QuoteProject
Being a professional means doing your job on the days you don't want to do it
David Halberstam
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Being a professional involves commitment, especially when you don't feel like performing your duties.

This quote emphasizes the essence of professionalism, highlighting that true commitment is measured by the ability to fulfill one's responsibilities even during challenging times. It suggests that dedication to one’s work transcends personal preferences, as professionals are characterized by their reliability and perseverance, especially on less inspiring days.

Themes

ProfessionalismCommitmentDedicationResponsibilityWork Ethic

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a team meeting to inspire colleagues during tough projects.

More from David Halberstam

Fear was the terrible secret of the battlefield and could afflict the brave as well as the timid. Worse it was contagious, and could destroy a unit before a battle even began. Because of that, commanders were first and foremost in the fear suppression business.
David HalberstamRead
If youre a reporter, the easiest thing in the world is to get a story. The hardest thing is to verify. The old sins were about getting something wrong, that was a cardinal sin. The new sin is to be boring.
David HalberstamRead
Memory is often less about the truth than about what we want it to be.
David HalberstamRead
With the marketing pressures driving the book world today, it's much easier to get the author of a memoir on a television show than a serious novelist.
David HalberstamRead
If there is anything that is important to America, it is that you are not a prisoner of the past.
David HalberstamRead
Bart Giamatti did not grow up (as he had dreamed) to play second base for the Red Sox. He became a professor at Yale, and then, in time president of the National Baseball League. He never lost his love for the Boston Red Sox. It was as a Red Sox fan, he later realized that human beings are fallen, and that life is filled with disappointment. The path to comprehending Calvinism in modern America, he decided, begins at Fenway Park.
David HalberstamRead

Similar quotes

Take the word for it of a man who has made his way inch by inch, and does not believe that we'll wake up to find our work done because we've lain all night a-dreaming of it; anything worth doing is devilish hard to do!
Henry JamesRead
The big secret in life is there is no secret. Whatever your goal. You can get there if you're willing to work.
Oprah WinfreyRead
Skills are cheap. Passion is priceless.
Gary VaynerchukRead
It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference.
Tom BrokawRead
I have always said that after sport, I wanted a life, I wanted an opportunity, I wanted to be able to do something. And if something happens - the economy falls out or the dollar is worthless, anything could happen - you have to be ready to work. And I'm ready.
Venus WilliamsRead
I am a great admirer of other actors, but I never compete with other actors. I always compete with what I did last, and I'm my own most vicious critic. So I'm always trying to do it better.
Michael CaineRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by David Halberstam | QuoteProject