I’ve seen several posts lately where the author encourages us to “Show up every day!” Similar refrains can be worded like, “No matter what your day looks like, get up, dress up and show up.”

And I’m no Woody Allen fan, but he got a lot of mileage out of his quote that, “80% of success is just showing up.”

My message today is something I wish I had better managed when I was a student.

That lesson is, “Don’t bring down your average. Even when you’re not at your best, show up.”

When I took tests or quizzes or turned in assignments, I usually scored quite well.  The problem was those days I wasn’t in class and earned a zero on a quiz, or when I neglected to turn in an assignment – again scoring a zero.

If weighted equally, 3 assignments with a score of 100 averaged with 2 I didn’t turn in (zero) gives me an average of 60%.  That was a failing grade at my school!

At work it’s about managing your commitments; you may not be able to meet them all but you can manage them.  If I commit to getting you something this week, but realize I can’t deliver as promised, I can work with you on a plan to accommodate your need.  A much more powerful move than ignoring or avoiding you.

There are two kinds of people in the workplace; those who do what they say they’re going to do when they say they will…and those that don’t.

I’ve heard people talk about someone’s “say:do ratio.”  If they say they’ll do 10 things, how many of them do they typically actually complete?

Don’t wreck your average.