Just Show Up
One of my mentors, Craig Duswalt, preaches “Just show up!”
Today, I attended a Toastmasters meeting and the engaging storyteller, Margaret Mitchell, talked about the power of just showing up. She shared three stories from her life where the act of showing up led to success:
- She applied for a job at JC Penney and was hired the same day.
- Her daughter was too tired from running her three children around to several events in the morning and almost didn’t go to a local concert; but she went anyway and Stevie Wonder appeared unannounced and performed several songs; it was a day she will never forget.
- A reluctant Toastmaster, who was cajoled into representing her club at an area speech contest, showed up for the contest and won it by default (because none of the other two contestants showed up); that win, even by default, boosted her confidence and helped accelerate her development as a speaker.
When I was with the Raytheon Management Club and in charge of dinner meetings, we would have 20% no-shows. People who intended to go and then changed there minds at the last minute, missing out on the informative and inspiring speakers, as well as the networking opportunities.
I know several people who signed up for stand-up comedy classes where the graduation was to perform at a major venue for 5 minutes, like I did at the Hollywood Improv. After passing the class, they chose not to perform. I know the feeling. I was scared, but I chose to show up and experienced tremendous growth.
Let it be your habit to set an extremely high threshold for not showing up.
The great hockey player Wayne Gretzky says, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
Take your shots. Just show up.