Show Up.
I have this high performance journal/planner. This specific one was created by Brendon Bruchard.
Anyway there’s a journal question asked every morning during the “Morning Mindset”
Who needs you on your A-game today?
This question is interesting because although the planner is about MY performance…the reality is that high performance is inextricably linked to how you show up for other people too.
And I’m curious to know how many of us go through life asking that question:
Who needs me at my best today?
And how that would change our interactions and our relationships if it were a question we truly cared about answering.
There is so much happening right now.
For example, on Monday I fly to Colorado Springs to spend six days at the Olympic Training Center making sure my body is ready to begin the intense training required to prepare for the 2020 Olympic Trials.
Then the following Sunday I fly to Tampa for the final divorce hearing we’ve been working hard to get to for over two years…
From there I go back to Europe to compete in one more meet…
And then I return back to the US for a bit to handle more time-sensitive business before making my way BACK to Europe for another engagement.
I found myself at times today OVERWHELMED.
Like the shut-down-type-of-overwhelmed between packing, and conference calls with attorneys, training, writing and reading, and planning.
The one thing that kept me going through it all was the idea that I had to keep showing up, if not for myself, for everyone else that I care about.
That mindset is quite literally how I was able to remain productive today.
That mindset is why I’ve committed to jumping off a new leg and why I competed at Nationals.
But that mindset is also how ANY person can produce high performances in other areas of life.
I remember the dreaded couch of couples’ therapy and how by that point it was easier for us to show up, go the extra mile, and be on our A-game for other people but not for each other.
That feeling of watching from afar someone else get the best of a person who should want to do and be that for you is an unsettling type of heartbreak.
A deep sort of disappointment.
The same can be said of a coach that doesn’t show up for you in the way you need them to anymore at training.
Or can be said of training partners that don’t bring a level of work ethic to the group that can elevate the training session.
Or coworkers or colleagues that coast on the job leaving you to carry the burden of completing the work.
Or an intimate partner that just doesn’t seem to try at all anymore.
Or maybe it’s you.
And like me, your plans and dreams have taken a little detour and you feel off your game.
Let me tell you this:
You have to keep showing up.
Like a basketball player whose shot isn’t falling…they have to keep shooting or there’s absolutely no chance they’ll get hot again.
And it’s so hard to keep showing up
especially when it feels like very few others in your life are doing so or even care to at the level you do
or if you feel bedraggled, exhausted, and like your efforts are unreciprocated
keep showing up
because you can’t win the Powerball if you never buy a ticket, if you never play.
You can’t be the recipient of the good you’re hoping for
The love you want
the performances you need
the life of your dreams
If you don’t even bother to show up.
And there will be times where showing up will take every ounce of all you have within you.
And there will be times, especially when or if you struggle with depression that showing up for anything at all is seemingly impossible.
That’s when you simply show up for yourself.
Exactly as you are.
And that effort is everything.
As effort is never wasted, even if it leads to disappointing results.
Because it will always make you stronger
more educated
and more experienced.
Keep making the effort.
Keep showing up.
Because what we all really need right now is for everyone to wake up in the morning and ask this question of themselves:
How can I show up for myself and others today?
We need each and every person to understand their intrinsic worth and value so much that they understand that to waste even one day away not showing up for themselves or others is to deprive the world of something only they can offer.
We need you to show up.
And the more you do, the more likely you are to be the beneficiary of “right place right time”
But most importantly, and perhaps selfishly
I want you to show up for me too.
So that I can see you.
Because the truth is I too need the encouragement.
And there’s nothing more encouraging and motivating than seeing the people I love,
care about
follow
engage with
showing up and busting their asses daily
to perform WHATEVER it is they do at a level we’d all recognize as high performance.
It could be that it was your turn to carpool a bunch of rowdy kids to school, and you planned a sing-a-long so epic that by the time you arrived to the school each kid was feeling Beyonce levels of fierce.
You showed up for them.
It could be that you’re a bartender and you pour drinks with a smile, inquisitive eyes, and a listening ear so that your patron feels seen and heard, maybe for the first time that day.
You showed up for them.
It could be that you’ve never worked out a day in your life or hadn’t for the last five years but for whatever reason you tried my 4 minute core workout today and drank more water.
You showed up for yourself.
It could be that even though you felt like crap you got on Twitter and shared something that moved and inspired you, you shared something positive even though you really wanted to talk shit.
You showed up for us,
I recognize high performance in all of its forms.
And I, like most humans, am inspired, moved, and encouraged when I witness it.
And all of us can use more of that.
Right?
Show up.