What Does It Mean to Be A Professional?

This question is meaningful to me because I take my hobbies seriously.  If I had my way, I would spend all my time on my hobbies and absolutely zero time on my ”job.”

But there’s a catch.  When you do your hobbies every day and do them intensely, they start to feel like work.  Over time, they start to feel like a ”job.”  If you stay consistent over a span of years, you realize that you work just as hard at your hobbies as you do at your ”job.”

The only difference is that your hobbies don’t pay you any money.

So, if I work just as hard at my hobbies as I do at my ‘’job,’’ then what does it mean to be a professional?

To me, there are three elements of being a professional:

1. Skill level.

Your skill at what you do has to be as good as other ‘’professionals.’’  If you’re not as good as them, then you’re not a professional yet.

2. Making money.

To be a professional at something, you have to get paid to do it.  If you can’t get paid to do it, then you’re not a professional yet.

3. Showing up when you don’t want to.

I don’t care how great you think someone’s job is; there are days when they don’t want to do it.

I heard an interview with Kelly Slater where they asked him about his career, and he said that he ‘’hated lots of it.’’  Kelly is the most decorated professional surfer in history – by far.  He’s made millions of dollars doing something the rest of us consider ourselves lucky to do for free.

But competing at that level is so harsh that even the greatest of all time said he ‘’hated lots of it.’’

Here’s another example: James Hetfield.  James has been the frontman of Metallica for 40+ years.  He’s the closest thing there is to a living rock and roll god.  He’s played concerts in front of hundreds of thousands of people.  He’s reached heights that other professional musicians can only dream of.

Yet, James still describes having dreadful anxiety and nightmares about performing.  He might make it look easy, but it’s not.  Every time he goes out there, he has to face fear that would paralyze some – even after 40+ years in the game.

Even for James Hetfield and Kelly Slater – two guys who arguably have the best jobs ever – there are days when they don’t want to be out there.  Maybe they were sick.  Maybe they were tired.  Maybe they were scared shitless about performing and living up to expectations.

But how do they react to it?  They show up and do their best, anyway – and that’s why they are great at what they do.  What would you say about them if they didn’t show up or showed up late?  They’re ‘’unprofessional.’’

Professionalism is doing your job when you don’t want to.

No matter how much you love your job, there are days you don’t want to do it.  In fact, there are days when you’d rather be doing anything other than your job.

Professionals show up anyway.  That’s what makes them professionals.

So, how does one turn a hobby into a profession?

You don’t get to choose your skill level, natural ability, or how much money you make.  If you got to choose that, we would all be rich and be #1 in the world at what we do.

What you can choose is your attitude, effort, and whether you show up every day.  It will probably take years or decades to turn your hobbies into professions.  At least, it has for me.

Maybe I’m just a no-talent nobody, but chances are that the average person’s experience is much more similar to mine than it is to Kelly Slater’s or James Hetfield’s.  And I’ll bet that if you ask James Hetfield or Kelly Slater, they will tell you that they showed up every day for years before anybody knew who they were.

So, keep showing up.  Even when you don’t want to.  Even when you’re sick or tired.  Unless you are literally so sick or injured that you can’t get out of bed, there is something you can do every day to get better.  So, keep doing it.

There will be doubts, fears, and crippling comparisons.  It’s all part of the deal.  Show up anyway.  It’s okay to fall.  It’s okay to cry.  It’s okay to bleed.  If you’re really testing yourself, all those things will happen.  The only thing that’s not okay is to quit.

Keep showing up.

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