Doing something right once doesn’t make a person a professional; the hardest part of being a professional is not the performance of a single, difficult act, but rather the replication of it time and time again, day after day. And it’s the willingness to do a lot extra that makes the difference between an amateur and a professional. A hockey player like Sidney Crosby, who consistently stays out on the ice for extra practice; a singer like Anne Murray, who would still rehearse her hit songs before performances even though she’d sung them hundreds of times; the doctors, accountants, teachers, lawyers and architects who devote countless hours to keeping up to date on new developments; those are professionals.
Professionals practice the most.
Professionals do what’s expected, and then some.
Professionalism can’t be bequeathed; it’s a personal attribute acquired through knowledge, skill and dedication of purpose.
Professionals never have to fake it.
A professional comes back to work regardless of what happened the day before.
Professionals perform well even when they don’t feel like it; amateurs often have trouble performing well even when they do feel like it.
Professionals do their best when it matters most.
Professionals know they can’t win them all, but they know that they can learn from them all.
Attention to detail is a hallmark of professionalism.
To be a true professional your skills have to become instinctive.
Professionals make the difficult look easy.