The event: Fine Arts and Academic Awards Night
The attendees: Students, staff, and families....and yours truly.
Many dozens of high school students were honored tonight for their achievements in band, choir, art, math league, knowledge bowl, drama, and probably a couple of other activities this past school year. Many names were called, not quite as many bodies arrived on stage to receive their letters or trophies or pins for their level of success. In fact, there were many, many names called tonight that were not in attendance. So as I watched students take the stage and wondered about their school mates who were not around to join them, I noticed a similarity between all of the students who did indeed come to the awards night: they showed up.
Now, before you spend too much time trying to find a way to politely tell me my observation took about as much thought as your average Hallmark TV special, hear me out. I understand it seems quite obvious that the people on stage showed up tonight; my point refers to a quote I was disappointed to find out is attributed to Woody Allen:
80% of success is just showing up.
I really thought that quote belonged to someone cool like Albert Einstein or Luke Skywalker, not some washed up movie maker who never made a movie I'd ever actually watch. Anyway, as I compared the kids who showed up tonight to the kids who did not, overwhelmingly the kids who made the effort to be at the awards event have enjoyed a higher level of success than those who were not in attendance. There are exceptions to every rule, of course, but for the most part the truly elite scholars, musicians, actors, and athletes answered the call of their names tonight. And while this was not at all an athletic event, I mention athletes because many of the recipients of the non-athletic awards also excel at athletics. Because, as I've mentioned, they show up there, too.
So here's the example that started this blog. The final name called on the night was for a senior male who is one of the finest athletes our school has ever had. All-time leading scorer in basketball. Will end his senior track season as the fastest, or one of the top five fastest, sprinters in the entire state in three different running events. He was receiving a single award tonight for an academic letter, which he has probably received prior to this year and which will (sadly) receive far less fanfare than his athletic accomplishments. His award category was the final one of the night, and as mentioned his name was the final name called. And he was there. Would have been very easy for him to blow off this awards program during a very busy time of year...but he was there. Just like he's always showed up for practices, always showed up for weight training, always showed up for off-season workouts. His habit of showing up has led him to an elite level of success, and it led him to our auditorium tonight.
Now, becoming elite by showing up requires more than just physically getting somewhere. One must arrive with focus and give maximum effort and be coachable and teachable and settle for nothing less than peak performance. But to do all those things one must first show up. And if a soul can't muster the strength to get somewhere in the first place, there's a good chance the rest of the ingredients for elite performance won't be present even if the soul sometimes is. Again there were exceptions I'm sure, but as I considered the list of kids who did not come tonight they, too, had a similarity - they were not the stand-outs, the top performers...the elites. Maybe genetics, environment, and economics don't have as much power over performance as they are given credit for.....maybe it's the ability to show up that makes most of the difference between success and mediocrity.
Show up. Success will be waiting for you.
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