The great comicbook writer Chuck Dixon recently dropped a magnificent quote.
It was about the difference between amateurs and professionals.
And that difference is:
“Amateurs do on accident, pros do on purpose.”
A very good distinction. It also dovetails with something I talk about at time inside Email Players – about the difference between a mere “content creator” and a Craftsman:
Content creators are a dime a dozen.
And the ones using AI are even cheaper.
But in both cases they create content as a means to an end. They may enjoy it, maybe. But everything they teach, talk about, create content about goes wide, and never deep. A Craftsman, on the other hand, has an undeniable — can’t be faked — “mad scientist”-like obsession with what they do/teach. They’re so irrational about excellence it almost makes people nervous to be around them.
They’re easy to spot these days since they’re so rare.
Takes Steve Jobs.
He wasn’t a computer guy, a software guy, or a tech guy.
He didn’t even know how to code.
(Which even Bill Gates mocked him for).
But he was a Craftsman, learned from his dad, who was a world class cabinet maker. Jobs was a notorious azzhole & narcissist. But I’d argue that was from being a Craftsman. He demanded such perfection “good enough” wasn’t even in his vocabulary. And while you’ll exhaust and sabotage yourself if you aren’t careful with this attitude (it helps to have a billion dollar budget & millions of customers, so blowing deadlines ain’t the end of the world like it is for those on a shoe string, for example — and probably even adds to the demand as people value what they wait for more than what comes fast…) it’s still the attitude to have with content creation.
If you’re writing, every word drips with depth.
If you’re making videos, every shift of body language has intensity.
If you’re doing audio, every inflection oozes passion.
Not on purpose, or as an act… but because you’re naturally so intense about your topic. That’s how you know you’re a Craftsman and not a mere content creator. The fact so many content creators need to motivate themselves, have “accountability partners”, need Facebook groups, seek constant validation from peers… shows how few content creators are truly Craftsmen at what they do/teach/create.
This is a small part of a much longer conversation.
And something I sometimes talk about in Email Players.
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Ben Settle