Why Being Professional Is the Easiest Way to Success
It can be a real pleasure to watch a true professional in action. Someone who is so good at what they do, that you are filled with admiration and sometimes awe as you see them in action. It may be something physical like watching an Olympic gymnast perform on the rings or an artist create a perfect statue out of molten glass. Or it can be more cerebral like watching Robin Williams work a crowd and keep his audience laughing for 2 straight hours with entirely improvised material.
The reason we are so entranced by these people is because they show us what the pinnacle of ability and practice looks like and that it is an achievable goal. They are human beings who have decided that they are going to be the best at their discipline and have worked long and hard to achieve it.
Wayne Gretzky’s Opinion on Professionalism
When hockey great Wayne Gretzky has spoken about growing up playing hockey, one thing that he has stated is that as he climbed the ranks and turned professional that it actually became easier. This seems impossible, but he clarified that while the level of play became much harder, the level of professionalism increased proportionately. The players developed an immense amount of respect for each other, even if they were rivals and competitors.
Remember That Your Are Dealing with Human Beings
This is one important trait of the most professional people: while they are competitors and hard chargers, they also have an enormous amount of respect for their discipline and the people that pursue it. They realise that they are dealing with other human beings who have feelings, families they support and their own struggles and therefore deserve respect.
Even as hockey players battle it out during the game and physically punish their opponents, their level of respect never wanes, unless there is an unsportsmanlike play. In that case, all bets are off and that players loses the respect of the players and often is ostracized.
Rugby is Brutal and Sportsmanlike
One of the most physically punishing sports is rugby and during the game the players batter each other relentlessly. The interesting thing about this is that before the game starts, they come out of the same tunnel together and at the end of the game, they leave by the same tunnel together, the game behind them and their respect for each other higher than ever.
How to be Professional
When you decide that you are going to be a professional and hold yourself to a higher standard, it actually makes it easier to achieve your goals because you have decided that you will only accept that best from yourself. That does not mean you will not make mistakes or have failures. Every major success has had failures, so avoiding them is impossible and unhealthy. Learning from them and moving on while keeping our ultimate goal in mind is the professional approach.
If you continue to hold yourself to a higher standard, refuse to make excuses and maintain the highest level of respect for yourself, your discipline and the other professionals in your field, you will rise to the top of your field.