When I was about sixteen years old my love affair with cars started more out of necessity than anything else.  With little money and in constant need of cheap car parts I spent a lot of time at the local salvage yard looking for used parts.

At the salvage yard there was a sign hanging above the door that read:

90% of Life is Showing Up

I am quite sure that sign was in reference to employees that did not show up for work. The business owner was trying to make a point.

That has always stuck in my head and I find it to be oh so true.   This past weekend was a perfect case in point.  I went to another West Coast Swing dance event and competed again in the newcomer category.  As it turns out, there were only 14 people that entered, seven leaders and seven followers, seven couples in all.

Normally there are preliminary heats and sometimes semi-finals but this time we all went straight to finals!  This in and of itself is quite exciting.  I can say I made finals!  Pretty funny I think as we all did. 

On top of that I just missed out on placing in the top three.  My partner and I finished in fourth place.

The moral of the story is sometimes we are rewarded for just showing up.  There certainly is no chance of winning if you are not in the game.  You can’t meet people by staying home.  You can’t find a new job if you don’t look. You guitar playing skill will never get better unless you practice.

Wayne Gretzky would say, “You miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take”.

Michael Jordan would say, “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” 

For sure failure is assured by not trying. I know for a fact that there is no way I will know how good I can become at West Coast Swing unless I am in the game. 

What is it that you have been thinking about trying and have not done yet?  Get in the game folks!  Sometimes life will reward you just for showing up.