Remaining a spectator in life and in business, creates no individual results, and procrastinates the potential you have within.
One of my favorite speech passages is “Man In The Arena” by former US President Theodore Roosevelt. It reads like this:
“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 the 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.” -T. Roosevelt, 1910
My business coaching clients have heard me advise them not to be spectators. When we have meetings, they should come prepared with questions and challenges that need to be overcome.
If you participate without any questions or challenges, you are merely a spectator. It indirectly tells me that you believe you already have everything figured out, and nothing left to learn.
Understand this, the highest level performers in any area, always have something new to learn. They crave new knowledge, new experience, new strategies. It’s an eternal drive to improve daily.
I want you to step into that arena, onto the field, and pay attention to the game. Focus on what the best do, and how you can learn from them. Look for weaknesses in your opponent, and capitalize on them. Grow a mindset so strong, that you take actions without intimidation or fear.
You’ll never win by sitting in the stands. 🏆
-Tony