Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Monday Inspiration: Man in the Arena

Yes, I know that it’s technically Tuesday, but who’s against a little Tuesday motivation?

This section is just as much for me personally, if not more so, as it is for anyone else. How many of us start dreading Monday morning more and more as the sun begins to set on Sunday night? The promise of another long work week understandably isn’t the most motivational feeling in the world. This being said, how do we change this? Lord willing, our respective lives will be fairly long and having to work to provide a living for ourselves and our families isn’t going to change. Thus, I propose a change in our mindsets. If we start putting our time and energy into developing the things/ideas that we have been putting on hold, I truly believe that we will begin to look forward to what we will begin to accomplish. My goal with this section is to provide us all with motivation to start our week off with the mindset that we all have work to do to be successful…let’s get it done.

The first piece I will highlight is an excerpt from a 1910 speech given by President Theodore Roosevelt, which is sometimes referred to as “The Man in the Arena”.

The notable passage is below:


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.

If that doesn’t inspire you to do better, I don’t know what will.


Have a great and productive week.



Cheers,


JIP