Get "In the Arena"

If you want to have a great life, get "in the arena." On my bookshelf next to my desk at my office is a quote from Teddy Roosevelt that is a consistent motivation to me to persevere when the going gets tough. This quote reminds me that failing is okay, and though I fall, I must keep getting up - life, people, my family, and God, are worth the effort and risk. Roosevelt shares,

"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, and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotion; who spend himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumphs 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 know neither victory nor defeat."

I hope this quote from Theodore Roosevelt encourages and challenges you as it does me.