A couple weeks ago, a friend shared on Facebook an opinion piece by David Brooks titled The first comment was someone saying it was futile to try to find a reliable climbing partner in the town where they lived, and a second person chimed in and said it was impossible in the town where they lived a few hundred miles away.
David Brooks is not the first person to point out that we鈥檙e devolving into a culture that鈥檚 more and more accepting of bailing or flaking on plans we鈥檝e made. People point at technology, or the fact that we have so many options of things to do, or the fact that and it鈥檚 so easy to double-book yourself, but here鈥檚 the root cause of flaking: you do it because you鈥檙e inconsiderate. Which is bullshit.
Call me old-fashioned, but when my friends say, 鈥淚鈥檒l be there at 10 a.m. on Saturday to help you move that couch,鈥� they show up, and that fucking couch gets moved. And I value that. Especially when it鈥檚 something more important than moving a couch鈥攍ike showing up on time for an alpine start for a day in the mountains, being there with an avalanche beacon with full batteries, or keeping me on belay from the second you say 鈥渙n belay鈥� to the second you say 鈥渙ff belay.鈥�
Everyone knows the difference between a reason and a bullshit excuse.
I don鈥檛 know how the Fitz Traverse began, but I鈥檓 pretty sure it didn鈥檛 start with Tommy Caldwell waking up on the first day of their weather window and sending Alex Honnold a text message saying, “Dude, sorry to bail on you, but I鈥檓 tired from this week. I think I鈥檓 just going to stay in and watch House of Cards.” Big things get done because people show up to do them, not because they half-ass some plans, kind of commit, show up late, and get lucky.
We live in a society where we get pissed and demand to be compensated if our flight is delayed, or if the food we ordered at a restaurant takes longer than acceptable, because we鈥檙e offended that someone is not doing their job correctly, and then we make an appointment to meet someone and show up 25 minutes late鈥攐r not at all. We treat our friends like we think airlines treat us, and somehow that鈥檚 OK.
Yes, things come up, and sometimes they鈥檙e important things. Your kid fell off the monkey bars and you have to take her to the hospital to get stitches, so you鈥檙e going to miss coffee. Your boss called an emergency staff meeting at 4:30 and if you don鈥檛 go to it you probably won鈥檛 be on the staff anymore, so you鈥檙e going to have to reschedule your happy hour meeting. But everyone knows the difference between a reason and a bullshit excuse. Being late because of traffic is one thing, but being late because you scrolled through 20 more Instagram photos before you left for your meeting is another thing, and it sure as shit isn鈥檛 being 鈥渂usy.鈥�
If you want to get shit done, it鈥檚 very simple: show up. Do what you say you鈥檙e going to do. And demand from yourself the same accountability that you expect from an airline. Your partners for climbing, skiing, biking, and moving furniture will appreciate it.
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