Now, today’s topic, Just Show Up, applies to all of your Five to Thrive. I was listening to an interview by Bo Eason; now, he’s a former NFL football player, renowned actor, and playwright. Bo was talking about how he was never the most athletic person, he was never the best of the best. And we’re talking about NFL athletes, you’re talking about the greatest, right? And he played with people like Jerry Rice for example, and Joe Montana. But Bo is saying is, one thing that he always is, he showed up. Not only did he show up, but he always showed up early. He was one of the first guys in the locker room, or so he thought, and I’ll tell you about that in a second. He was also the last to leave.
Now, you’ve heard this before, but Bo drives this point home in what he defines as his rules of success, and he passes this on to his kids. He tells his kids, “Look, you’ve just got to show up, no matter what you want to do. Do you want to play the violin? You show up early, you practice longer, and you stay later. You show up each and every time. What, you’re not the best on your basketball team? Show up. Show up every day, consistently. The coaches will notice, they’ll take more interest in you, and they’ll actually give you more time, more energy.”
And this is the same with school and teachers, right? When you show up to class, if you’re a college student, and if you’re past college or high school you know this to be true. You have a personal connection with that teacher, and they’re going to say, “You know what? Doug showed up before class, Doug showed up to the team meetings, Doug showed up to office hours. So if he’s wavering between an 87, 88, maybe I’ll just give him that A.” That happens a lot.
Just showing up also reinforces what you want to do. I show up for these each and every day, for these Daily Growth Hacks. I show up to give of myself, and hopefully, I’m getting a little better, I’m definitely getting more comfortable. It’s just a matter of showing up and showing up consistently.
Now, Bo talks about him showing up, and this is a story that was recounted to me. My college soccer coach was an NFL lineman, and he told the same story that Bo tells. So, what Bo says is, what happened every time Jerry Rice is playing football, or even at practice I should say, at the warmups, he does a play and then he keeps running to the end zone. Bo’s seen him do this time and time again. Most players, they run a route, catch the ball and they drop it or toss it back, and walk back gingerly. But not Jerry Rice. Jerry Rice catches the ball whether he’s at the 10, the 40, wherever he is on the football field, he runs that play all the way to the end zone. When Bo asked Jerry a question, “Why do you do this?” Jerry said, “Bo when these hands catch a football, they end up in the end zone.”
My soccer coach relayed this story to me back when I was playing soccer, and to our whole team. He said Jerry Rice was the hardest working football player he’s ever met. In fact, when he would run routes oftentimes in practice, he’d run that same route twice. He’d run the route, catch the ball, and then rerun the route again. Again, as everybody else walked back slowly. Jerry would say, “Look, I’m probably not naturally the most athletic. I’m probably not the person that everybody would have picked to be a superstar, but I show up each and every time. I not only show up, but I push the limits. I do that little extra, that and then some. Or that 1% extra difference. That really makes the change in all of our lives.”
Where are you showing up? Where are you not showing up? Both are very important to know. Where are your Five to Thrive, you just need to show up. You just need to check into the gym. I used to say this to my fitness clients, where I would train them remotely. “Look, all I want you to do is six days this week, check into your gym. I don’t care if you work out. Check-in, turn around and leave if you want to. Doesn’t matter to me.” You know why? Because I know if you go and you check into the gym, odds are you’re going to work out. Odds are you’re going to put in some effort. Odds are you’re going to get benefits. Because you’ve already done the hard part. You showed up. Showing up is 90% of the game. You’ve just got to show up.
I use the same with my coaching clients. You have to show up for the calls or I drop them as clients. I don’t care what they’re paying or what their rules are. You have to show up and you have to show up for yourself. If you’re not showing up for yourself, you can’t be the author of your own story. This is really important. Many of us show up for one or two, maybe three categories of our Five to Thrive often. These are the things we show up for, the things we are interested in. They’re the things that we’re good at. What’s more important is that you show up for the things that you’re not good at. You show up for those little things that you don’t really enjoy.
When you start showing up for them, whether it be with your body, or with your mind, if you don’t like reading, you just start reading every day. I know one of you listening to this regularly does this. You show up every day because you know it’s going to change. You know that maybe five, six months from now, you’re going to love reading. Maybe it’s hard for you now. Maybe it takes a long time and you get tired, but every day it gets a little bit easier because you’re showing up and you’re showing up regularly. What I want you to do is grab your journals, write out your Five to Thrive, and write up which areas are you not showing up and where in particular are you not showing up fully. Are you not really putting out? Be honest with yourself. Why aren’t you showing up?
Next, to that, I want to know what can you do to show up? I’ll use the gym again. In the gym, you just have to show up, check in and leave. Make it as simple as that for yourself. Maybe I’m just going to strap on my running shoes at 5:00 in the morning, and I’m going to go outside and jog around my block. If I decide to go further, great if I don’t that’s fine too. I can always come home. Maybe that’s showing up for you. Maybe in your mind, you’re like someone who writes into me regularly and tells me about what they’re doing. They’re reading 20 minutes every day. They hated reading before. They wrote it, I think it was probably two, three months ago, and at this time I’ve seen an email from them two weeks ago, and they’re actually enjoying it. They’re finishing books and it’s driving them forward.
Where in your relationships are you not showing up? Not showing up for your spouse, your significant other. Maybe it’s coworkers or friends. What can you do right now to show up for them? What about your business? Wow. Where are you not showing up in your business? Oftentimes we like one thing. Maybe we love sales, but hate the admin or love the admin and hate the sales. Where are you not showing up? Are you showing up as an effective leader? Where is it for you?
In your soul. Where are you not showing up? Are you not going to your religious ceremonies, are you not meditating? What are you now showing up as? What I want you to do is take action. Every time you have an insight, whatever that insight might be, at that site of the insight, is the time to take action. Maybe it’s a small thing, maybe it’s setting an alarm on your clock. Maybe it’s calling a friend. Maybe it’s something really small. Maybe it’s just driving to your gym right now. Just checking in and walking away and saying, “Look, dad, this was too easy.” I bet you’ll show up in a bigger way each and every time.
Also what I want you to do is build your tribe. I can’t tell you how important this is. I know I tell you every single day, but I’m going to keep on hounding you until you start doing it more often. Share this with three other people and start conversations that matter. Start conversations that are going to fill you up and carry you to a bigger level. Share this with your children. Share this with your loved ones, share this with your coworkers, share this with your friends. It’s just a great way of having communication and energy at such a higher level. It’s going to lift you up. It’s also going to lift them up in ways that you don’t even see now.
Also go over to authorofyourownstory.com if you haven’t already and get the newsletter. Get on the newsletter right now so you can have increased value delivered to your email inbox on a regular basis. We don’t spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time. I guarantee you’re going to get value from these emails. If not, you can write me in and yell at me and that’s fine too. But you definitely do that. And of course, last but not least, make sure you’re going out and you’re being the author of your own story. There’s nothing more important than that. Have a great day.
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