“Eighty percent of success is showing up” is a quote attributed to Woody Allen. Although Mr. Allen may have been facetious with his delivery, in truth, being present is very meaningful.
Too often in recent times, individuals who miss work, classes, practices or tryouts have a very difficult time understanding why they didn’t receive the promotion, the good grade or the coveted spot on the team. Naturally from time to time, people don’t feel well.
We cannot avoid getting sick no matter what we do. There are people, however, who take a day, class or practice off because they’re not feeling up to it.
Clearly, there are days when we would all rather be doing other things. On those particular days, it does take a little extra to get up out of bed and to persevere with a little intestinal fortitude—showing up.
For successful people, this extra effort places them in a more advantageous position with their work, task at-hand, or school activity. This extra effort and commitment also contributes positively with the last 20 percent of the “success” equation. In fact, the difference between the winning or losing a race is measured in hundredths of a second.
Many individuals don’t understand how close they are to their goals and how that little difference—showing up—could enable them to get ahead of the pack.
