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A PROFESSIONAL ACTS IN THE FACE OF FEAR, professional cant take it…
A PROFESSIONAL ACTS IN THE
FACE OF FEAR
The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He knows there is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist.
What Henry Fonda does, after puking into the toilet in his dressing room, is to clean up and march out onstage
He's still terrified but he forces himself forward in spite of his terror.
He knows that once he gets out into the
action, his fear will recede and he'll be okay.
underestimating Resistance's cunning,
permits the flu to keep him from his chapters
The professional has learned better. He respects Resistance. He knows if he caves in today, no matter how plausible the pretext, he'll be twice as likely to cave in tomorrow.
sional knows that Resistance is like a
telemarketer
professional cant take it serious
It takes tremendous strength of characte r to do this, becaus e our deepest instincts run counter to it.
This is how the tribe enforced obedience, by wielding the threat of expulsion
Fear of rejection isn't just psychological; it's
biological. It's in our cells.
Evolution has programmed us to feel rejection in our guts.
Fear of rejection isn't just psychological; it's
biological. It's in our cells
Resistance knows this and uses it against us. It uses fear of rejection to paralyze us and prevent us, if not from doing our work, then from exposing it to public evaluation.
I had a dear friend who had labored for years
on an excellent and deeply personal novel
The professional cannot take rejection personally because to do so reinforces Resistance. Editors are not the enemy; critics are not the enemy.
A professional schools herself to stand apart from he performance, even as she gives herself to it heart and soul.
A professional dedicates himself to mastering technique
He recognizes the contributions of those who have gone before him. He apprentices himself to them
The professional dedicates himself to mastering technique, not becaus e he believe s technique is a substitute for inspiration but because he wants to be in possession of the full arsenal of skills when inspiration does come
The professional is sly. He
knows that by toiling beside the front door of technique, he leaves room for genius to enter by the back.
Does not hesitate to ask for help
stands at one remove from her instrument—meaning her person, her body, her voice, her talent; the physical, mental, emotional, and psychological being she uses in her work
She does not identify with this instrument. It is simply what God gave her, what she has to work with. She assesses it coolly, impersonally, objectively
The professional identifies with her consciousness and her will, not with the matter that her consciousness and will manipulate to serve her art.
what they mean is not that the person is dense or numb, but that he has seated his professional consciousness in a place other than his personal ego
The professional self-validates.
The professional gives an ear to criticism, seeking to learn and grow.
But she never forgets that Resistance is using
criticism against her on a far more diabolical level.
Resistance enlists criticism to reinforce the fifth column of fear already at work inside the artist's head, seeking to break her will and crack her dedication
The professional does not fall for this. Her resolution, before all others, remains: No matter what, I will never let Resistance beat me.
A PROFESSIONAL
ENDURES ADVERSITY
The professional cannot let himself take humiliation personally. Humiliation, like rejection and criticism, is the external reflection of internal Resistance.
The professional endures adversity.
His core is bulletproof. Nothing can touch it unless he lets it.
A professional plays it as it lays
The professional conducts his business in the real world. Adversity, injustice, bad hops and rotten calls, even good breaks and lucky bounces all comprise the ground over which the campaign must be waged. The field is level, the professional understands, only in heaven.
The professional understands that Resistance is fertile and ingenious. It will throw stuff at him that he's never seen before.
The professional prepares mentally to absorb blows and to deliver them.
His aim is to take what the day gives him. He is prepared to be prudent and prepared to be reckless, to take a beating when he has to, and to go for the throat when he can.
He understands that the field alters every day. His goal is not victory (success will come by itself when it wants to) but to handle himself, his insides, as sturdily and steadily as he can