How do you break out of the amateur ranks as a lover and earn your rightful place as a pro in the League of Leading Lovers, a reputed band of professional leaders consistently championing winners in both productivity and profitablity? Revise your definition of love, says John Vervake, a professor of cognitive science at the University of Toronto. Professor Vervaeke says:

Love is not a feeling. Love is not even an emotion. Love is an existential stance of commitment to binding your identity to the identity of something or someone else .

John Vervake, professor of psychology Toronto University

In binding your identity to something or someone else and making an “existential stance of commitment,” leaders shed their amateur status and turn pro. Then leaders turn the love they have for their work into a long-term commitment TO their work. They profess a commitment towards continuous improvement of that work rather than simply producing more of that work.

That’s why the professional hopefuls continue to challenge themselves with a persistence and grit striving toward their vision with a clear sense of mission. Professional hopefuls continue working on skills they have not mastered no matter how frustrating.

Meanwhile amateurs settle for showing off their previously acquired skills, according to Anders Ericsson, a performance psychologist. Amateur like the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction in their work. Professionals strive for a greater sense of progression in the journey rather than achieving the destination.

The distinction between love and commitment, between settling for the amateur ranks rather than turning pro is instructive when you note the word Amateur stems from the Latin “amatore” that means “lover” and the word professional comes from the Latin “profere,”which means “to promise.”

So as an amateur you LOVE Your Work but as a pro you make a Promise To Work at your love. As an amateur you have your heart in your work but as a pro you have your work in your heart. And more significantly, as a pro you don’t have to GO to work to BE at work. See previous post Professing Your Professional DECREE 24/7

To help you turn pro and turn your art of work — your love for what you do- into work of art — a masterpiece that inspires others as well and marks you as a bona fide leader — consider picking up a copy of LOVING Like a Leader, a Leadership Mints Series Book.

LOVING Like a Leader, With Empathy — the second book in the Leadership Mints Series -develops your emotional intelligence to better listen and relate to others with compassion, connection and conviction. Readers savor 77 Leadership Mints, bite-sized ideas that like a candy mint are quickly accessed and immediately refreshing your feeling for leading.

Get Your Copy of LOVING Like a Leader