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The thesis of this book is that what ails you and me has nothing to do with being sick or being wrong. What ails us is that we are living our lives as amateurs. The solution, this book suggests, is that we turn pro. Turning pro is free, but it's not easy. You don't need to take a course or buy a product. All you have to do is change your mind.
I think the book does not deliver this promise
This book is about habits. The difference between an amateur and a professional is in their habits. An amateur has amateur habits. A professional has professional habits.
For the past several years, I've written a weekly post on my website (www.stevenpressfield.com) called "Writing Wednesdays."
The addict is the amateur; the artist is the professional.
Both addict and artist are dealing with the same material, which is the pain of being human and the struggle against self-sabotage. But the addict/amateur and the artist/professional deal with these elements in fundamentally different ways.
Enter: a drink, a lover, a habit. Addiction replaces aspiration.
You and I, who are artists and entrepreneurs, live a life that's closer to natural, if you ask me. We migrate, too. We follow the Muse instead of the sun. When one crop is picked, we hit the road and move on to the next. It's not a bad life. It's lonely. It's tough. It ain't for everyone. But, like the life of a migrant on the road, it has its compensations.
There's a difference between failing (which is a natural and normal part of life) and being addicted to failure.
Resistance hates two qualities above all others: concentration and depth. Why? Because when we work with focus and we work deep, we succeed.
I didn't talk to anybody during my year of turning pro. I didn't hang out. I just worked. I had a book in mind and I had decided I would finish it or kill myself.
I had no TV, no radio, no music. No sex, no sports. I didn't read the newspaper. For breakfast I had liver and eggs. I was like Rocky.
I read Tolstoy and Dostoevsky and Turgenev.
In the end, it didn't matter. That year made me a pro. It gave me, for the first time in my life, an uninterrupted stretch of month after month that was mine alone, that nobody knew about but me, when I was truly productive, truly facing my demons, and truly working my shit. That year has stuck with me.
sojourn,
It's not just the Irish. The pain of being human is that we're all angels imprisoned in vessels of flesh.
The addict seeks to escape the pain of being human in one of two ways — by transcending it or by anesthetizing it. Borne aloft by powerful enough chemicals, we can almost, if we're lucky, glimpse the face of the Infinite. If that doesn't work, we can always pass out. Both ways work. The pain goes away. The artist takes a different tack. She tries to reach the upper realm not by chemicals but by labor and love. (When I say "artist," I mean as well the lover, the holy man, the engineer, the mother, the warrior, the inventor, the singer, the sage, and the voyager. And remember, addict and artist
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The habits and addictions of the amateur are conscious or unconscious self-inflicted wounds. Their payoff is incapacity.
Like Luke Skywalker, the amateur harbors noble aspirations.
“Hell is full of good intentions” said a school father to me
The professional, by the way, is just as terrified as the amateur. In fact the professional may be more terrified because she is more acutely conscious of herself and of her interior universe. The difference — see Part Three — lies in the way the professional acts in the face of fear.
He is imprisoned by what he believes he ought to think, how he ought to look, what he ought to do, and who he ought to be.
The amateur fears solitude and silence because she needs to avoid, at all costs, the voice inside her head that would point her toward her calling and her destiny.
Give her shrooms ;)
The sure sign of an amateur is he has a million plans and they all start tomorrow.
Fear of self-definition is what keeps an amateur an amateur and what keeps an addict an addict.
We now structure our hours not to flee from fear, but to confront it and overcome it.
Atomic habits
Twelve-step programs say "One Day at a Time." The professional says the same thing.
Each day, the professional understands, he will wake up facing the same demons, the same Resistance, the same self-sabotage, the same tendencies to shadow activities and amateurism that he has always faced.
Do you understand? I hadn't written anything good. It might be years before I would, if I ever did at all. That didn't matter. What counted was that I had, after years of running from it, actually sat down and done my work.
we have reality and we have humility. These are powerful allies. And we have a third force working in our favor: shame. Why is shame good? Because shame can produce the final element we need to change our lives: will.
1. The professional shows up every day 2. The professional stays on the job all day 3. The professional is committed over the long haul 4. For the professional, the stakes are high and real Further: 5. The professional is patient 6. The professional seeks order 7. The professional demystifies 8. The professional acts in the face of fear 9. The professional accepts no excuses 10. The professional plays it as it lays 11. The professional is prepared 12. The professional does not show off 13. The professional dedicates himself to mastering technique 14. The professional does not hesitate to ask
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See helping the book
The amateur tweets. The pro works.
THE PROFESSIONAL IS RUTHLESS WITH HIMSELF
The professional knows when he has fallen short of his own standards.
THE PROFESSIONAL HAS COMPASSION FOR HERSELF
THE PROFESSIONAL LIVES IN THE PRESENT
THE PROFESSIONAL DEFERS GRATIFICATION
Krishna said we have the right to our labor, but not to the fruits of our labor. He meant that the piano is its own reward, as is the canvas, the barre, and the movieola. Fuck the marshmallows.
THE PROFESSIONAL DOES NOT WAIT FOR INSPIRATION
We're all nothing without the Muse. But the pro has learned that the goddess prizes labor and dedication beyond any theatrical seeking of her favors. The professional does not wait for inspiration; he acts in anticipation of it. He knows that when the Muse sees his butt in the chair, she will deliver.
This needs a backup: data, experimental, whatever... but anyway... goes in the atomic habits direction and the morning pages
THE PROFESSIONAL DOES NOT GIVE HIS POWER AWAY TO OTHERS
THE PROFESSIONAL HELPS OTHERS
See helping the book
A PRACTICE HAS A SPACE
Just look at these sacred spaces. What you'll see is this: Order Commitment Passion Love Intensity Beauty Humility
A PRACTICE HAS A TIME
But the object remains the same: to approach the mystery via order, commitment and passionate intention.
When we convene day upon day in the same space at the same time, a powerful energy builds up around us. This is the energy of our intention, of our dedication, of our commitment.
A PRACTICE HAS AN INTENTION
WE COME TO A PRACTICE AS WARRIORS
The real enemy is inside himself.
WE COME TO A PRACTICE IN HUMILITY
We may bring intention and intensity to our practice (in fact we must), but not ego. Dedication, even ferocity, yes. But never arrogance.
