ryanhyde

“Aspiring artists (replace artist with anything you want to do) defeated by Resistance share one trait. They all think like amateurs. They have not yet turn pro.”

Consider the differences:

• The amateur plays for fun. The professional plays for keeps.
• To the amateur, the game is his avocation. To the pro it’s his vocation.
• The amateur plays part-time. The professional full-time.
• The professional loves it so much he dedicates his life to it. He commits full-time.

I love this quote by Somerset Maugham when asked if he wrote on a schedule or only when struck by inspiration, he replied, “I write only when inspiration strikes, Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp”. That’s a pro.

We must sit down and do our work. Stop resisting and get to work.

Another important part of doing your work is something that Stephen Covey taught in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The Principle of Priority, which states (a) you must know the difference between what is urgent and what is important, and (b) you must do what’s important first. We must not let that which is urgent be at the mercy of what is important.

Be patient and know that if you are continually doing the most important things each day, the success and the consequences will follow.

I think the important thing about Resistance is learning to love the journey and stop being so focused on the result. A professionals goal is not victory (success will come by itself when it wants to) but to handle himself, his insides, as sturdily and steadily as he can.

I think the greatest fear that keeps us from doing things is the Fear of rejection. Fear of rejections isn’t just psychological; it’s biological. It’s in our cells. Resistance knows this and uses it against us. It uses fear of rejection to paralyze us and present us, if not from doing our work. All you can do is your best, we must learn to stand apart from our performance.

So how do we turn pro? It’s a decision, we make up our mind to view ourselves as pros and we do it. That’s it. Tom Peters in the Pursuit of Wow says “you decide in a nano second to exercise, to write, etc. but it takes a lifetime of persistence to stay at it.”

Whatever you are resisting you can change today. Just decide to be pro, and work at it everyday. You only FAIL when you give up.