The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

July 23Show Up, Show Up, Show Up

Genius is often only the power of making continuous efforts. The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it—so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it. How many a person has thrown up their hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience, would have achieved success. As the tide goes clear out—so it comes clear in.

Elbert Hubbard—Electrical Review (1895)

In words sometimes attributed to comedian and director Woody Allen, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”

Now, showing up consistently is an awfully easy thing to suggest. Just ask any overnight success icon, and they'll tell you that's precisely what they did. The part we miss, however, is that most overnight success stories take years to write.

We don't get to see the continuous effort, the patience, the wins and losses, the point at which they finally decide, “You know, this is going to work.”

If you're struggling with showing up, don't throw up your hands and discard what you've accomplished to date as a failure—look for the passion that drove you to start.

The thing it takes to get you to show up long enough to find your ultimate success is to discover and cling to that one little piece of something that you're most passionate about—the purest nugget of joy. Many times you can even restart or pivot your idea by clinging to the reason you started in the first place—that might be enough.

Entrepreneurs find that ...