Somewhere out there in cyberspace, a Zoom meeting is taking place with cameras off; its participants absorbed in mindless social media scrolling, messaging, or barking dogs. Maybe you’ve attended one of these virtual get-togethers. Maybe you showed up with your camera on, dressed to impress, lit perfectly and everyone else was phoning it in (literally). Maybe you interpreted that it was okay to turn off your camera and check Instagram. The descent down the slippery slope begins gradually for all of us in our work and personal lives, but it doesn’t have to be this way.
Two examples of “showing up halfway” hit me square in the eye this week. One of them was a team meeting inside my CI business, Livewire. I drop in on different virtual meetings weekly to get a sense of what’s going on inside the business. Each team, from installation to sales, has its own micro-culture. I saw a few examples where employees decided not to turn their cameras on, and it bugged me a little bit. Would they do that with a customer? I’m not perfect, but I try to show up to all our meetings dressed properly and emanating a positive countenance (even if I’m not feeling that way). Asking someone to turn on their camera or dress differently moving forward is not a big deal. The bigger deal is the underlying energy we all decide to bring to each and every interaction in our lives and the “why” behind the reason that person decided it was okay to not bring their A-game to work. Maybe that was their A-game.
Also by Henry Clifford: Measuring Hustle
Unlike other skills that are harder to train, fixing this part of someone’s game is very coachable. How we show up for our colleagues, family, and friends is entirely up to us. Here are a few places in the three-legged stool of life where we can choose to be active or passive:
Personal — When I work out first thing in the morning, I feel better and am able to show up better for those around me. When I take time for myself and break up routine work, I don’t show fatigue and appear fresh and engaged during conversations.
Professional — The guy who looks like a bum might have his own jet. My positivity or negativity is infectious. I owe it to my clients and colleagues to always bring my best when I show up. When I show up like I mean it, the energy put out into the world comes back 10x. When I phub my colleagues, I send a message to them that they’re less important than whatever’s on the other side of my phone’s touch screen.
Family — When I finish checking emails and voicemails before walking in the house, I’m more present for my wife and children. If I’m always on my phone and distracted, my family gets the idea that’s what we tolerate, and those behaviors are mimicked.
Make no mistake, how you show up is up to you. If we’re supposed to dress for the job we want as opposed to the one we have, why not treat showing up the same way? It’s the same time spent — it might require a bit more effort, but if you decide to show up like you mean it each and every time, before you know it, all the negativity will melt away and you’re racing in clean air, hardly able to believe the day went by so fast. There’s so much left to accomplish!
When are you going to start showing up like you mean it?
Stay frosty, and see you in the field.
