If Showing Up is Your Bar, You Need a New Bar

For the purpose of my article this week, I’m going to pick on something I’ve heard in Miami recently.

The truth is, the point I’m trying to convey applies equally to any city or group of people around the world.  It just so happens Miami set itself up to be the perfect target.

Let’s start with that old saying people toss around from time to time:  “Showing up is half the battle.”  Ring a bell?

In a number of recent newspaper articles, prominent Miamians have been quoted saying their success is due in large part to merely “showing up for meetings.”  In other words, the perception is so few people actually care that it’s possible to win deals for no other reason than you are at a given place at the time you said you’d be there.

How pathetic is that?

“Showing up” is not the metric we should be using to separate ourselves from mediocrity.

Navigating Our Competitive Landscape

Never before have we faced such a high degree of competition in business, academia, sports, and entertainment.  Someone, somewhere is always willing to work harder, faster, and for less money than you and I.  Not only is competition increasing as a result of more and more educated people in the workforce, but it is also looming in the form of technology — artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, etc.

Every day I get some clickbait headline from LinkedIn (no idea why, but it’s always LinkedIn) predicting which jobs are in the crosshairs for the next generation of robots.

If we’re merely showing up and punching buttons, we better make way for C-3PO the robot because he’s shuffling right on in to take our place.  It doesn’t require a neuroscience degree to figure out that the first jobs to go are those that require the least amount of higher-level reasoning.

The only way to navigate our competitive landscape is to find a high-level skill and be better at it than the rest.  And never stop getting better.

Shaping Your Mentality Outside of Work

Listen, I’m not just referring to our day jobs either…  If we show up to dates, organizations, meetings, family gatherings, church functions, sporting events, etc. with no concrete objective other than breathing and taking up space, what’s the point?  Don’t bother going.  It’s a waste of everyone’s time that way.

Perhaps at this point in the article, a reality check might be in order…

How often do you find yourself just “showing up” and not being fully present?  If your heart isn’t in it, don’t go.  But whenever you do, make the interaction as valuable as you possibly can.

Learn something.  Share ideas.  Consider another opinion.  Listen more intently.  Ask questions.  Take a stand.

Every interaction is an opportunity to grow as a human being.  We shouldn’t just show up.  Let’s set a new standard for the way we approach interactions.

See you next Sunday at 8:30pm.  🙂