The Art of Showing Up
When you show up and do the work, improvement comes with time. Show up. Do the work. And have the patience to know that expertise comes slowly.
Hi, I’m Grant. Thanks for reading Grant’s Stack! Each week I tackle attempt to explore a new concept related productivity, continuous improvement, sales, entrepreneurship, and creativity.
If you’re not a subscriber, here’s what you missed:
Subscribe to get access to these posts, and every post.
When the creative juices aren’t sparking like they used to, I use the firestarter of writing; the information on my mind at the time I sit down to write. Today, I’m thinking about not writing, because the juices in my brain just aren’t flowing the way they should.
The only thing worse than writing something shitty would be to write nothing at all. Like many things I’ve deliberately tried to get better at in my life, writing is the same. When you show up and do the work, improvement comes with time.1
Take just about any area of life:
Relationships: When you show up every day and put in the work to get better and improve your marriage. Exactly what that means depends. It could be taking your wife on more dates. And being more helpful around the house. The main point is if you show up, and put in the work things will improve with time.
Faith: Maybe prayer isn’t coming as easy as it used to. It’s harder to get into a deeply spiritual state. If you show up, and put in the work to improve your spiritual life, it will improve. Perhaps you will experience a period of spiritual dryness. That’s OK. Keep showing up to pray and your spiritual life will improve.
Physical Fitness: You may experience injuries, setbacks, and ruts in your physical health. Keep showing up to the gym. Eat that plate of spinach like a rabbit. Keep training like Rocky Balboa.
Mental Health: Your mental health might ebb and flow too. Life is dynamic, so even if you’re in a great place with your mental health today, something might happen tomorrow that throws you off course. And vice versa.
Work: Work can be hard because it’s so easy to compare to what others are doing, or how others are doing. Reality is, work is just a way to bring glory to God by using our talents He’s given us for the betterment of others. If we give it our best effort, what is there to worry, or compare yourself to?
Wealth: Wealth can be similarly easy to compare to how others are doing. Comparison is the thief of all joy. If you spend less than you earn, and invest the rest, wealth will come with time.
The average age of a millionaire in America is 57 years old.2
The average age of a successful founder is 45 years old.3
You should still build things—but just because you’re not a massive successful success means it’s not your time yet.
Writing: Which brings me back to writing. Like everything else in life, if my goal is to become better at writing, I need to show up: sit down at my desk every morning. Do the work: bang out 250 words on my computer. And have the patience to know that improvement comes with time.
What are you looking to improve upon?
If you’re found this post valuable, share it with a friend, and consider subscribing if you haven’t already.
Peace out,
Grant ✌️
https://njaes.rutgers.edu/sshw/message/message.php?p=Finance&m=133#:~:text=The%20average%20age%20of%20millionaires,Danko%2C%20Ph.
https://mitsloan.mit.edu/shared/ods/documents?PublicationDocumentID=6212