In the last post about “The War of Art,” we shed light on Resistance: the force standing between our present discontent and our future potential. We identified its attributes, its various forms, and its deceptions. Now, it is time to face it. According to Steven Pressfield, the way to combat Resistance is by turning pro.
Professionals and Amateurs
All aspiring artists, defeated by Resistance, share one fault: they feel, think, and act like an amateur. They have yet to become a professional.
The moment of metamorphosis, where an artist turns from an amateur to a professional, is the legendary moment of awaking, the raising from the ashes, the revelations of one’s splendor.
We are not talking about the common sense view of a professional as someone who earns money for his work. We are talking about the archetypes, i.e. their abstract forms.
The amateur works for play, the professional works as a craft.
The amateur shows up whenever the mood strikes him, the professional shows up every day.
The amateur views his work as an avocation, the professional views his work as a vocation.
The amateur does not love the art enough, if he did he would dedicate more towards it, and not keep it on the sidelines. He may say that he does not do more because he loves the art too much and is afraid of taming it—but that is like saying you love a child too much to take care of him, out of fear of making a mistake.
The professional has reached the point of love within the forest of the art, he knows he must be the jester to become the sage, and that consistent effort is the reflection of his love.
Turning pro is about dedicating ourselves to the craft, loving it enough to accept its drudgery. Resistance hates it when we turn pro.
We Are Already Professionals
Being a professional is not something we naturally have towards a craft, it is something we cultivate from within. All of us are already pros at something: our jobs.
The professionalism we exhibit in our daily job is what we need more of in our higher aspirations. The following are some of the professional qualities we already embody:
- We show up every day
- We stay on the job the whole day
- We are committed over the long haul
- We accept remuneration
- We do not over-identify with our job title
- We master the technique of our job
- The stakes are high and real—we need it to survive
We might only do those things because we have to, and that is okay, the secret is doing them, out of love and purpose, for our calling.
When we look at our pursuits—artistic or otherwise—from the perspective of a professional, we declare them more important than our lower-selves caprices.
A Professional Is Patience
Resistance uses the amateur’s enthusiasm against him. The amateur has flamboyant expectations, he expects to materialize a masterpiece without pain or patience—he expects the work to drop from the heavens without going through hell. The amateur’s romantic ideas shatter when he sits down to do the work, leading to anguish, which results in burnout and loss of motivation.
The professional, on the other hand, knows that anything worth doing takes time. He is prepared for the immense labor to come, he expects and accepts the struggle. He knows his creative conception demands a consistent sacrifice of pain.
Being patience is heaving the humility to detach from our daydreams, focusing on sharpening our skills, and leaving the mystical side to the upper realm (which we will talk about in a later post).
The professional knows that summiting a mountain is a process of small, relatively-insignificant steps. The professional focuses on the work, not the outcome.
A Professional Seeks Order
It was Carl Jung who regarded our spaces as extensions of our psyches. You can learn a lot about a person by looking at his room, his office, his house. What does your environment say about you?
The professional knows he needs a clear, unencumbered mind in order to produce his best work. He understands that order clears the path for the muse. His workspace reflects this, it is organized, clean, and minimalistic; everything points towards focus and oneness.
A Professional Demystifies
The amateur roams in the realm of over-glorification and mystery, he loves it there, in his imagination, he walks within the garden of the gods. However, overwhelmed by the expectations of the deity, he cannot withstand the drudgery of the work, he cannot be bad to get good. He is trapped by an illusion of grandeur.
A professional views his work as a craft, not art. Not because he thinks the work is technical only, but because he knows over-association with the divine, creative sphere will paralyze him. He concentrates on production and improvement, leaving the what and why to the gods. It is only when the temple is complete that it is considered holy. Like the builders of the cathedral, the professional is grateful for the opportunity to partake in something bigger than himself, focusing on doing the best he can.
A Professional Accepts No Excuses
The amateur underestimates Resistance’s keenness. He believes it when it says that he is too tired to write his essay, or that cleaning the house is more important than doing the work. By attending to the serpent’s voice, the amateur becomes more and more likely to cave in again.
The professional respects his opponent and knows that predominantly, everything that stands in the way of his work is Resistance. He does not even answers the repelling whisper that comes up, he learned enough not to go in that downward spiral. The professional has one job: sitting in the chair.
A Professional Dedicates Himself to Master Technique
The professional is humble enough to see himself as a student of those who came before him. He is not superior to the techniques that were meticulously crafted by great artists before him. He does not see technique as a substitute for inspiration but as an ability to act upon inspiration when it unravels. He knows that when the muse will give the melody, he will need to be the one putting them into notes.
The professional is a forever student, he never steps in the light of the muse.
A Professional Does Not Take Failure (Or Success) Personally
We inherently fend off criticism for the things that are closest to us, as they threaten our sense of self and our mapping of reality. This fear may stop us from publishing our work, we care too much: we associate our identity with the work and its appreciation. The danger is not others’ opinions but Resistance, as this fear keeps many of us from progression. Van Gogh died with no recognization or remuneration for his work, no museum wanted his paintings—the true artist knows he has no rights for the fruits of his labor, but for the labor itself.
The professional filters growth from criticism, good or bad, and adjusts accordingly, not giving an ear to negativity or positivity, as they will both feed the already brawny Resistance. Negativity will tell us we are not good enough. Positivity will raise our exceptions from our work. The professional knows that whatever comes his way, especially when it is painful, is no more than a trail. Whatever is in the past is gone, and the future is uncontrollable—the professional focuses on the present and what he can do about it.
Turning Pro
Becoming a professional means that we place ourselves at the right distance between our aspirations and the drudgery of the craft. Viewing ourselves as a craftsman, as a business, rather than as individuals gives us the reserve we need for consistency and growth. This also means you approach the more in a more calculated, conscious way. We can bring the cold-blooded tools of the business world to our craft, creating harmony between the otherworldly and the earthly.
There is no mystery to turning pro. It is a decision we make, a declaration of love for the craft, the art, ourselves, and our future selves.