Amateur vs Pro: An Important Choice for Success
Are you an amateur or a professional?
This is a crucial question to answer. It defines your behavior and your behavior defines your success (or failure).
If success is what you desire as an entrepreneur, artist, salesperson, student, accountant, writer, public speaker or whatever, then you need to understand the differences between an amateur and a professional and choose which you will be.
I think we often fail to make this distinction. I also think we lack understanding on what it means to be a professional versus an amateur. I’d like to clear up some of this confusion and help you decide which you are. Trust me, it will make a huge difference.
Initial Thoughts About Amateur Versus Professional
I don’t think I’d ever really given this difference a lot of thought before I read The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield. The only realm where I thought it mattered was sports, college versus pro for example. However, Pressfield extends the idea well beyond this one limited arena.
Pressfield is a writer, an artist, and so he writes mostly about the difference between a professional artist and an amateur. For the sake of this discussion, it is important that we think of an artist like Seth Godin does. Seth says,
By my definition, most art has nothing to do with oil, paint or marble. Art is what we’re doing when we do our best work.
This means we are all artists. Our art is our work. Now the question is for the various work you do, are you a professional or an amateur?
For example, I’m an IT Director, blogger and father. I do work in each of these areas and there is more than a little art involved in doing each of them right. What is my status in each of these roles? Where do I stand in terms of being an amateur versus a professional?
We’ll take a deeper look into how to answer these questions in a minute. First, let me say that there is nothing wrong with being an amateur at something. In fact, sometimes deciding to transform a hobby into a profession can zap the fun right out of it.
Once you make something an obligation instead of doing it for pure enjoyment, then you risk stirring up the resistance created by your lizard brain and inner pig. These two will make you want to stop doing what you once loved to do. Therefore, I wouldn’t always encourage you to go pro at everything. There are some things better left for recreation.
Contrasting the Amateur Versus the Professional
The amateur plays for fun. The professional plays for keeps.
~ Steven Pressfield
If there is an endeavor in your life that you seriously want to succeed at, then you need to start thinking like a professional towards it. You cannot dabble at it and expect to succeed.
Again, there is nothing wrong with being an amateur. There is nothing wrong with having a hobby. If blogging is your hobby and you enjoy it, then fine. However, if you want to one day quit your job and live off of your efforts as a blogger, then you need to choose in your mind right now to become a pro.
What does it mean to be a pro? Well, I’m going to rely heavily on Steven Pressfield here to help us define it. Here are some of the ways that he distinguishes a professional from an amateur in The War of Art.
I know this is a long list of differences, but it paints a clear picture.
| As professionals: | As amateurs: |
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What do you think? Are you an amateur or a professional? Has failing to commit yourself to being a pro held you back from achieving the success you desire? Maybe it is time to decide to be a pro.
Another Reason Making This Distinction Is Important
Let me give you a final thought about the importance of making the distinction about whether you are professional or amateur in the various things you pursue in your life.
Deciding in which specific areas you want to be a pro lets you concentrate your efforts. Focus has almost a magical power in helping you achieve what you want.
When you consciously separate your pursuits into those where you want to be a pro and those where your fine remaining an amateur, you have clarified your focus. You have also released yourself from the guilt that burdens you and keeps you from zeroing in your focus on what really matters.
This focus combined with all the other distinctions of what makes a person a professional will translate into greater success for you in the most important areas of your life.
The choice is yours. Are you going to be a professional or an amateur?
Photo by Julia Manzerova
Hey Jeff,
This Amateur vs Pro distinction is one of the reasons I believe in specializing. When you focus on a very small niche and you commit to it, you have much more chances of becoming a real pro in that field. And that tends to show in everything: what and how you say, what and how you do.
Eduard @ People Skills Decoded´s last blog ..Why family pressure is heavy pressure and how to lighten the load
Eduard – As pros, I think we have a natural tendency to specialize. Our passion leads us deeper and deeper into the things we truly love doing. This is a very keen observation. Thanks for adding your insight!
This is a very important decision. It comes down our livelihood and the work we do. So many people are running the rat race or working just to work. They work a meaningless 9-5 job and go on autopilot. Figuring out how to find meaning and take a professional approach in these situations is key. Thanks!
Joe – You are exactly right. The commitment to become a true professional can make all the difference in the world.