Guest article: You should read this everyday if you want to lead a successful life
From Amor Daouadi
Every success story starts with a thought or an idea. In order to achieve the hoped-for success, the idea helps very little if the thought is not followed by action, inspiration, enthusiasm, passion, sacrifice or devotion.
I recently read an inspiring, motivating and excellent speech that I recommend to anyone who has set themselves special goals in their lives. This speech is over 100 years old and was given by Theodore Roosevelt in Paris. It is titled "The Man in the Arena" and reads:
"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."
I advise you to read this text, again and again, every day if you have to. You can draw many parallels between "The Man in the Arena" and any other person who goes his own way, into a better life and a better future.
I am interested in this speech from the freelancer´s point of view, who has to fight his way through every day – against difficult customers, difficult working conditions, new competitors or new technologies. But the freelancer´s biggest battle is against his critics and his inner soul, which prevent him from developing and testing new and better methods.
If you want to achieve something special, you also have to do and perform much more than most in your field. Even if you don´t have a lot of talent, resources, or relationships, your most important path to success is to go the ways others don´t dare. You will certainly suffer failures, but that is also part of your success because through setbacks you learn what is not possible and you can refine your skills, expertise and working methods. But it is important not to doubt yourself and to get up again and continue fighting.
Because top athletes are my favourites, I also like to take examples from the field of sports for such comparisons. I remember the gifted and brilliant Cristiano Ronaldo. He wouldn´t have become the multiple world football player of the year if he hadn´t walked thousands of kilometres, spent thousands of hours in the gym, tried thousands of free kicks or practiced thousands of dribbling techniques.
Only through perseverance, hard work and failure can you achieve top results. You simply have to have the courage to go your own way with all consequences.
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This article was published in the Zealancer-News 64.