Steven Pressfield

Things Steven Says on Podcasts

Writes about the resistance that keeps people from creative and other hard work, best known for The War of Art, a nonfiction book on that subject that has sold over a million copies. Also wrote The Legend of Bagger Vance and several historical novels, and earlier worked as an advertising copywriter and a Marine Corps infantryman. Appears on shows including The Daily Stoic with Ryan Holiday, where he has discussed writing discipline and, in one conversation, described a literal belief in a realm above us that writers draw ideas from, while allowing that part of him stays skeptical.

Where to Find Them

Steven Pressfield writes Remarkable Retail Podcast and writes Think Like A Game Designer . They have also been a guest on The Storytelling Lab (4 times) , The Daily Stoic (3 times) , 10x Talk (3 times) , Open Book with Anthony Scaramucci (2 times) , The Rich Roll Podcast (2 times) , The Russell Brunson Show , Lex Fridman Podcast , Advisory Opinions , The Tim Ferriss Show , EntreLeadership , Huberman Lab , BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast and A Bit of Optimism . They also write for The War of Art on Substack.

Recently: “The Marcus Aurelius Quote Steven Pressfield Couldn’t Ignore” on The Daily Stoic (August 2026); “Men Are Reading Less Fiction. That’s A Problem. | Steven Pressfield” on The Daily Stoic (July 2026); “Steven Pressfield Was 52 (!) Before His First Novel Sold” on The Storytelling Lab (June 2026); “The Ancient Secret to Finally Breaking Free From Your Past - Steven Pressfield” on Open Book with Anthony Scaramucci (May 2026); “Why Most Writers Build Characters Completely Wrong with Steven Pressfield” on The Storytelling Lab (May 2026); “You’ll Never Find Peace Until You Fight This Battle - Steven Pressfield” on Open Book with Anthony Scaramucci (February 2026).

What They Said

“I absolutely believe that there are at least another dimension directly above us where the muse lives, you know, angels, whatever.” — Steven Pressfield, The Daily Stoic

Ryan Holiday had just read back the things Pressfield says he believes, prayers to the muses, reincarnation, the daimon, and asked what all of it actually means to him. Pressfield declines to soften any of it into metaphor and describes the arrangement literally, as a place above us that writers reach into. In the same breath he says part of him stays skeptical, because he lives in a material body.

The Daily Stoic · 2026-08-22 Permalink → Listen →
The Daily Stoic Around 22:36 into the episode
Steven Pressfield

mean, nobody, right? Yeah. And, you know, such a great contribution, you know, to have a mind like his, you know, that's going to really commit. Yeah. God bless him.

Ryan Holiday

Because I mean, you believe, like, you, you say a prayer to the muses, you believe in reincarnation. You, you believe in the Daimon, like the voice that talks to you. What does all that mean to you? Like, that's clearly an important part of your both your sort of practice as a person, but also your creative practice.

Steven Pressfield

I ask myself, we all ask ourselves, how does the world work? Yeah. You know, and like you say, our dumbed-down world says, oh, we're only this body, da-da-da-da. But I absolutely believe that there are at least another dimension directly above us where the muse lives, you know, angels, whatever. And that we as writers, and I'm really interested to hear what you say about that. That's what we kind of access. That's what we channel. Yeah. That's where the books come from, or movies or everything like that. And, but a part of me, of course, is really skeptical. I'm, you know, I'm born here. I'm a live a material body. So I really try to reinforce within myself the reality that there are other forces and other entities out there that are on our side and are aiding us. And it's our job to connect to them, to open ourselves up to them. And so if that's the sublime, I don't know what you call it. It's the divine anyway.

Ryan Holiday

There's something beyond us that we don't control and can't fully conceive and certainly can't comprehend. I'll concede to all that. You know, there's something. I mean, just what you, one of the, one of the ways you're in touch with that as an artist or a creative or anyone that makes something is that sense of like, where did that come from?

Steven Pressfield

Yeah. You know

Ryan Holiday

what I mean? I mean,

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