Just show up. Every chance, every moment, just… show… up.
Over the course of the last 10 years every few months a young, ambitious person who is interested in a career in sport leadership asks me for career advice. I enjoy these meetings as the passion radiates off of them. But recently I have been left to wonder if these young men and women are too focused on where they hope to land, versus how they show up every day.
My mentor in life and sport is a gentleman named Wayne Thomas. Wayne spent his career coaching and guiding young people in the Calgary public school system. We talk regularly about many things and I asked him a few years ago about keys to success for young folk. He did not hesitate, “It isn’t complicated, Just Show Up.”
Far too often, we get ahead of ourselves and don’t value the opportunity we have right in front of us. This is what I witness, to a degree, with young people. Too much focus on how to get “there” and not enough on being great in the moment, even if it doesn’t feel connected to your career ambitions.
Some of Wayne’s key messages are:
- Be known for your reliability. “Be there” … early … ready … eager … prepared.
- ‘Clear the decks’ for the things that are important
- ‘Dogged – persistence’ is underrated
- A concentrated effort assumes an automatic ‘count me in’ approach to anything team related
Great advice for anyone, regardless of your stage in life.
There is no doubt that being strategic about your career development is important. The right degree. The right certification. The right companies. The right leaders.
But the reality is that you just never know when the transformational opportunity will present itself. It could be a volunteer experience where someone notices your work ethic and skills (because you “showed up”!) and thinks that you might be a great fit for another opportunity.
The year after finishing grad school I worked for NordicTrack, commuting from Boston to Cape Cod to sell machines at a mall kiosk. It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but it was paying the bills and I was benefiting from learning about sales. To stay connected to college work, I took on a part-time role teaching first year anatomy at a local community college. In both instances, I showed up and did the very best I could.
Without the college teaching experience I would not have been offered my first coaching role at Mount Royal College (where I stayed for seven years). It was, I learned later on, what separated me from the other applicants. When I took on the teaching role at the community college I had no idea how many doors it would open for me, as I do not believe that I would have landed at Mount Royal in that instance and this would have significantly changed the path of my career.
I am not sure any mentor would have suggested I get a job at NordicTrack and a small American community college in order to advance my career. I can remember asking Wayne for some advice when I was about 21. There was a local coach I wanted to work with but I had “expectations” if I was to coach with him. I still remember Wayne telling me to get my act together, show up and learn. Great advice!
There is no doubt that we all have our stories about how one opportunity leads to another. Key to this is making a statement about who you are and what you value with every given opportunity – that is why those that “Just Show Up” will, in the end, get ahead of those that strategically pick their moments to be great.
Do it – Just Show up!
