When people talk about “showing up” they are usually referring to simply getting their body to the destination. “All you have to do is show up.” But that is only part of the equation. I want to present it in a different way: as participation.

Certainly, showing up is about being present. You need to be there (wherever there is) in order to do what it is that you want to do. I want to crush hard projects, so I need to be on the wall working out moves. I have to physically be there.

But it’s also more than just sitting in my harness on the side of the cliff, or standing on the side of the wall socializing. That’s social climbing, and while it’s a good time, that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

For me, showing up is directly related to your level of participation. The effort you put into your projects matters. Showing up means trying your hardest every time.

I am going to throw in a Gattaca reference here (because I love that movie):

Ethan Hawk’s character was born a normal ordinary boy — a genetic crap shoot, just like all of us — in a society that is genetically engineering super people. His brother had all of the best traits from his mother and father combined in a lab to make him the perfect boy. He was supposed to be faster, smarter, and fitter in every way. In order to compete in a society of super humans, Ethan had to train and study harder than anyone — the dude showed up!

The brothers competed with one another by swimming out into open waters. As adults, they had a final show down. During the middle of the race, the super brother stopped, too tired to go on, and asked, “How have you done any of this?” (Meaning, how did you beat me?)

Ethan replied, “I never saved anything for the swim back.”

(For the record, I think this behavior is reckless, and will probably get you killed. It’s why there are so many deaths on the decent in mountaineering and rock climbing, because people view the end goal as reaching the summit, rather than viewing it as the halfway point that it is. The end is making it home safely and being able to play again tomorrow.)

Showing up is active, not passive. It’s about doing the work, getting your ass on the wall, working out moves, getting pitches in, building fitness and power. It’s about making a habit, a routine, so that the things that you want to do become the path of least resistance, so that you have no choice but to show up and do the work. It’s about giving all you have to give, each and every time you rope up.

We’re all guilty of phoning it in sometimes, of not doing the work, of waiting for someone else to come along and do it for us.

We wait for a sign, for the right moment, the right conditions.

But there really is no right moment, and conditions are what they are. You just have to show up and start doing.