Pros fail like amateurs, but with one difference

Both pros and amateurs meet failure time and again. The difference is in how they treat their effort and its outocme.

• The amateur wants to become fit. The pro start trying exercises.
• The amateur wants to write a novel. The pro starts a draft.
• The amateur wants to shoot a full length box-office movie. The pro creates a pilot.
• The amateur wants to create a full featured app. The pro releases an alpha version.
• The amateur wants to create a popular blog with millions of views. The pro writes a short article and shares it with the world.

In all these examples, both the amateur and the pro will fail. But the difference is in the approach. The amateur aims for a hit, the big achievement. On the other hand, the pro prototype. He starts with a simple version, and let it into to the world to see what happens. The pro knows that Things get accomplished by iteration. He knows that it's important to Balance your effort with enjoyment.

Amateur shoot for the stars, and pray hard they don't fail. Sometimes they don't even really start because Fear of failure often cause inaction. Since their aim is so high, they get stumped because Overthinking kills momentum.
For the pros, failure was always a possibility.
When amateur fail, they crash spectacularly. When pros fail, they collect data. They Plant seeds, not trees. They Act fast, then take the time to reflect. Contrary to amateurs who aim too big, they embrace Tinkering.

Reference

Pros and amateurs both fail, but here's the difference - David Kadavy