3 Ways To Turn Pro

Hi readers and GRBloggers!  I have been on a writing hiatus but I am back (and happy about it!)  Hope all is well and you all have some stellar goals, funny stories, and new personal and professional accomplishments under your belt.  Hopefully my upcoming posts can inspire you to keep doing so.  And to you new readers, check out my old posts so you can stop thinking “who the hell is this chick?”

And without further ado ….

3 WAYS TO TURN PRO

So!  One of the things I’ve been chest deep in over the past 7 months has been working with Dallas Travers, my creative career coach.  If you haven’t heard about her, check her out.  Follow her blog and when she’s in town for a free seminar, I’ll be sure to give you the heads up.

What we’re working on for 2013 is truly turning pro.  I’ve come up with the following three bullet points of ways to do so.  And, as with everything else, it all starts with your mindset.

1. THE DO’S

Create your personal proclamation about what Turning Pro means to you.  Make it poetic and mumbo jumbo-y and gibber gabbery if you’d like.  We are artists after all (however, please refrain from teen angst.  That dream died when you received your high school diploma).

This is what I came up with:

“A professional acts today.  She leaps and does not wait because she knows that a life worth living does not happen tomorrow; it lives in today.  A professional wakes up the abundance of opportunities that exist around her, feeding them with her integration of skills and complete acceptance of herself.  A professional does not deny the truth about herself, including her fears, BUT the difference between a professional and amateur is that the professional laughs with her fears, embracing them for the excitement they will inevitably become.  A professional runs into each day with full force, drinking it up and giving everything away so that it may come back to her in the beautiful shapely energy that is her life, at its most brilliant potential.”

Ok, you can wake up now. *slaps ruler on your desk, centimeters from your head*

photo credit

Now that you have your personal proclamation, tape it up somewhere so you see it each morning.  Make copies of it and post it in different places as a reminder and READ IT EVERY DAY (sometimes I do funny voices , interpretive dances– the call is yours).

2. THE DONT’S

Kick the little habits that hold you back.  Start with one.  Mine (like Dallas’ was once) is hitting the snooze button.  I want to start my day off right and procrastination is no way to accomplish that.  So, what I do is, I think of three people whom I admire and aspire to be like.  They are:

• Joel Runyon
• Ellen DeGeneres
• Tracee Chimo

And when I feel that little urge to hit that wonderful – no terrible, self sabotaging little word so beautifully lit on the interface of my Samsung Galaxy Android, I remind myself:

“Joel Runyon does not hit the snooze button!  Ellen Degeneres does not hit the snooze button! Tracee Chimo does NOT hit the snooze button!”

Five seconds later, I’m up 🙂  And guess what?  “Katelyn Collins does not hit the snooze button either!” #Win. #ImAGreatist

photo credit

3. LIVE THE WAY YOU PLAN TO ULTIMATELY LIVE … NOW

What this pretty much means is, don’t wait until you’ve booked that six figure commercial or Broadway gig or Oscar nominated film to LIVE like you’ve booked that six figure commercial or Broadway gig or Oscar nominated film.  You are no more professional then, than you are now.  So live that way now and you will make room for that to happen in your life.  I don’t mean hire a personal chef or book weekly vacations to Madrid…

(idk .. Madrid was the first thing that popped in my head.  I don’t know why.  I wouldn’t even pick that.  Whatever.  Anyways….)

…. weekly vacations to Madrid.  But what I do mean is imagine that person you intend to be, having accomplished what you intend to accomplish.

• Does he/she speak highly (but humbly) of herself?
• Do they commit to their appointments?
• Do they schedule out their days?
• Do they go to the gym and take care of themselves?
• Do they take time to give attention to their personal lives?
• Do they consider themselves a professional within their industry?

photo credit

So be who you want to be now.  Don’t wait.  The results may be shocking.

Ok!  Post your Turning Pro Proclamations below!  Woot woot, let’s do this!

Onwards and Upwards,