I’m going to be brutally honest right now: I don’t feel like writing a blog post. I feel like relaxing on the porch with a glass of wine and a few choice hors d’oeurves, and enjoying another lovely summer sunset. But I came across a webisode from Sean Wes today, and it has inspired me to work rather than relax. In Sean’s video, he suggests that if we want to be successful, we need to show up every day for two years.

“Those who are successful,” he says, “aren’t successful because of some condensed version of their story, but because they made a commitment to show up every single day, when it was hard, it sucked, and it looked like nothing would ever come of it.”

I have thought a lot about this today because, like most people, I want to be a success. And just like everyone else, there are days when I don’t feel like showing up. But if you look at the real successes of our time—the Steve Jobs LeBron James, Adele and Oprah Winfrey, many others, and whoever created that Pokemon Go game—you are going to see a list of people who showed up even when they didn’t feel like it. Yes, they all had inherent talents that helped them win games or perform beautifully or come up with billion-dollar ideas, but those talents would have gone to waste if they hadn’t been dedicated to achieving certain goals, and willing to do the hard work it takes to make it. That is the difference between someone with goals and someone who achieves them.

We all have talents, both natural and developed, that can take us to great heights and help us achieve the things that we dream of and aspire to. But without hard work and commitment—without showing up every day to further our goals—the chances of us being successful are very small. And that’s why my leisurely evening can wait 30 minutes—because I have goals, and I have work to do to reach them. And once I have, I’ll still find time to enjoy that glass of wine and sunset, only they will be that much sweeter knowing I have taken another step towards who I want to be and what I want to do with my life—knowing that I’ve shown up.

Blog photo is also a group of individuals that believe in “showing up”.  More about our project where putting our foot in is just the first start and Farley’s nice shoes 😉