Persistence and determination: how to act more professional

For years I believed that statement that the reason that I’m not extremely rich and successful is because I don’t have any specific talent, that I’m not extremely smart and that I don’t have the proper education. But over time there’s this little truth that manifests itself, based on my experience and what I observe around me. 

Does the reason that I have over a decade in my current profession prove that I have some sort of talent that I’m born with, or does it show that I just ‘stuck it out’. I tend to lean more and more towards that second one. And this really is a sobering insight, because it’s one notch below approaching a profession as a craft that requires certain steps and procedures. This is much more primal, much more guttural, this is just toughing it out and sticking with something until you’re there (or you’re stuck, but that’s not what I want to get at here….). 

And if I look around me at folks of my age that have higher positions, or that have a bigger job that earns way more money, it’s more often than not that it seems to me that they aren’t that much smarter than me, but still they ended up in that different position. Based on that alone, you might reason like, maybe they’re better connected, maybe they have certain skills, maybe they have some insight in human nature that allowed them to position themselves as such. Or did they just board a train that ended up there?

It’s an interesting thought-experiment, it’s sobering, like I said, but it isn’t exactly ‘hopeful’. Just look at politics. A lot of the politicians that are in high places definitely have the people skills to manipulate themselves into high positions, but are they that bright, that talented and that smart? The only exception that I can think of right now would be Obama, I’m still a big fan, and a far second would be Verhofstadt, former prime minister of Belgium. 

Those two definitely have the ‘It’-factor, and when you look at the world of business there are a few other individuals that have that same factor, but as a percentage of the entire work-force, they are definite outliers. Most people are like the rest of us, or worse. 

If it’s all going downhill from here, then what?

This whole notion isn’t exactly encouraging, but it does one thing for sure: it levels the playing field. If most people are just like you and me, then it means that it shouldn’t be that hard to create an edge. 

If the statistics of streaming services are any measure, then it’s almost like most people spend hours on end spaced out, watching pulpy series with little or no depth. I mean, if that’s what you’re up against, then this era that we’re in right now is better than ever, because the other side is that YouTube is full of the best teachers on any subject, career, mentoring and whatnot. 

And if just a skill-set isn’t what you’re after, then you can even unroll in online universities. That’s not to say that this is the only way, but it’s just part of that whole notion that most people don’t do what you’re doing right now. Most people don’t read informed articles, most people don’t try to get a deeper understanding into what’s going on around us right now, most people are content with just to go on living. 

And if that is what works, then there’s nothing wrong with that. I lost years to exactly that mind-set, by going out on the town on most nights of the week, with making a lot of friends, with having a lot of fun basically. I don’t regret it one bit and I still have many fond memories of that time. 

And if you’re in that situation where life just rolls out like that, then you should definitely dive right in, because there will always be this ‘end-point’ where you either had enough and you realize that it’s time to move on, or it’s enough because you hit rock bottom. The thing is just that live isn’t just about making a career and making it big, but more than that it’s about human connection.

And this might be a side-note, but in my experience there are always these stretches where I tend to work really hard on something, and then I take my time to relax, and to get a reorientation as to what’s going on. But what I always try to do is to keep track of that which is important: the people that I care about the most, my family. 

How does all this make me into a professional?

Well, this one ain’t that hard, or at least, when you want to get there half-way: act as if you’re already there. In psychology there’s this well known principle, and I’m just going to call it the facial-feedback-principle: the way that you express your facial muscles actually influences how you feel. So if you look happy, at least some degree, you’re actually going to feel happy. 

By extension, the same principle might very well apply to more overt behavior, and that’s how acting can be a first step of creating a mind-set towards a new career. Obviously it takes much more, because if you’re just acting, it won’t take too long for people to figure out that you have no idea what you’re talking about. But if you combine this idea with actual knowledge, from YouTube or pursuing an online master, then you will definitely stand a fair chance of creating the best opportunity that you can possibly have.

The rest should be obvious by now, and at the risk of repeating myself, a professional always acts a certain way, and that means that the actions of a professional are always deliberate. 

In my current profession there might be times when things get to you, and you get emotionally involved. That’s why we had this saying in one of the schools that I worked for: if you’re emotionally involved, you can’t act professionally. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t act on ‘what feels right’ and all such things, because if anything, we need more of that, it’s just that when you’re too involved you can’t always make the best decision. And like all principles, it’s a loose guideline. 

In summary:

- to make it in a career, to a large extent, has to do with ‘toughing it out’.

- to a large degree, most people that hold a higher function than ours aren’t brighter or more talented, they just stuck it out in a different trajectory.

- if most people aren’t smarter than us, and they binge watch on series and movies at night, then it’s easier to get an edge.

- when life is fun, when you have the opportunity to go out a lot and to have a lot of fun, enjoy the ride, until it’s time to move on

- make family a priority

- act as if you’re already there, and combine this with acquiring the appropriate skill-set.

Continue reading:

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