“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 actually is 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 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.” – Theodore Roosevelt
I was reminded of this quote while chatting with somebody that I greatly admire. And I told this person in my senior yearbook for the quote I chose, I changed the last line to:
“I will never be with those cold and timid souls, who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Who are you going to battle with each and every single day? Who are you living your life with? Who is by your side right now?
Who you are with and what you’re doing matters immensely. There’s no time better than now to dig deep and ask yourself the tough questions. Whether we’re dealing with what we’ve dealt with the last week, the last three months, or even before that – every single day is hard.
Life can be hard.
And it can be beautiful.
But it’s much more beautiful when you’re actually doing, what fulfills you. When you’re putting in that hard work, and the determination with those that really matter to you.
Ask yourself:
The work that you’re doing, is it what you want to be doing?
The people you’re spending your time with, are they the people that you want to continue to spend time?
If they are, great. Really, really go for it; you’ve got a good situation, go all in on it.
But if you’re asking yourself these questions right now, and you’re hesitant about the answer, then you really need to think about things.
Your execution comes through your truth. If you’re not living your truth right now, you need to think about who you’re in the arena with. And if you’re not in the arena with those that know both victory and defeat, you need a new arena.