Walk back in time with me for a moment if you don’t mind. It was August of 2003 and I was working at WKRN in Nashville and I had just come up the Big Joe On The Go segments. For some odd reason, these segments really took off and we were having a lot of fun, going all over middle Tennessee seeing new things and meeting great people.
Soon after it began, the station began getting emails from one person who just hated me. Absolutely hated me. Hey, to each their own and it didn’t really bother me at first but it soon became that after every segment, this person would fire off an email to the bosses. For some odd reason, it started to really bug me and to this day, I still don’t know why.
One morning, I show Neil Orne all of these emails and Neil gave me one of the best pieces of advice I have ever received. He brings me over to his computer and says, “I get one here and there. I saved a couple of them. Here is what I do and what you should do. Keep showing up. Nothing makes a person angrier if you just keep showing up. Soon they will know they have lost and you win without saying a word. Just keep showing up.”
Solid. I took that advice and just kept showing up and guess what? The emails soon stopped and it wasn’t a problem anymore. (To this day, I am still trying to figure out why it got to me so much.)
It also applies to every day life when you want to accomplish any and everything. I go to an excellent gym in Hermitage and a guy I see there all the time has lost more than 60 pounds in about eight months. I asked him what his secret was and he simply said, “I just keep showing up every day.”
I loved that answer. I just keep showing up every day. So much can get accomplished when we keep showing up every day. The results will follow and all the time they will be positive.
Just keep showing up. It applies to so many different things as well, beyond losing weight or getting back at some bozo who emails you. I think about the old phrase, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Not sure exactly what that means, because I am too lazy to google, but I think it can apply to just keep showing up. Keep doing the work and the results will follow and that is by, yes, showing up.
In sports, same thing applies. Larry Bird supposedly would shoot upwards of one thousand free throws a day when playing. That requires you to keep showing up. Anything you want to be perfect at or attain, requires you to keep showing up. It is that simple if you want to succeed.
As I have written before, I truly believe that God has given us all the tools we need if we want to attain our goals, no matter what they are. I am sure most of you all have seen that video where the lady is talking to a crowd about chasing their dreams and says, “No one is coming to save you. No one is going to tell you to get off the couch. No one is going to say go for a walk. No one is going to tell you to put down that pizza. No one.” It is a powerful speech and says to all of us that the positive part is that you will get a great routine of showing up and getting it all accomplished.
I am here to tell you though, to just keep showing up. Whatever it is you want to attain, just keep showing up. Losing weight, keep showing up. Writing that book, keep showing up.
One of the best trainers around is Tye Fishler and he can be found at Competitive Edge & Fitness in Hermitage. We had this same exact talk not too long ago and said he tells his clients that very thing, the first step to success, the very first step, is to keep showing up. There are days, he tells them, you don’t want to go to the gym, or you have to do this or that, but those are all excuses so you might as well just keep showing up. Many of his clients have had some amazing transformations because they simply kept showing up.
Just three simple words you need to get you on your way. Keep. Showing. Up. The success rate is almost perfect and I will take those odds every single day. So where ever you are on your journey, you already know showing up can and will do for you.