Matt Lewis gives an excellent example on why showing up really is 80% of life:
This isn’t an original concept: Why did Ross Perot address the Christian Coalition in 1996? He had to have known that his immediate audience — the folks in the room with him — would support Gary Bauer or Alan Keyes — or whoever was running that year as the ‘conservative’ favorite. And while he knew the members in attendance wouldn’t vote for him, he also knew that they would, at least, be respectful of him (they would applaud, etc.)
By addressing the Christian Coalition, Perot was really sending a message to the millions of Christians around the nation who were watching on TV. He was telling them that he was one of them — and that he needed their vote. He wasn’t going to get Pat Robertson’s vote — but he might get the vote of Christian Pat Smith, watching on the TV in Hagerstown, MD.
That goes for just about everything, whether it’s the Christian Coalition, a PTA meeting, or Sunday services.