Tjitte's Reviews > Turning Pro

This book really struck a nerve with me. So much so, that I decided to write my first review on Goodreads. It's rated 4.15 on Goodreads and I guess that is not unrelated to the fact that we've created a world where the masses are looking for quick 'success' without truly having their personal philosophy of what success actually means.

**Summary of the three parts of his book**
It started off interesting, with this notion of a "shadow career." I think it's an adequate metaphor for the jobs and lives we have before we dedicate our time to our passions.

Next, the author defines the "amateur" or in other words, the people that have not yet become “professionals". He basically paints this picture of an absolute coward that has a constant need of approval of others and seems to be afraid of any risk or an exciting life.

Later in the book he defines what a Pro is in his worldview. Which is basically someone that managed to find his/her calling and is deliberate in how he/she spends his/her time.

**Review**
Where do I even start? I guess we’ll start with some specifics before tackling the fundamental problems with the author and his book.

It’s already been mentioned by others, but it’s worth mentioning again: the author shamelessly plugs in entire paragraphs from his previous books. And I don’t mean he’s quoting himself to add a new perspective on his previous statements. No. He’s just quoting entire pages of his already monetised words. Who does that?!

If you read the book carefully, you start noticing how paradoxical his arguments are. It’s insane. I’m not talking about minor details. No. The whole reason he wrote this book was to explain what a “pro” is. He even dedicates 40+ pages on its description, only to end up calling this alcoholic veteran without matching any of the qualities a “pro”.

It gets worse. He seems to have this childish worldview where everyone who isn’t at his level is basically a loser. If you are not dedicating your entire life to a single goal, you’re a coward and an amateur. At least you got to respect the fact that he is somewhat unbiased: he tells us about one of his friends that completely wastes her life [in his eyes] by being a passionate lover rather than someone that pursuit her talents (i.e. music). This might have been fine if it had been about people in a certain profession, but he seems to hold this worldview for everyone regardless of their job. He seems to disdain the people that decide to enjoy their lives rather than fixate on success. That’s pretty sad if you ask me.

Next, he starts introducing metaphors early on that turn out not to be metaphors at all. The first is where he introduces the word “artist” as a metaphor for a professional. But it later turns out that those are synonymous in his view. Then you have the metaphor “addiction” to mean anything we waste our time on. But based on the examples he gives, he seems to have more experience with actual subsistence abuse addictions. He somewhat jokingly makes the connection between artists and addictions, but when you read on you start to realise these aren’t metaphors at all. He’s just actually talking about his artistic friends that dealt with addictions who hit rock bottom and decided to kick it. Take Dave, the alcoholic veteran who is clearly still dealing with PTSD. Or Ms. X, who found herself in a motel room without knowing how she got there and decided to change her life.

Lastly, there is this “all-or-nothing” approach he mentions where he says he’d rather kill himself than quit. Later on he says it again. A few pages earlier he mentioned the words “zen” and “motorcycle maintenance”. He is clearly referencing ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”, an also overrated book written by a brilliant, yet schizophrenic, author. This makes you think back at the introduction where the author admits to living in a home for the otherwise insane while claiming he wasn’t actually insane himself. You start to tie it all together and realise the author actually rather kills himself than not be successful in his field.

It all feels like this book was written for Crypto-bros. Those losers that always felt like outsiders, not because they got picked on in school, but because they felt too smart for us mortals. They probably all believed they, too, ‘Turned Pro’ when they first invest their life savings in crypto.

Anyway, I’m not so sure if this author should be writing motivational / self-help books for people that are miserable about their current situation and want to change it. His writing style is pretty pleasant and there is absolutely nothing wrong with ambition, but this underlying do-or-die mindset is not healthy.