Great Gains Advancing from Amateur to Professional
“It takes looking into the mirror everyday and telling yourself you’re worth it before you can believe it”-Shana Zoghaib
Throughout our lifetimes we have experienced so many firsts. First words, first steps, first day of school, first graduation, first kiss, first day of a new diet, first marriage, first kid, maybe first, “I almost died.” These things could be marked by happening on a Monday, a January 1st, or first day after Labour day. What if your your first day at your new diet happened on a Wednesday? Or, if starting a new course occurred on a Friday? It throws you off a bit, doesn’t it? We like starts and finishes. We mark our life around beginnings and endings. At what point do we stop being amateur and call ourselves Professional?
Arriving at Professional
Most things we do for the first time isn’t well done. Sometimes we get lucky and become pro’s before we have the experience to to back up the title. I don’t remember my first unsupervised haircut, but I do remember wondering if the client knew it was my first day on the job. My colleagues reassured me that I was a professional and I was worth charging that much for my services. I was no pro! Are you kidding? I had been in school for the last 10 months learning the basics, and passed an exam. Big deal. The real life lessons would come later when I would be trying to pay rent and buy food. That would determine if I was a professional or not. It took 5 years.
It takes approximately 10000 hours of practicing to become a professional. That’s 5 years, working 40 hours a week slapping pucks into a net, kicking balls into nets, selling retail, or cutting hair to become confident to call yourself a professional. So, why do we call ourselves professionals before we arrive? It’s the power of our thoughts.
You will arrive to what your eyes are fixed on. My colleagues who convinced me I was a professional before I had arrived knew this secret. If you believe it, so will everyone else.
As Mary Kay would have said, “fake it until you make it,” so true for ourselves when we are starting something new that we aspire to become pro’s at. Many athletes envision the play or the race before they compete. They imagine different scenarios, and work through the obstacles that might occur. Athletes physically practice for hours, but they also think about their sport and formulate wins for hours more. Always with a gold metal around their necks as a finish.
It took 5 years to stop wondering if I was a good hairdresser. Five years before I was confident to shampoo colour off someone’s head without staining their clothes or hairline. Five years before I was confident to step out and become self-employed, and then it took five additional years to begin earning a good living. Nothing comes cheap! Investing in ourselves takes time, practice, and mind control.
It’s a big day when you hold the keys to your first house. You saved, sacrificed and before you know it you are packing boxes and painting walls. If I can make it happen, anyone can make it happen.
If there’s anything to learn it is to start practicing. Practice what you’re going to tell yourself everyday. The professionals call it words of affirmation. I call it truths that are sorting themselves out. You can be great at anything you do. Slow down and practice the outcome with a winning result. Formulate all possible obstacles that will slow you down and visualize how you’re going to overcome. Do you see yourself winning the gold title? The answer is always yes.
Back to the original question, what happens if you start something new on a Wednesday? It just means that you made a critical decision to not procrastinate. You decided it was your turn to win. Today is the day I start being more disciplined. It’s not going to be easy, it’s going to look really bad before it looks good. I’m going to start over every single day, because that’s what people like us do. We persevere until we arrive at our destination.
“Everything you can imagine is real.”– Pablo Picasso