Ideas are a dime a dozen and promises are easy to make, but what separates the dreamers from those who are actually making a difference is one thing. Their willingness to show up. If you come up with a great way to improve your workplace, but you do nothing to see it come to fruition, then your idea isn’t making a bit of difference. True, most ideas require the involvement of more than one person. A team effort isn’t something that happens by itself, it takes a commitment from multiple people. Whether it’s your job, a volunteer organization or a group of friends, if you do make the commitment to do something, either by following up on an idea to improve a process, create a new one, or even just to attend an event, if you don’t do it, it says a lot about you.

Certainly things happen and life can hamper the best of intentions, but if you’re constantly unreliable, it’s something that is going to be remembered about you and when opportunities stop coming your way, you’ll have no one to blame but yourself. I’m certainly guilty of not following through on things in the past and it’s something I’m continuing to work on, because, to quote the great Keanu Reeves, “one of the most important things in life is showing up,” and I want to be there when great things unfold.