Seth Godin Quotes

I know writers who write only when inspiration comes. How would Isaac Stern play if he played the violin only when he felt like it? He would be lousy.

A professional is someone who can do his best work when he doesn't feel like it.

My principal at RADA once told me, 'You'll know you're a professional when you don't feel like doing it but you have to do it.'

Amateurs wait for inspiration. The real pros get up and go to work.

I used to write when I was in the mood or felt inspired. Anymore, I write whether I feel inspired or not. It's a discipline. So that's definitely different. It's part of maturing as a person and as a professional.

I don't work with inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs. I just get to work.

If I waited to be inspired to go to the gym, I'd never get there. I schedule my exercise time; I schedule my work time. This is especially important if you have a day job as I did while writing my first seven novels.

The first rule of doing work that matters: Go to work on a regular basis.

A professional is a man who can do his job when he doesn't feel like it. An amateur is a man who can't do his job when he does feel like it.

Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself.

Being a professional is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don't feel like doing them.

What you do in practice is going to determine your level of success. I used to tell my players, 'You have to give 100 percent every day. Whatever you don't give, you can't make up for tomorrow. If you give only 75 percent today, you can't give 125 percent tomorrow to make up for it.'

Acting like an adult and being professional on set and getting my work done has just been a lifestyle for me. It's not something I have to try hard to do, necessarily.

Beyonce was just always full-out. She's like a beast. So you learn that no matter how you feel, just do it. Just like Nike: 'Just Do It.'

I don't mean this to sound cliche, but it's really about the work for me. I like to keep working on things.

I work hard and I party hard. When I go to work, I know what I am doing and I do it to the best of my abilities. When I party, I take exactly the same rule book with me.

I always treated writing as a profession, never as a hobby. If you don't believe in yourself, no one else will.

My job is my sport so I have to make sure that I stay focussed on it. I train almost every day so it takes up a lot of my life and you don't want to bring any new distractions into your life.

I haven't been out of work since the day I took my pants off.

Across professions, consistency is a direct product of work ethic.

What I respect in people more than anything is work ethic. And Justin Timberlake's got that. He works his tail off, and he knows his stuff.

When I'm working, I'm not so much disciplined as obsessive. I have this feeling that I need to clear everything away and get this down.

The only way I know how to deliver is to focus; some people can turn it on or off - I'd rather stay in character.

I have a strong work ethic.

I myself would like to become more disciplined within my work.