They say 90% of success is just showing up. Which makes sense. It’s kind of hard to accomplish anything if you’re not physically there to do it. Like, maybe an item on your bucket list is to complete a marathon. Awesome! You put together a training regimen, a diet plan. You sign up for a local marathon and put it on the calendar. Six months until the big day. But I don’t care how much preparation you put into it, you’ll never cross that finish line if you’re not on the starting line to begin with.
When I was training in martial arts, there were times when the last thing I wanted to do was drag my butt to the dojang and get kicked in the head all day. But I had made a commitment, and the only way to fulfill it was to show up, every time, even when I didn’t want to. And you know what? 99% of the time, as soon as I walked through the doors, those feelings of doubt or fear or whatever was dragging me down that day disappeared. Just being there, suited up, seeing my fellow classmates out there on the floor, allowed me to tap into the inspiration I needed to follow through.
When you commit to something you are declaring your intention to fulfill on that commitment. No matter what it is. Meeting a deadline at work. Upleveling your romantic relationship. Running that marathon. There are always going to be challenges. There are going to be countless opportunities to not fulfill on what we committed to. Intention to do something is not enough. Following through on intention is what counts, and the first step toward following through is showing up. When we show up, we calibrate ourselves to align with intention and, in turn, with vision.
When we choose not to show up it’s usually because we’re inside an emotional state that is blocking us from attaining our higher states. Fear, insecurity, unworthiness. Especially when we’re trying new things or looking to make a change in our lives. The nervous system doesn’t like change. The nervous system equates change with danger, not because it actually is dangerous, but because anything other than the status quo is unknown. Something strange is afoot and the nervous system’s response to that is, Let’s bury our head in the sand and hope it goes away.
For years, Donna has been wanting to go back to school and get her MBA. And for years she’s found countless reasons to put it off just a little bit longer. She’s too busy at work to focus on school. It’ll be easier when the kids are grown. It’s expensive. The thing is, all of those things are true. But are they really deal breakers? Of course not. People much busier than Donna go back to school every day. The barriers that Donna is creating for herself are just the result of the nervous system offering up justifications for what’s really stopping her: fear. Fear of change, fear of not having what it takes, fear of the unknown, fear of becoming a new version of herself.
But what if Donna decided to just start showing up? What would that look like? For starters, maybe she starts out by taking just one class. And with today’s online education options, she could do the work from home, on her own time. No matter how busy she is at work, surely there’s an hour here and an hour there, on the weekends maybe. And speaking of work, what if Donna shows up by communicating with her boss what she wants to do? I can tell you (at least in this hypothetical scenario) that Donna’s boss will say, “Hey, that’s great!” and go on to tell her about the continuing education program her company offers to employees who want to go back to school. Donna’s never heard of such a thing and is blown away to learn that, not only will the company support her on her journey, they’ll even pay for part of it!
Donna isn’t lucky. She didn’t win the lottery or stumble across some hidden secret of success. She just decided to show up and see what happens. By doing that she becomes engaged and once you are engaged you create momentum, you see what’s possible, the fear based emotions fall away as the nervous system starts to recognize, “Hey, I guess this isn’t so scary after all.” But it all starts with taking that first step, throwing your hat in the ring, and just showing up.
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