5 Things That Make You Look Like an Amateur Instead of a Pro
Have you struggled to start or finish creative projects? Amateur mindsets and habits may be to blame. Learn now about the mindset differences between amateurs and professionals. This changed how I viewed my creative work and got me closer to living my best life.
Some years ago I picked up The War of Art by Steven Pressfield* and couldn't put it down. There were many mind-blowing takeaways but the one that gave me an immediate ah-ha moment was when he described the difference between the amateur and the professional. Most people I look up to encapsulated everything he described as a pro. Then my heart sank a little when I noticed how many of the amateur traits I had.
Learning this knowledge inspired me to immediately revamp my habits and act more like a professional. There are still parts I struggle with and continue to work on but as a whole my quality of life has increased. Now, when I'm tempted to watch TV instead of getting my important work done I can ask myself "Do you want to be an amateur or professional?" It's become a nifty tool to keep myself in check and one I want to share with you.
As a disclaimer and a gentle reminder this episode isn't meant to make you feel shame or guilt about having amateur habits. But to illuminate something that may be useful for you. Our goal during this physical journey is evolution. When we come to Earth it's like a shop of experiences and learning. We get to choose what information we want to take home with us and which we'll gratefully leave by the wayside. My goal is to offer you the bits of information that helped me in case it also helps you. We're all walking each other home right?
Discipline is a Myth
Did you know discipline is a myth? Any person who has the qualities or life you admire aren't more disciplined than you. How can that be? The reason they aren't is because what helped them succeed were really stinking good habits. No one can make progress on discipline alone. That depletes too much energy.
The reason we equate discipline to success is because we need it during the beginning stages of habit creation. Around 66 days. Then after that the efficiency of the habit takes over and your brain doesn't have to exert as much effort anymore to do the things that help you grow. Cool right?
Similar to brushing your teeth or breathing. You make the behavior go on autopilot so you can focus on other things. The professional knows this and doesn't mind the slow burn of a new behavior. The amateur however lives life in the instant gratification lane and struggles to make progress. Let's talk more about the difference between the two.
You show up when you feel like it.
Feeling tired from last night? Is the weather not so great? The amateur uses that as an excuse to delay working on her book, growing her business, or following through with promises made to others. She relies on the state of her emotions to do most things. Which often means no consistency or much progress. The professional however shows up every day. Rain or shine. Tired or rested. Happy or sad. Inspired or not.
I’ll admit, today I felt a little foggy and tired. Even as we speak my body is resisting because it would rather be on the couch browsing cute yoga outfits instead of creating something. The old me would've caved and pushed this off. But because of habits that refined me into a professional I keep working.
A reader recently shared a comment on one of my articles and said "It's interesting how when we get in “consumption” mode, which we do to conserve and take in energy, we actually feel more exhausted and lackluster than when we push ourselves to accomplish difficult things."
The amateur part of us believes that being passive and in consumption mode conserves energy. The professional knows that's not true and that creating will eventually yield more energy and a sense of accomplishment.
They don't waste time depending on if they feel like it or not. When the decision is already made there's no arguing. There's no energy being wasted on whether or not to do it. They show up as scheduled so inspiration can show up more often. The act of creating becomes a habit so the chances they'll create something wonderful and fulfilling increases. As a side note, "the work" is anything that's most important for you to create. It could be a book, baking, painting, playing an instrument, and so on. Whatever you feel compelled to put out into the world.
In The Untethered Soul*, Michael Singer compared emotions to a pendulum. That people tend to swing high to one extreme then swing back to the other. It takes a lot of energy to swing to one side of consuming and not doing anything to then exerting energy to swing the other way to creating. Exhausting right? It's not efficient to zig zag around the path. What's efficient is centering all your energies on the path.
2. The amateur has big dreams but only commits to them in her mind (the easy way out), not in her day-to-day actions (the hard way).
The professional stays on the job all day. And by on the job I mean she takes concrete actions towards her dream. She works to make it into a reality. I'm sure you know many people who mention their dreams but don't act on them. Maybe you're one of them.
The ego makes us believe there's a fine line when really there's not. You're either taking action or you're not. When I was more of an amateur than a professional I would talk to people about my dreams. We would brainstorm, ideate, and feel great afterwards. What I didn't realize was this didn't mean I was taking action. Even though it felt like it. I was still only committed to my dream in my mind by talking about it but wasn't actually taking needle moving steps in my day-to-day actions.
When I was getting my Psychology degree, I remember learning how excitement from others about an idea or dream you have has the same effect in your body as if you've already accomplished the thing. So a lot of people lose steam or never move forward because hearing "Oh that's so exciting! Good for you!" turns a switch inside that tells them they've accomplished the thing. So they don't need to keep going.
After hearing this, I still allow myself to selectively share my dreams with people. When they say, "Oh that's so great! Congratulations!" I receive it with appreciation then remind myself "Ok you still have work to do. Don't let this fool you into thinking you're done."
The thing is you can teach yourself to become a professional and take concrete action towards you dreams. That happens through your habits. But if you find yourself day in and out making excuses and avoiding any action there's also a chance you may want something different and haven't admitted it yet. Food for thought there.
Or maybe you have a set of beliefs that stop you from moving forward. Either way the professional doesn't entertain those excuses or beliefs and just gets to work.
3. The amateur treats fear as a DO NOT ENTER sign rather than a guiding light.
Fear has been my biggest teacher in life. Call it the Catholic upbringing or the Italian one (most likely both) but fear is a familiar foe turned friend. Regardless of my upbringing I know fear doesn't discriminate and you may struggle with it, too.
Even though I'm used to making bold moves like moving to LA for the music industry there was a lot of anxiety and fear behind it. For most of my life when I felt fear I would freeze, overanalyze and have near panic attacks. Bless my friends and therapist for letting me call them, panicked and overwhelmed about the smallest of things.
I used to see fear as a sign that I shouldn't do something. It made me run for the comforts of routine and hide within myself. Which resulted in not experiencing life as fully as I could have. What I've learned since is the professional acts anyway and takes fear with her. That fear is an indication something new is about to happen and the ego feels uncomfortable.
Lia Valencia Key said in episode 10 to bring fear with you. She said, "I am walking with my knees shaking towards my dream. I am walking with tears in my eyes, butterflies in my stomach towards my dream." That's the mark of a true professional. Someone who doesn't let fear dictate whether they keep going or not.
After my years of studying Eckhart Tolle, Wayne Dyer, and meditating I've noticed various patterns. One of them being that the emotions you attach to and identify with aren't who you are. They don't define you. Just because you sense fear doesn't mean you should stop. Like just because you feel shame doesn't mean you're worthless.
The soul uses the body to pick up the energy of emotions and thoughts to better navigate the physical plane. That way it can learn what's good for its evolution. Lower emotions tend to indicate there's healing that needs to happen while higher emotions means you're aligned and on the right path. If you haven't trained yourself to separate your self worth from emotions or thoughts then it's harder to progress.
The next time you feel fear when trying something new or working on an inspired project here's what you can do: stop for a sec. Acknowledge that you're feeling fear. Then tell yourself, "Hey ego. I know you're feeling fear. I appreciate you wanting to protect me so fiercely. But you're not needed anymore. So I'm going to place you in the background with fear while I keep working." This acknowledgement puts your soul in the driver's seat. As a side note: excitement and fear create the same exact sensation in your body. So if it helps to remind yourself of this that's great, too.
4. The amateur waits for inspiration.
The professional shows up every day as scheduled and works anyway. They understand that inspiration is preferred and such a treat but that they would never get their work done by waiting. It's almost as if inspiration needs to know you're serious. So when it sees you working away every day it's more likely to show up.
I remember my first experience of this concept clearly. Although back then I didn't know how to explain it but looking back I can. I was sitting on the ugly green carpet floor of my bedroom in North Hollywood and had to go to the studio in about an hour to record. I had written a song with another writer and it was going to be used in a commercial. So I wanted to change the bridge, the part in every song where the key changes, before sending it in. I was trying out different melodies and lyrics but nothing was clicking. For the full hour, I was working away yet nothing was coming out. So I remember thinking "Ok. Well there's nothing I can do now. I just have to show up and I'll figure it out when I'm in the mic booth." And I kid you not. From the time my body moved to stand up to reaching for my door knob the melody and lyrics hit me like a wave. It was a magical moment.
Because I had gotten myself into working mode and allowed myself to create without inspiration I was better able to have sensitivity to the inspiration that came after. My body, mind, and spirit were attuned and ready to receive it. The funny thing about the amateur waiting for inspiration is that because they're not in the habit of creating they're less likely to recognize or act on inspiration when it does arrive.
Another example is when I was writing blog posts a lot more a few years ago I dove deep into the craft of writing. One of the habits I picked up was taking note of quirks or interesting things about people to reference for future characters in books. When I was in that habit life felt vibrant because I noticed the little things and inspiration flowed like running water. When I stopped the inspiration slowed to a tiny drip then eventually stopped.
You want to know how many people tell me about their book ideas but never actually write it? Anyone can receive inspiration but most everyone doesn't have the habit to see it through to the very end. But it's not because you're lazy. It's because almost everything you do is based on a habit and right now they're not serving you.
5. Seeks cheap thrills in her work instead of slow-burn fulfillment and progress.
The cheap thrills can manifest in many ways. The amateur may find herself distracted all day. Working on admin tasks, answering emails, and doing everything around the actual work because they're quick, easy things to feel good about. She may also suffer from shiny object syndrome to avoid her most important tasks. This means that as soon as she hears a good idea she jumps on it and abandons her previous work. The amateur is attracted to doing so many new things and does most of them at same time. Which leaves a trail of half done work strewn about and no real progress made.
The professional knows the value of sticking to the important work and plugging away day in and day out. She also keeps her focus to a minimum and may only have a few major projects she's working on at a time. She knows her energy and time are precious and would see better results slogging it out than jumping from project to project.
This is the amateur trait I still struggle with the most on. Let me tell you how many times I still catch myself riding the high of answering Slack messages and writing Instagram captions while my book still sits half written. Or my productivity course begs for my attention. The ego and monkey mind will always prefer quick wins over the slow-burn of progress. These continue to be great learning moments for me. When I catch myself indulging in the cheap thrills I immediately call it out for what it is then ask myself, "Ok what's the most important thing to get done in the next hour?" Then I re-align, reset, and get back on track.
A professional isn't considered one because they're a special type of person who's better than every amateur out there. They're a professional because they feel the exact same temptations as the amateur but created the habits necessary to keep going. They chose to react differently. You, too, can make the switch from amateur to professional. I believe in you.
Affirmation
I am a professional who shows up every day and stays focused on her most important work.
Do This Today
Decide which of the amateur traits above you want to change within yourself.
Writing Prompt
In what ways am I showing up as an amateur in my life? Why is that? How could I do better?
Resources
Read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield*
Listen to Episode 10: How to Choose Yourself Instead of Your Doubts.
Read The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer*
*This is an affiliate link. Purchasing through affiliate links helps fund The Good Space at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting us!
