The Hero's Journey, You Know, Is Mentorship?

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Steve Martin: Mentorship is a huge part of the hero's journey or learning your stuff. When I got it to Hollywood, I had like about five years where I was writing on my own and just totally failed,. You know, didn't make a penny. And I had a really wonderful agent and he teamed me up with an older experienced writer who had had, you know, where I became kind of the slave. But at least I was in the game and I got to learn from somebody that was really good.

Send us a text

Steven Pressfield returns to the podcast to discuss his newest book, Govt Cheese: A Memoir. He recounts his decades-long journey in "the wilderness", working as a truck driver, apple picker, and struggling screenwriter, before discovering his true calling. Joe and Steven discuss the stories we tell ourselves when faced with failure and how hard work can be our saving grace.

About Steven (@SPressfield)

Steven Pressfield is the author of The Legend of Bagger Vance, Gates of Fire, Tides of War, Last of the Amazons, Virtues of War, The Afghan Campaign, Killing Rommel, The Profession, The Lion’s Gate, The War of Art, Turning Pro, Do the Work, The Warrior Ethos, The Authentic Swing, An American Jew, Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t, The Knowledge, The Artist’s Journey, and A Man at Arms

His debut novel, The Legend of Bagger Vance, was adapted for screen. A film of the same title was released in 2000, directed by Robert Redford and starring Matt Damon, Will Smith and Charlize Theron.

His struggles to earn a living as a writer (it took seventeen years to get the first paycheck) are detailed in The War of Art, Turning Pro, The Authentic Swing, Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t, and The Knowledge.