When I was young (7 years old) and just beginning to work shoveling snow for neighbors, mowing lawns, and delivering newspapers, I didn’t know the difference between being an amateur and a professional. I just wanted to do the best job I possibly could.

The work wasn’t always about the money. Recognition and having a great reputation mattered, but the most crucial thing was being present and doing the work. I was committed to and consistent in the work I had to do, and I believed that excellence and quality of service mattered.

I soon learned that my choice was about being a professional – loving what I did daily, in all kinds of circumstances, and resistance, even when I didn’t feel like doing it, being on time, and making people happy. I owed something vital to the job and the people who trusted and counted on me. I made up my mind to be a pro early.

I also learned as I observed others, trained, and practiced new skills that just because you choose a profession, it doesn’t mean you’re a professional.

In his inspiring book – The War of Art – Steven Pressfield writes:

“The professional, though he accepts money, does his work out of love. He has to love it. Otherwise he wouldn’t devote his life to it of his own free will… the essence of professionalism is the focus upon the work and its demands, while we are doing it, to the exclusion of all else… the pro keeps coming on. He beats resistance at its own game by being even more resolute and even more implacable than it is.

There’s no mystery to turning pro. It’s a decision brought about by an act of will. We make up our mind to view ourselves as pros and we do it. Simple as that.”

This is true about my journey in all my jobs –  cleaning apartments, sales, working as a professional actor and singer, a headhunter finding people work, and building my own business as a career, life coach, and writer.

When did you first decide to be a professional?

What does it mean to you to be a professional?

Thanks – Michael (he, him)

Please share my Daily with your tribes.
This also matters – 4 Choices in the System of Work.

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