Trust comes from showing up.
Your audience, your friends, your students – they won’t truly trust you until they know without question that you are going to keep showing up.
Build a streak of showing up – on the easy days, on the hard days. Show up for the successes and show up for the failures. Show up just to build trust.
In an episode of The West Wing, a main character advocating for tuition waivers for college graduates who spend two years teaching in tough schools, says:
“Once you’re in fifth grade what do you care what your fourth grade teacher is doing?”
There are a lot of reasons we should care as a society about building teachers to last. But an important reason for students is trust. You have to show up for longer than two years for some students to trust that you’re in it for them.
It’s not always easy to show up, but I intend to keep doing it. As a teacher, as a parent, as a spouse, and even right here on this daily blog.
What are you showing up for?
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