The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He knows there is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist.
STEVEN PRESSFIELDThe professional will not tolerate disorder… He wants the carpet vacuumed and the threshold swept, so the Muse may enter and not soil her gown.
More Steven Pressfield Quotes
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The professional does not wait for inspiration; he acts in anticipation of it.
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Do you love your idea? Does it feel right on instinct? Are you willing to bleed for it?
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Don’t cheat the world of your contribution. Give it what you’ve got.
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Don’t prepare. Begin. Our enemy is not lack of preparation. The enemy is resistance, our chattering brain producing excuses. Start before you are ready.
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What finally convinced me to go ahead was simply that I was so unhappy not going ahead.
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A cavalryman’s horse should be smarter than he is. But the horse must never be allowed to know this.
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The best and only thing that one artist can do for another is to serve as an example and an inspiration.
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The 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.
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We will have to choose between the life we want for our future and the life we have left behind.
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A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable, nor does the genius or the madman. It’s only you and I, with our big brains and our tiny hearts, who doubt and overthink and hesitate.
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Ignorance and arrogance are the artist’s and entrepreneur’s indispensable allies. She must be clueless enough to have no idea how difficult her enterprise is going to be and cocky enough to believe she can pull it off anyway.”
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The most pernicious aspect of procrastination is that it can become a habit. We don’t just put off our lives today; we put them off till our deathbed.
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The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.
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Long-term, we must begin to build our internal strengths. It isn’t just skills like computer technology. It’s the old-fashioned basics of self-reliance, self-motivation, self-reinforcement, self-discipline, self-command.
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The professional respects his craft. He does not consider himself superior to it. He recognizes the contributions of those who have gone before him. He apprentices himself to them.
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The amateur tweets. The pro works.
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We 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.
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Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.
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Be too dumb to quit and too stubborn to back off.
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The 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.
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We feed it [Resistance] with power by our fear of it. Master that fear and we conquer Resistance.
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It is one thing to study war and another to live the warrior’s life.
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Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work.
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When we see others beginning to live their authentic selves, it drives us crazy if we have not lived out our own.
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Always attack. Even in defense, attack. The attacking arm possesses the initiative and thus commands the action. To attack makes men brave; to defend makes them timorous.
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The professional will not tolerate disorder… He wants the carpet vacuumed and the threshold swept, so the Muse may enter and not soil her gown.
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