The aspiring artists defeated by the Resistance have a feature in common. Everyone thinks like amateurs. They have not yet become professionals.
The instant an artist becomes a professional is as memorable as the birth of her first child. With one stroke, everything changes. I can say with certainty that my life can be divided into two parts: before and after to become a professional.
To be clear: when I say professional, I’m not referring to doctors and lawyers, those of the classic professions. I REFER TO THE PROFESSIONAL AS AN IDEAL. The professional in contrast to the amateur. Consider the differences:
The amateur plays for fun. The professional plays for real. For the amateur, play is your hobby. For the professional, it is your vocation. The amateur plays part time. The professional, in full-time. The amateur is a weekend warrior. The professional, during the seven days of the week.
The Latin root of the word amateur means “to love.” THE conventional interpretation is that the amateur follows his vocation for love, while the professionals do it for money. No the way I see it. In my opinion, the amateur does not like enough of the game. If he liked it, he would not practice it as a secondary occupation, a “beak”, different from its activity “real”.
THE PROFESSIONAL LOVES HIS VOCATION SO MUCH THAT HE DEVOTES YOUR LIFE.
COMMIT FULLY.
That’s what I mean when I talk about becoming a professional.
Resistance detests that we become professionals.
* The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield.
RICARDO★CALVÃO 