(Excerpt from Keep Going by Austin Kleon)
Lots of people want to be the noun without doing the verb. They want the job title without the work.
Let go of the thing that you’re trying to be (the noun), and focus on the actual work you need to be doing (the verb). Doing the verb will take you someplace further and far more interesting.
… If you wait for someone to give you a job title before you do the work, you might never get to do the work at all. You can’t wait around for someone to call you an artist before you make art. You’ll never make it.
If and when you finally get to be the noun—when that coveted job title is bestowed upon you by others—don’t stop doing your verb.