Faced with a significant setback, many people simply give up on their dreams or plans. Orville and Wilbur didn’t. Their idea wasn’t bolstered by the general public. Critics sneered and looked down on them. Nobody believed in them. Yet they dared to dream, dared to face failures, marched on strong to victory and change the world. Yes, they are the Wright brothers, the first men to invent the airplane and to ever fly – but not without their fair share of setbacks.
It’s all about the attitude. When you start doing ‘mighty’ things, you will encounter an assortment of tough decisions, bumps ahead that make you stumble, blows that brutalize you and a constant feeling of an existential crisis. But nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Don’t be afraid to err, be brave and determined, in the face of defeats. Your attitude to embrace your hustle, to embrace the struggle and to chase the dream is omnipotent.
The Man in the Arena
In 1910, Theodore Roosevelt delivered a speech in Paris, at the Sorbonne. He railed against cynics who looked down upon men who were trying to make the world a better place. And the most notable part of his speech was about “The Man in the Arena“. You will love how he brilliantly put it. Read it, and try to feel its energy of conviction and its strength of affirmation.
“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.”
An impassioned and inspiring message from the president who guided America through the face of the Great Depression and World War II.
One who displays a dogged attitude to dare mighty things, possesses fortitude in the face of adversity will always be far more superior than the poor souls who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they neither know victory nor defeat.
