To thrive personally and professionally, I find hope and success in placing myself in the heart of the "fight." I find immeasurable value in knowing all of me is engaged in what I desire to achieve.
On April 23, 1910, Theodore Roosevelt delivered the powerful speech, "Citizenship in a Republic."
I have the more widely recognized portion of this speech, "The Man in the Arena" hanging in my home office. It was a gift from someone that knows I align and am inspired by the values expressed.
In preparation for this speech, Theodore Roosevelt noticed the cynic. He observed the people standing on the outside pointing out what was wrong and doing nothing about it. Through his words, he attempted to turn our eyes to the value of "facing realities" head-on.
This concept has carried with me through the successes I have had in my career.
In my personal life...it saved me.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
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