Approaching Your Work With a Craftsman’s Mindset
The difference between “doing” and “being.”
Are you a person who writes or are you a writer?
Are you a person who does photography or are you a photographer?
Are you a person who teaches or are you a teacher?
The first time I came across this distinction I was being asked by a coach if I was “…a tennis player or a person who plays tennis?” At 15, I couldn’t see the two options as different. Isn’t a person who plays tennis also a tennis player?
What I have learned with age is that, no, they are not the same. And though at 15 I didn’t see the difference, I now realize that this distinction is not just important, it can be life-changing.
Take, for example,writing. How would we distinguish a person who writes from a writer? Both write, both might get published from time to time, and they both find writing enjoyable.
But the critical difference is that a writer approaches writing as their craft. You can identify a writer by the following:
A writer has a daily writing goal.
A writer makes sacrifices (not going out with friends sometimes) in order to meet their daily writing goal.
A writer only publishes content they feel has depth, provides insight and holds real value for their readers.
A writer only publishes content that is polished and perfected as much as they can possibly muster.
A writer sweats the details, painstakingly rewrites, and is satisfied only when every period and syllable and adjective is just right.
And a writer’s hunger for publication grows with each rejection letter.
If it isn’t clear yet, allow craftsman Charles Bukowski, in an excerpt of his poem “so you want to be a writer,” describe what makes a true writer:
…if it doesn’t come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don’t do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it for money or
fame,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don’t do it.
if it’s hard work just thinking about doing it,
don’t do it.
if you’re trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
THAT is a writer. THAT is a true craftsman. For Bukowski, there is no choice. Being a writer is who he was.
This mindset can be applied to any profession. Sales or marketing or consulting or teaching. To be a salesperson is not the same as being someone who sells. Being a teacher is not the same as someone who teaches. To be is different than to simply do.
Whether your thing is writing or teaching or photography, ask yourself: is it something you do, or is it something you are? It is important to be honest with yourself about which category you fall under. Tricking yourself into believing you are a writer when, deep down, you know you are really a person who writes is the worst type of self-sabotage*.
To hone and perfect your craft through passionate obsessions is not the same thing as working half-assed on a projects you never finish. Craftsman don’t dabble. That may sound obvious, but most people you will come across in life claim they are when deep down they know they only do.
And one day, the people who deceive themselves will realize which they truly are.
But they risk that realization coming too late.
—
*In all honesty, I do not refer to myself as a writer. I do not feel I have earned it. I don’t feel I have put in the hours, the blood, the sweat, and the tears to honestly call writing my craft. I have not made the sacrifices for my art the way I feel necessary to earn the right to say “I am a writer. But I am honest with myself about my relationship to writing. And the more I write and the more I publish, the more I begin to feel a craftsman brewing inside me. I do hope one day to earn the right to refer to myself as “a writer.”
Got a hankering for more? You can read more of my posts on Letters to a Young Professional, you can check out my blog 12HourDifference.co for my thoughts on launching an international career and you can connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter to chat about…whatever you’d like!
