Concept
The Amateur's Addictions
The amateur's addictions, in Steven Pressfield's Turning Pro, are the habits that fill the time and attention the real work needs, such as news, busyness, drama or the chase for approval, and that give a feeling of being alive without the risk of being judged.
Pressfield uses 'addiction' broadly. What makes a habit one in his sense is not its content but its function: it occupies the place where the real work would go. Unlike a passing distraction, which interrupts the work, an addiction replaces it with a rival routine that has its own rituals, rewards and company. That is why removing one habit rarely helps; the same hour simply fills with something else. Pressfield's diagnosis is that the amateur is afraid, and the addictions keep fear comfortable. His answer is to put the real work, at a fixed time, into the slot the addiction held. The idea needs one caution: rest, friends and free evenings are not addictions. The test is whether a habit reliably shows up in the hour set aside for the real work, and whether it leaves you relieved rather than refreshed.
A real-life example
A logistics planner in Trabzon who wants to write a history of the city's port finds that his two free evenings go to football forums and podcasts about the shipping trade. He moves the writing to nine o'clock, before he unlocks his phone, and keeps the forums for Sunday afternoon.
How to use it
- 1Log your free hours for a week and note what actually filled the time set aside for the real work.
- 2Judge a habit by what it does, not by what it is; a worthy habit can still be the one that takes the work's hour.
- 3Put the work first in its slot, before the phone or inbox opens, instead of fighting the habit by force.