One of my favorite quotes is from President Teddy Roosevelt’s Citizen in a Republic speech that he delivered to the Sorbonne in Paris, France. The speech focuses on his view that a republic depended on the quality of its people for its future and success. In this speech he says:
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.
To me there are so many points to take away from this, but I want to focus in on one aspect: failing is part of succeeding.
These days we’re so afraid of failure that we take the sure path. Fear of failure has sucked the initiative out of many people. I see this fear when students wait to get back a grade, especially the high achieving ones. I’ve seen students shed tears over getting less than an A. Has failure so frightened us that we can’t handle the thought of one bad grade? I’ve also seen this at work. People so afraid of making a minor mistake that they ask how the smallest tasks should be done. Are we so afraid of making a mistake that we can’t decide which color highlighter to use without calling a team meeting?
One of my passions is to listen to people discuss their ideas for a business or organization. It’s exciting for me to hear them cast a vision of their dream becoming a reality. Sadly many ideas do not get past this stage of dreaming, and I think it is because of the fear that they will fail. To those out there wanting to start a business or non-profit, what are you waiting for? Go do it! Don’t let the thought of failure hold you back. As Mr. Roosevelt says, you will fail along the way. Anyone who enters the arena will fail at some point, many times, over and over. Don’t let this stop you because victory is worth all the failures it took to get there.
Even if you fail in your endeavor, so what? You did something most people won’t experience. You got out of the stands, entered the arena, and spent yourself in a worthy cause. You made your passion come to life. That in itself is something to be proud of and something worth doing.
Don’t resign yourself to being one of the,”…cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” Exit the stands. Work hard. When you fail, pick yourself up and keep going. When the critics tell you you can’t, show them otherwise.
Strive valiantly. Dare greatly. Enter the arena.
Worth the While 