Just Show Up

The hardest part about being a Whitebelt is just showing up. Knowing you’ll get tapped over and over. Just show up. Knowing you’ll struggle to understand even the most “simple” of concepts. Just show up. Over and over and over it’ll feel like you’ve learned the same lesson one hundred times before it clicks.

All the same, just show up.

In our modern, one-life-hack-a-day-keeps-life’s-troubles-away society, we love to fall asleep at night dreaming about the latest hacks and tactics to optimize our life. In many ways we’ve fallen for the lie that somehow the top performers, the elite, the best of the best, all have some secret that separates them from everyone else. The hard truth, however, is the consistent work produces results. Why is this truth hard? Well because it dumps the responsibility for success and progress squarely back into your lap. You are the one who must show up when it’s tough, when it’s painful, when it requires you to muster every ounce of courage.

All the same, just show up.

You wanna be good at Jiu Jitsu? Go to class and roll. You wanna be good at business? Help someone until they’ll pay you. You wanna be good at managing relationships? Pay attention to that person. You wanna be good at manage money? Count every dollar you spend.

These aren’t complex principles. They’re so simple, it feels silly to write them. The problem is that we’ve been fed a lie: we need the right tactical approach to solve a problem. No, you don’t. Just show up. Do what you know to do, and do it consistently.

80% of the growth is consistency. I don’t have stats for this, but I think it falls under the classic Pareto principle (or 80/20 rule). In the hardest endeavors in your life, 80% of your progress will be simply due to showing up. The last 20% is a topic for another day, because it’s also the least important part.

If you have to worry about optimizing the last 20%, then you’re already a brown belt. This last 20% is the most complex piece, but in reality its easy because you’ve already done the hard work. You just showed up until it made sense to add a little but of complexity to your routine.

If you just show up you’ll be happier, healthier, more financially free, more humble, and most of all you’ll be free.

These statements don’t apply to you?

Just show up.