Turning pro: the habits and mindset of the true professional

Executive overview

Most people never reach their creative potential because resistance — the inner force of self-sabotage — beats them before they start. The professional differs not in talent but in discipline: they show up, do the work, and refuse to let fear, rejection, or ego derail them.

Steven Pressfield's framework identifies the specific traits that separate the professional from the amateur. Each trait is a direct counter to one of resistance's tactics.

The professional turns pro by decision, not by circumstance — and that decision is made once, then enacted daily.

The traits of the professional

1. Patient — treats every project as the Iditarod, not a sprint; knows any job takes twice as long as expected and accepts it
2. Orderly — eliminates external chaos to clear the mind; cannot work from a nest
3. Demystifying — treats work as craft, not mystical art; concentrates on technique and lets the muse do the rest
4. Acts in the face of fear — knows fear never goes away; moves forward anyway, like Fonda walking on stage after throwing up
5. Accepts no excuses — resistance is like a telemarketer: pick up once and you're done; the pro doesn't pick up
6. Plays it as it lays — operates in reality as it is, not as it should be; the field is only level in heaven
7. Prepared — ready each day to confront his own self-sabotage; expects the field to change
8. Doesn't show off — style serves the material, not the ego
9. Masters technique — not as a substitute for inspiration, but to be ready when it arrives
10. Asks for help — Tiger Woods has coaches; it never occurs to a professional that they can figure it all out alone
11. Distances herself from her instrument — doesn't identify with her body, voice, or talent; employs them
12. Doesn't take failure or success personally — seeds professional consciousness outside personal ego; the battle is internal, not with editors or critics
13. Self-validates — assesses work coldly and objectively regardless of external opinion
14. Endures adversity — lets the bird crap splash on the slicker; his core is bulletproof
15. Recognises limitations — gets an agent, lawyer, accountant; can only be a professional at one thing
16. Reinvents himself — doesn't become hidebound in one incarnation; shucks the outworn body and dons a new one
17. Recognized by other professionals — a gun recognizes another gun

You incorporated

• Thinking of yourself as a corporation creates healthy distance from your work.
• You can hire and fire yourself; you take blows as the employee, not the owner.
• Separate the artist doing the work from the will and consciousness running the show.
• Write yourself a Monday morning assignment sheet; know exactly what you're doing this week.
• As "yourself incorporated," you can sell and advocate for your work without the vulnerability of doing it as your raw self.

Resistance as bully

• Resistance has no strength of its own — its power derives entirely from your fear of it.
• A bully backs down before the runtiest twerp who stands his ground.
• The professional beats resistance by being more resolute and more implacable than it is.
• Like Ethan Edwards in The Searchers: resistance never learns there's a critter that just keeps coming.

Tiger Woods and self-sovereignty

• At the 2001 Masters, a camera clicked at the top of Tiger's backswing.
• He didn't react reflexively, didn't take it personally, didn't read it as cosmic malevolence.
• He vented quickly, recomposed, and striped it 310 yards down the middle.
• The professional cannot allow the actions of others to define his reality.
• Nothing stands in the way except whatever emotional upset he himself chooses to hold onto.

Turning pro

• There is no mystery to it.
• It is a decision brought about by an act of will.
• Make up your mind to view yourself as a pro, and you are one.