THE MAN IN THE ARENA


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. 

Theodore Roosevelt


I recently came across this quote again.  I think this is helpful in all our endeavors that we pursue.  We are going to stumble and make mistakes.  If we don't fail we aren't trying.  Are you failing?

Shut up and do your work

Does your company believe in questioning the process of what you do?  Things will never get better if we don't constantly check why we are doing what we do.  Too many times people get invested in doing things one way and don't know why they do it.  "We have always done it that way", is a popular refrain.  That is a sign that we don't know why we do that way and maybe we should re-examine why we do.