09 - Showing Up When No One is Watching

The absolute truth is that to fully complete your dream or goal, you are going to have to show up when no one is watching. You’ll need to show up when you don’t feel like it. When it seems what you’re doing doesn’t even matter and when you have no proof that any of your work will yield any of the results you want. 

Every. Single. Day. will present an opportunity for you to quit and give in to doubt. Every day though will also be an opportunity to build stamina, consistency, refine your attitude, and a litany of other great opportunities. 

When I think of my own dreams and goals, what always stands at the forefront in the beginning planning stages, is the end result I am going after. I have so much excitement when I envision the completion in my mind. But man is the finish line in many cases, such a small part of the process. The bulk of my work will be spent walking it out before I ever get to that final result. 

That being said, it is so important that I learn to enjoy aspects of the process along the way. It is what will keep me going to the end. If I’m relying solely on will power, it gets real hard real fast. 

Willpower runs out quickly, but enjoyment fuels endurance.

If I look at the process from a place of enjoyment, I am so much more likely to stay consistent. 

Don’t get me wrong, some things we do can just be miserable from start to finish. I’m not advocating for toxic positivity and not acknowledging when things are tough. What I am advocating for is being intentional with your mindset.

So much of what we do is seen by the masses after the years we spent growing roots down into the soil of what we’ve created. They see it blooming, but we know the years spent in anonymity and obscurity grinding away at “our thing” we’ve set out to do.

The world only sees the Olympic moment - the podium, the medal, the applause. What they don’t see are the countless unseen hours of training, sweat, and sacrifice that made it possible.

If you are in the phase of your dream or goal when no one is watching, keep showing up anyway. Your persistence matters even if it is only to yourself. What you prove and show yourself when you persistently show up is that you can do hard things. You can follow through on commitment. You can achieve what you set out to achieve. 

I believe we honor the Lord even in how we follow through on what begins as only a fleeting thought or idea. With persistence and trust, and His abiding grace, we take something small and breathe life into it through our daily showing up.

He is our portion when we feel we have nothing left to give. He is our ever present help in times of trouble when it starts to get really tough. He is our all in all through it all.

Keep showing up - it’s in those unseen days that the future you’re dreaming of is being built.