A Professional is an Amateur Who Never Quit
How you can achieve anything with persistence
“A professional is an amateur who never quit.” -Richard Bach
It’s easy to be an amateur, absolutely anyone can be an amateur.
What people often forget, is that it’s also easy to be a professional. You just have to persist and not quit at anything. Absolutely anything can be achieved on this premise.
But that’s a cost too great for most, and hence why we see so few become professionals in their field.
Nothing in the World will Beat Persistence
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” -Calvin Coolidge
Take anything you want to achieve in life, and you can get there with persistence.
Persistence time and time again when everything else is telling you to quit will never fail to get you to any goal.
Not many people are willing to continue to do something time and time again, it can be boring and tedious, it can be lonely, and it can be tremendously hard.
Wrote Hal Elrod in his bestselling book, The Miracle Morning,
“Repetition can be boring or tedious — which is why so few people ever master anything.”
But actor Will Smith acclaims his persistence over everyone else being the reason for his enormously successful career:
“The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be out-worked, period. You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me, you might be all of those things. But if we get on the treadmill together, there’s two things: You’re getting off first, or I’m going to die.”
It is with this means to an end attitude that you can achieve anything.
While persistence might not always be the easiest choice, remember it’s the choice that will change your life.
No One is Born a Professional
“Everybody has to start somewhere. You have your whole future ahead of you. Perfection doesn’t happen right away.” -Haruki Murakami
The NY times bestselling authors, the world-class athletes, the Grammy award-winning actors, none of these individuals were born at that level of achievement. Everyone starts somewhere, and that’s as an amateur.
Whats for certain is that behind these groups of high achievers is a mass of humbling beginnings, countless hours of work and a mix of failures.
While we think they’re perfect, we simply haven’t seen where they began.
New York Times bestselling author, Jon Acuff once said,
“Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.”
And he’s absolutely correct. Today someone be might at the peak of success, while you’re just an amateur beginning a journey. Don’t be discouraged. Stay on your own path.
It doesn’t matter where they are, nor does it matter where you are. You can have anything if you just Persist.
Forget what everyone else is doing. Focus on you. Do the work that matters. Learn, fail and succeed. See where the journey takes you.
And one day you’ll be the top-selling author, the MVP, or the multi-millionaire entrepreneur, and even you’ll marvel at how you did it.
In conclusion
“That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
A professional is an amateur who never quit.
You can have anything in life if you just “Press On.”
No one is born at the extremes of success, if you want to get there you’re going have to do the work like everyone else.
While amateur might be the beginning, there’s a journey to be had, and professional is achieved by persistence on that path.
