You have goals, dreams, and ambitions. Places to go, people to see. You’d give up everything for this dream, sacrifice it all just to reach your goal. You’ve got big plans and no one is going to get in your way.
Except you.
You’re getting in your own way. If you are anything like me, your biggest critic is you. Your biggest doubter is you. Your biggest hater is you. Why is that? Because you know yourself (and your flaws) better than anyone else. Maybe you think you’re a failure. Maybe you think you aren’t smart enough. Maybe you don’t have enough experience or enough money. Maybe you think it’s just flat out impossible…at least for someone like you.
Thoughts like that make it unlikely you’ll actually start pursuing your dreams. They make it almost guaranteed that you won’t persevere when things get tough – which they will. Thoughts like that can be the reason you never achieve your dreams.
There is no straight line or shortcut to success. There is no magic weight loss pill, no money tree, no relationship-repair-easy-button, and there is no such things as osmosis when learning a new skill. For the “overnight success” stories out there, they are either liars or lucky, so don’t buy that crap.
Goals, dreams, ambitions, the only path to success is paved with work. Period. The path will not be pretty and it will certainly not be a straight line. The path is going to be jagged with dangers around each corner, cliffs you could fall from, and enemies waiting to ambush.
Does the work sound hard or scary? It should.
The most important and meaningful change in your life takes the hardest and most intentional work. Full stop.
Losing 20 pounds is excruciatingly hard. Making $1,000,000 can take a lifetime. Starting a business requires everything you have. Repairing a broken relationship takes equal parts courage, patience, and faith.
Why am I telling you all of this?
Because all the self-help books, Instagram influencers, and hyper rich gurus out there display a very different message. Something like, follow my program and you will lose weight, buy my product and you will fix your marriage, attend my conference and you will be rich.
Here’s the reality: Those are lies.
Do you want to know the secret to success? You might want to get a pen and paper to write this down because it is truly groundbreaking. Are you sitting down? Here it is…the secret to success is:
SHOW UP.
That's it. You now have everything you need to be successful and accomplish your dreams. Underwhelmed? I get it.
When dreams are involved, so is time. Time is both our biggest ally and our greatest enemy. Most of us have a long way to go before we have truly achieved our dreams. The good news, that means we have plenty of time to show up and work towards it! The bad news, that means we have plenty of time to lose interest in showing up and lose interest in working towards it.
The key is to just keep showing up. Every day, no excuses. SHOW UP.
The greatest accomplishments in human history required regular people to show up on a regular basis. Incredible physical feats, world changing scientific discoveries, unbelievable engineering accomplishments, all the way down to an irreparable marriage being healed, the one common factor in all these equally impressive achievements is a consistent show up.
By the way, so we are all on the same page, "SHOW UP" is a noun, a verb, and a command. As I am writing this, my show up (noun) is strong. I am consistent and driven to show up (verb) every day. When my show up (noun) wanes, sometimes I just need a verbal slap in the face and some one to tell me, “Show Up!” (command).
One of the hardest things to watch is someone who earnestly wants something, has set a goal, created a game plan, talked about strategy to get there, whiteboarded ideas, bought a course, decided to start, annnnnd….quits after a week. Or maybe they start working on it once a week which dwindles to once a month before it disappears completely from their schedule. Or maybe they are afraid to make that call or ask for help so it never really gets started in the first place. In all these scenarios, this dream quickly becomes a distant memory, never to be seen or heard from again.
Dreams are achieved when no one is watching. Goals are accomplished in the space you didn’t realize was available in your day. This could be early mornings, after work, on lunch break, during kids’ naps, between meetings, on weekends. Dreams require that you make space for them and that you show up.
Elite athletes become elite because they show up every single day. Sleep, no sleep. Rain, shine. Good mood or bad. The very best to ever play show up when no one else will. Founders of massive companies show up. Weight loss success stories show up. Rapidly promoted employees show up. Straight A students show up. Spouses in successful marriages show up.
Dreams combined with show up change the world.
The dream to be a supportive, loving parent combined with the consistency to show up with patience and energy every day changes the world, not only for that child but for everyone that child interacts with, including you.
The dream to build a profitable company combined with the dedication to show up with focus and determination each day not only changes your bank account balance, but it changes the lives of anyone that uses your product and anyone that you are fortunate enough to employ.
The dream to get healthy and be a better version of yourself combined with the resolve to show up with intention and grit every day not only changes the number on the scale, but it creates inspiration for those around you and gives you a platform to encourage others.
Dreams are only realized when you show up. Showing up for your dreams changes you and changes the world. Show up takes sacrifice, commitment, and effort but IT IS WORTH IT. From selling widgets to finding your faith, to losing weight or healing a relationship, you never know the true impact of pursuing your dream until you show up. You cannot show up every once in a while...
Comments