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- The eternal amateurđ
As I am revisiting one of my favorites books of all time Show your work by Austin Kleon, Iâve come accross once again to this beautiful concept of The Amateur.
As Austin puts it:
An amateur is an enthusiast who pursues her work in the spirit of love, regardless of the potential for fame, money, or careerâŚAmateurs might lack formal training, but theyâre all lifelong learners, and they make a point of learning in the open, so that others can learn from their failures and successes.
And I love this concept because, as years go by, we start building a wall around us designed to âprotectâ us.
This wallâs purpose is to feed that frightened part of ourselves in order to make us believe we are something that we arenât really.
This wall is our ego, and as famous Stoicism writer Ryan Holiday says, Ego is the Enemy.
Ego is ultimately the growth killer because it decieves us into creating an image of ourselves placed so high above us that we don´t even consider lowering ourselves in front of thers.
How dare we be seen as amateurs after spending so much time on earth being a pro at something different.
And eventhough weâve gathered quite a big amount of knowledge throughout our temporary stay on earth, weâre still amateurs at 99,9% of the things out there.
Thatâs all any of us are: amateurs. We donât live long enough to be anything else.
So this is your wake up call.
To remember yourself that confidence is field specific, and as high as you may think about yourself, youâll always be an amateur for someone else in something.
Then, why not embrace the amateur spirit?
Embrace a spirit of not being afraid to fail.
Embrace the spirit of doing things out of passion and curiosity, not out of fame and glorification.
By seeing ourselves as amateurs we relieve ourselves from that weight on our shoulders called ego, allowing ourselves to be free of prejudice and return to this child-like sensation of not being afraid to try and be seen as miserable.
âOn the spectrum of creative work, the difference between the mediocre and the good is vast. Mediocrity is, however, still on the spectrum; you can move from mediocre to good in increments. The real gap is between doing nothing and doing something.â
So donât be afraid to be seen as an amateur, rather be afraid of denying yourself from such freedom.
đJournal prompts to write on:
When was the last time I stopped trying something because I was afraid of being seen as a novice?
When was the last time I allowed my ego to get in the way of me learning something?
When was the last time I enjoyed trying something new?