By Roman Lapacz

“80% of success is showing up”

Woody Allen said that.

I always thought of him as one of the greatest creative of this century, a true genius who managed to change the rules of cinema and comedy simply by staying true to himself. His style is unique, inimitable, and even if you don’t like it, no one can argue that his work is filled with talent.
And that makes me really jealous.
I would love to be a genius, one of those incredible person blessed with naturals skills that makes everything easy for them.
Some can sing, some can dance, some can open canned food…
I don’t have any of those abylities. I’m not special, I know that.
Talent, intelligence, charisme, all those traits are things you can’t control. You either have it or you don’t, but their is one habit everyone can practice that can make all the difference : Spoting and taking opportunitys.
It’s not always easy, but it’s a choice you can make everyday, that nobody can take away from you and that will help you achieve many things.

Actually it’s indispensable. Maybe you can play Stairway’s to Heaven solo with your toungue, while making macarons with two fingers because your other hand is busy drawing a new Sistine Chapel. But if you keep doing it in your room, where nobody can see you, you will never get anywhere.
Peoples needs to know who you are, and you need to create relationships with the ones who can help you get better and with whom you want to build your future with.

And I think applying this lesson actually got me in the SCA.
As a Sup de Pub student, I had the chance of spending times in this fantastic place, and I made the choice of going as much as possible. So when Marc gave the opportunity to some of us to become full time students, I had better chances than my comrades, not because I was better than them in any way, but because I  showed up more than what I was expected to, and peoples knew who I was.
But that was the easy part, because I enjoyed it and I didn’t have to force my self into it.
Sometimes, you have to decide between taking a trip in the unknown, making an effort to get somewhere you don’t want to go, doing something that you think won’t really make a difference.
And it would be so much easier to stay in your comfort zone, in the warmness of your home where you are sure that you won’t be disapointed.
Don’t do that.
Always go for the adventure, because even if you feel like it didn’t matter in the end, you took the chance of making things happen. You never know how life can surprise you, maybe accompagnying your grumpy grandma to this stuffed cat contest will end up with you meeting the love of your life.
If you want to climb your way up to the top, you need to make your own path. And because you can’t know in advance if you got it right, all you can do is try as many times as you can.

And the 20% remaining will come with hard work.