IRB Media Summary of Steven Pressfield's Turning Pro

Annotation

Get the Summary of Steven Pressfield's Turning Pro in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: Turning Pro is a nonfiction, motivational, and career development book for artists and creatives, written by Steven Pressfield. Turning Pro is a follow-up to his best-selling The War of Art. Pressfield is also an author of historical fiction and novels, including the highly successful The Legend of Bagger Vance: A Novel of Golf and the Game of Life, which was adapted into a Hollywood film directed by Robert Redford. Turning Pro is an analysis of, and guide to overcoming, the psychological obstacles we create for ourselves, particularly in regards to creative and entrepreneurial pursuits. In the foreword, editor Shawn Coyne synthesizes the ideas that Pressfield began articulating in The War of Art and continues expanding upon in Turning Pro. Coyne writes about the internal critic that prevents us from fully dedicating our self to what we perceive to be our calling. Whether that calling is art, business, or charity work, there are always blocks that we must break through in order to give 100% and realize our full potential. Pressfield calls these obstacles, and the myriad forms they take, The Resistance. Coyne relates that Pressfield originally used the phrase "turning pro" in The War of Art and describes it as the period when we shed our amateur tendencies and decide that we have paid our dues. The moment when we decide we will graduate to the next level and start presenting ourselves as professionals. This book, Coyne says, details the process that takes place during that period. It lays out a practical approach to becoming a pro, what changes must be made, what habits must be forgotten, and what new attitudes must be adopted.