The Man in the Arena

The famous "Citizenship in a Republic" speech, originally delivered in 1910 in Paris, has since taken on several lives in pop culture, sports, movies, and Ted Talks. ?

To me, the speech has several rallying cries behind it, to help support the person who is second guessing themselves, or to help remind the person who just recently failed as a result of their courage. ?

We live in a time where everything happens at our fingertips. ?I can order food and cars to my door at the push of a button. ?I can buy a plane ticket now to fly out tonight. ?I can do just about anything satisfying or fulfilling within minutes on my phone. ?

The idea of success happening overnight becomes an easy concept to grasp when we're used to satisfying our every needs immediately. ?Social media doesn't help this either, as we compare ourselves just after watching a thirty second clip. ?

We can start to think we've failed rather quickly, or we can think that we're not doing enough. ?

I have a close personal friend who failed at a startup during the pandemic. ?He worked beyond belief to make it all a success, and it was the wrong combination of timing, funding, market, etc. ?Unfortunately it didn't work out. ?Today, he carries the weight of that failure with him, or at least, what he perceives as failure. ?To me, he's a success. ?Yes, his startup didn't work out, but he was the man in the arena, and he left with blood, sweat, tears, and dust all over his face. ?The credit belongs to him, as he failed, by daring greatly. ?

In his eyes, he would have considered himself a failure if he would never have started, as in his view, there was no option but to make the attempt. ?

This is the difference between the man in the arena, and the critics who sits on the sideline. ?

I know plenty of people who are afraid to start, they're afraid of the failure, and they're afraid of the criticism. ?But these people will go nowhere, outside the comfort zone of the cocoon they choose to weave. ?

The critic doesn't count; and we must remind ourselves of this statement as we step out to take great risks. ?

I view risk as an important part of your career. ?If you are not willing to take some form of risk, then you will stay stagnant. ?Risk though does not come without an ability to fight off the critics. ?The critics will work to fill your head with nonsense, that in the end, doesn't matter. ?

Find a way in the arena, and if you fail, at least you fail knowing that you tried, and knowing that you did what few people could even attempt to do.??

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by Scott Bond