What it Means to be a Professional.

Carla was right when she wrote in her post, “Professionalism for Sale,” “What is professionalism? Wouldn’t it be great if you could buy it in a book, find it on the Internet or take it in pill form?”

I know what it means to be a professional. I can define it, thanks to the help of Merriam-Webster Online. I can identify when someone is being ‘professional’ and yet I still find it silly to write on a to-do list: Be Professional.

A professional and professionalism are two abstract terms that are hard to measure. If you break the words down more concretely, being professional could be defined as dressing the part, arriving on time and accomplishing all your tasks. But, anyone can do these things. There has to be more to being a professional.

I came across Lee Cockerell’s blog post, “Professionalism – Why Is It Important?” and something he wrote really stuck with me. He says, “The day goes by much faster for professionals than it does for people who just consider what they do as an eight-hour job.”

Light bulb.

Maybe this where I’ve been going wrong. I come to work at 8:30 a.m. dressed in my chinos and collared shirt, ready to tackly my newest assignment, but by 9:00 a.m. I’m counting down the minutes until lunch. To me, my internship is where I spend my time – it’s not a learning experience, just time.

The whole mindset that Cockerell discusses is about loving what you do and being a professional because you choose to be one. It should come naturally from there.

So, tomorrow, instead of writing anything on my to-do list, I will come to work at 8:30 a.m. dressed in my chinos and collared shirt, ready to tackle my newest assignment with a different perspective for my internship. Not as the 8:30 - 5:30, M-F, but as an opportunity to nurture and develop the skills I will need later in life.

Tomorrow, I choose to be a professional.

-Aida