The professional loves her work. She is invested in it wholeheartedly. But she does not forget that the work is not her.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDThe professional loves her work. She is invested in it wholeheartedly. But she does not forget that the work is not her.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDWe fear discovering that we are more than we think we are… That we actually have the guts, the perserverance, the capacity… because, if it’s true, then we become estranged from all we know.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDOur greatest battle is to become ourselves, in the face of adversity.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDThe sign of the amateur is overglorification of and preoccupation with the mystery. The professional shuts up. She doesn’t talk about it. She does her work.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDPlaying the game for money produces the proper professional attitude. It inculcates the lunch-pail state of mind that shows up for work despite rain or snow or dark of night and slugs it out day after day.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDThe professional tackles the project that will make him stretch. He takes on the assignment that will bear him into uncharted waters, compel him to explore unconscious parts of himself. Is he scared? Hell, yes. He’s petrified.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDWe feed it [Resistance] with power by our fear of it. Master that fear and we conquer Resistance.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDThe last thing we want is to remain as we are.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDThe counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDThe critic hates most that which he would have done himself if he had had the guts.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDThe artist cannot look to others to validate his efforts or his calling. If you don’t believe me, ask Van Gogh, who produced masterpiece after masterpiece and never found a buyer in his whole life.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDWe come into this world with a specific, personal destiny. We have a job to do, a calling to enact, a self to become. We are who we are from the cradle, and we’re stuck with it.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDWhat finally convinced me to go ahead was simply that I was so unhappy not going ahead.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDThe amateur tweets. The pro works.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDResistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experince it as an energy field radiating from a work-in-potential… Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDWhen we turn pro we stop running from our fears. We turn around and face them.
STEVEN PRESSFIELD