The Real Secret to Success: Why Reliability Beats Talent, Luck, and Genius
Showing up consistently—and doing what you said you would—creates stronger relationships, deeper trust, and more opportunities than anything else.
“Ninety percent of success is just showing up.” That’s a quote often attributed to Woody Allen. Or to put it differently, 90% of success in life is reliability. If you show up when you said you would, where you said you would, to do what you said you would—on a consistent basis—you will find great success in life.
Success isn’t primarily about brilliance or aptitude or skill, and it’s not even about luck. Success hinges on your reliability.
When people can count on you, they will turn to you. They will look to you for leadership and to get things done. They will give you more work, and they will pay you to do more work.
But reliability, or “showing up,” is not just about career success. It’s the foundation of every meaningful relationship. When a friend needs you and you’re there—truly there—you move from acquaintance to friend, and from friend to their inner circle. Many people wonder how certain friendships become lifelong bonds. It’s not magic. It’s not charisma. It’s the simple, repeated experience of you were there when I needed you. That’s how trust is formed.
And in romantic relationships, reliability takes on an even more profound dimension. When your boyfriend or girlfriend or spouse can rely on you to do the things you said you would do, to be the person you said you were, that constancy becomes the soil where love actually grows. Grand gestures are fine, but they don’t outweigh the day-to-day steadiness that makes someone feel safe. When they can’t trust your follow-through, they might still love you, but they’ll hesitate. They’ll guard themselves. Reliability doesn’t merely support love; it protects it.
The hard reality is that being the kind of person who simply does the task you said you would do puts you ahead of 90 percent of people, because most people—if we’re honest—aren’t consistent. They mean well but don’t follow through. They intend great things but never quite complete them. That alone creates enormous opportunity for those who can push past that inertia and show up faithfully.
Now, I am by no means perfect in this area. I’ve missed commitments. I’ve overextended myself. I’ve had moments—recent ones—when I volunteered for something and then had to back out. That happens. It’s not about perfection. Nobody wins at that game.
But the more you can cultivate reliability—especially when you’re young, or new in a role, or entering a new season of life—the more doors will open. Reliability is remembered. People notice it even if they never say anything aloud. And over time, it shapes your reputation far more than intelligence or charm ever will.
Success is tied, inevitably, to your relationships with other people. So feed those relationships. Strengthen them by being someone others can count on. Be the person who gets things done. Show up. And then show up again. Over time, that quiet consistency will build a life of trust, opportunity, and genuine connection—far more than any burst of talent or stroke of luck ever could.