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I am feeling a bit ranty on this one. Taste the venom. Business has some problems, and this one gets me more cross than many.

Being professional.

Johnny Rotten said that the Sex Pistols always wanted to be amateurs, and I think he was really on to something.

Those people that want to be professional worry me. Professional isn’t real. It’s not concrete.

It’s purely an external perspective. It describes people who fit in and is craved by those who I believe lack a certain confidence to do anything that stands out.

To me professional means diligent, solid, meets company guidelines. It means they have done it before and can do it again. It means reliable, trustworthy, always delivers.

Boring! What it really means is folk who take their extraordinary Technicolor genius and do corporate monochrome so that they are accepted. Wow, now I’ve said it.

I want to be a screaming amateur. I want to not know the answers and have to search under interesting stones. I don’t want to know if it will work so I can experiment and learn from it.

I want to challenge what's going on, ask stupid questions and risk looking silly. I care more about creating an impact than what people think of me and therefore do not need to hide behind professional as my protection.

Never believe you know all the answers. When you do, you lose some of your sparkle. You are less fun, less shiny.

Amateur exposes us, it shows us to the world. It’s honest and says, “I have never been in this situation before in my life, I am going to busk it! Watch me dance!”

Come on folks, boogie! Strike out and be screaming amateurs too. That’s what we all are anyway. Learning, trying, growing, creating.

If we can be amateurs, more crazy stuff will happen, more creation will see the light of day, and our lives will become more extraordinary.

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