Mark Manson

He has this great concept just called going pro, which what he does, you know, so he teaches a lot of aspiring writers and aspiring creatives.

And one of the things that he teaches them is he says that even if you're not professional, even if you're,

an aspiring screenwriter or novelist or whatever it is.

He said, treat yourself like a professional.

So go out, put an office in your house,

organize your desk, like create a filing system the same way you would if you were a professional.

Schedule time on your calendar to sit down and do your craft the same way a professional would do.

Basically like adopt all of the behaviors in the environment of a professional, even though you're not a professional.

Because his point is that by treating yourself as a professional, you will start behaving like a professional.

It will actually become easier to behave as a professional writer

than it is to not behave as a professional writer.

Because what he's noticed throughout his career is that so many aspiring writers, they see themselves as like, oh, well, I'm just this aspiring novelist, like nobody's read my stuff, nobody's gonna care.

And so they don't take it very seriously because they assume nobody else is gonna take it seriously.

And his point is like, just start taking it seriously, even though you haven't actually done the thing yet.

and then the behavior will follow.

I see willpower as like the tool of last resort, right?

It's like the break in case of emergency.

Like if it's your primary tool, you're done.

You're gonna fail.

But you're absolutely correct.