Just. Show. Up.

Ever had one of those days where you just don’t want to go to the gym? Just don’t want to work on that project at work you know you need to? Just don’t want to spend time with your family because you are tired from everything else going on? Maybe today is that day for you. Maybe RIGHT NOW there is something like that looming over your head.

We’ve all been there.

We’ve all had those days.

We’ve all wanted to hide, to escape, to be absent (or absent minded.)

It is in these moments that we need to do the most SIMPLE yet most POWERFUL thing that we can do:

Just. Show. Up.

Just go to the gym.

Just get started on the project.

Just start spending time with your family.

As people we want to GROW and do NEW things. We want to enrich our lives with a lifestyle change, or a new habit, or a new workout routine. We get excited about doing something new and after a few days or weeks (or hours) it isn’t so fun anymore. Then we are met with what Seth Godin calls, “The resistance.”

Essentially, “the resistance” is you and I’s discomfort, fears, and assumptions about our new endeavor. It is the thing that tells us that whatever new thing we are doing is not worth it; we can’t do it; and something terrible is going to happen because of it.

Seth Godin says that is when you and I DOUBLE DOWN on what we are doing.

That is when we PUSH HARDER because we know we are on the right track.

That is when we SHOW UP.

We don’t have to do anything earth shattering. We don’t have to do anything life changing. We just need to be CONSISTENT. It is MUCH EASIER to quit. MUCH EASIER to escape. MUCH EASIER to succumb to the way we have always done it. To “the resistance.” The problem is that when we GIVE IN; when we GIVE UP; we MISS OUT.

Miss out on a NEW HABIT.

Miss out on a NEW ADVENTURE.

Miss out on a NEW FUTURE.

All because we didn’t SHOW UP.

I don’t know where you need to SHOW UP. I don’t know where “the resistance” is pushing back the HARDEST. All I know is that on the OTHER SIDE of that struggle is something BETTER. Everything we want to achieve is on the OTHER SIDE of that struggle.

We just have to SHOW UP.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” -Galatians 6:4

Suggest Reading:

Chasing Excellence by Ben Bergeron

Linchpin by Seth Godin