Are you a "Pro"?

It felt good to catch up with a dear friend after more than a decade. He was lost to London and I was to Mumbai and then to Pune. Additionally, I was lost in my career and consequently lost touch with many near and dear ones. With my recent change in priorities of life, I am gradually getting back in touch with the lost ones and it does feel quite good – to have meaningful conversations with people with whom you deeply share a context in your life gone by. So, when my friend called me, I was excited and we caught up for well over an hour. This post is not about all that I caught up with him but one particular point that we reflected on.

I ended up sharing a recently discovered super-power – being a "pro”. I don’t remember where I first got exposed to this rather understated super power – but it must have been podcasts involving either Shawn Coyne and/or Steven Pressfield. But upon further thought, this concept was there for the taking in our scriptures all along.

I am convinced that being a “pro” is a pre-requisite for achieving extraordinary success (however you define success). First let me introduce “pro” – yes, it is short for “professional” but meant in way that I previously did not necessarily associate with “professional”. A “pro” is someone who goes ahead and does things as soon as what is needed to be done is clear – independent of her/his mood, circumstances, ”inspired” state of mind, being in “flow” state etc. A pro shows up and gets done what needs to get done. A pro is reliable, consistent and delivers with quality.

I have closely observed a few amateur runners who have achieved extraordinary results (to set context, this set spans full marathoners whose PBs (Personal Bests) range anywhere from 3 hours to 4 hours 30 minutes). Without exception, their journeys started very ordinarily. It would have been hard, if not impossible, to guess that they would improve their performances by about an hour to hour and a half. Well it took them a few years but they improved their game extraordinarily. They turned out to be exceptions though. Thousands of others started their running journeys along with them but only a handful went on to extraordinary heights. Many others (some of them definitely more capable physiologically than these folks) did not rise in accordance with their “potential” – in some cases because they opted out of the race but for most others, something else was missing. They did not develop a “pro” mindset along the way. The one who succeeded enlisted right kind of guidance (took on coaches or help from mentors in the field, developed knowledge by investing quality research efforts) and followed through with executing the training plans (“what needed to get done”). As they were executing their plans, it did not matter to them that it was raining one training day or it was hot another day or the omni-present stray dogs kept chasing them every so often, or they had other responsibilities in life (careers, family, kids, spouses etc); they took care of their other responsibilities and still executed the required training. They did not give into feelings such as “I do not feel up to it today”, “I am just not in a mood today” etc. Unless in case of completely unavoidable circumstances, (life happens for everyone) like injuries, illness of self or family members, work and family emergencies etc, they would never miss a session. These “pro”s delivered on good days and bad days.

Few other examples of “pro” mindset:

• Even after working hard, late into the previous night tackling/fixing a production issue (software bug in production environment, an issue in assembly line of a factory, tight timeline for a very critical client presentation the next day etc), a pro would turn up to work at regular time the next morning and bring the required rigour to all her/his work activities. Remember a pro is reliable, consistent and quality conscious.
• A surgeon goes home after a long day conducting two surgeries but she/he unflinchingly goes back to the hospital at 2AM in the night to deal with an emergency. We actually have had one too many examples of “pro” attitude from medical fraternity (doctors, nurses, administrators, pharma research, development and production folks etc) through the COVID-19 emergencies
• Even in stock markets and money management business, you see a clear demarcation between “pro” and regular professionals

“Pro” attitude is available and applicable to all professions – not just for the brainy, high caliber professions but at all levels and kinds. A “pro” janitor, a “pro” security guard, a “pro” driver etc.

“The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.”―?Steven Pressfield

?In the long run, “pro” attitude significantly increases odds of success – whether it be career, wealth creation, community building, running or anything else; conversely, lack of “pro” attitude will inevitably leave one on the highway to “average” somewhere.

I have been bringing in “pro” attitude to many of my own pursuits of life for sometime now and results are encouraging. My running performance has improved and has also become predictable. For all practical purposes, I have written nothing until about 9 months ago but now I have been delivering a blog every week. Initially I struggled with developing any flow in my writing – my pen refused to move, so to speak. Now I have come a long way from there – now my biggest struggle is to find a topic to write on and I fully expect to overcome this also with “pro” attitude.

Go ahead and bring your “pro” attitude to whatever you do and unleash the “super” within you.