up new possibilities for growth. It’s essential to break through these barriers regularly in order to unlock higher levels of achievement.
By following these principles—creating custom exercises, setting deadlines, and pushing beyond your limits—you ensure your practice remains dynamic and continuously evolving. Resistance Practice is not a one-time commitment but a continuous process of pushing, improving, and growing. The more consistently you challenge yourself in these ways, the more mastery you will gain, and the easier it will be to reach new heights of performance.
The Path to Mastery
Mastery is a long and difficult road, but it is the most rewarding one. Resistance Practice is the compass that guides you through the challenges, discomfort, and frustrations that come with developing true skill. The process of deliberately seeking out and overcoming resistance leads to growth. The more you practice this, the more you build the foundation for mastery in any field.
Mastery isn’t about finding the easiest way to do something; it’s about constantly challenging yourself, refining your abilities, and embracing discomfort. When you stop avoiding resistance and start moving toward it, you set yourself on a path that will lead to results that others can only admire from afar. The road may be difficult, but the rewards of mastery—performing at your highest level—are worth every effort. As you push past the limits you once thought were insurmountable, you’ll discover just how far your potential can truly go.
Personal Reflection: Move Toward Resistance
Daily Law: Invent exercises that work upon your weaknesses. Give yourself arbitrary deadlines to meet certain standards, constantly pushing yourself past perceived limits.
From Mastery, II: Submit to Reality—The Ideal Apprenticeship
I like to do an exercise whenever I speak to an audience about challenging themselves and their comfort zones. I ask everyone to raise their hands as high as they can. When everyone does, I ask them to raise their hands higher. Invariably, everyone stretches themselves a little bit more. That’s them moving out of their comfort zone and going a bit further by overcoming whatever resistance they felt.
Resistance practice is prevalent in situations that involve progression, including but not limited to the gym, sports practice, studying for an exam, training for a marathon, and meditation. People challenge themselves to a certain benchmark and raise the bar for themselves to improve once they are comfortable with it.
In my work as a writer, one boring yet critical thing is developing the habit of sitting for hours daily. I have to sit in front of my computer with a pen, paper, water, and food so that I am comfortable for a long time. Next, I must remove all distractions to free my mind from focusing on my thoughts instead of consuming content endlessly.
Once you close YouTube, stop listening to music, and just sit quietly without doing anything, it gets weird, irritating, and awkward because you are not used to the silence. All kinds of thoughts flow, and you feel like you are watching another YouTube video or being distracted. It takes conscious practice to accept the mental resistance and let things happen. In such situations, not doing something is more difficult than doing something.
Creative work is mostly boring in the beginning because it requires discipline. If you ever try meditating, the experience is almost the same as I described above. It takes a lot of resistance practice to allow the mind to focus at any time.
Conclusion
The journey to mastery is not one of avoiding difficulties but embracing them. By adopting Resistance Practice, you deliberately move toward the areas that test your limits. This approach fosters an unparalleled level of skill and resilience. Invent exercises that address your weaknesses, intensify your focus during practice, and set challenging deadlines to push yourself further. Through this method, you will refine your craft and achieve a level of excellence that stands out in its apparent ease and proficiency.
This article is a part of the Reflections on The Daily Laws Series based on Robert Greene’s book.