Who’s your worse critic? I know I am my own. In the spirit of ”truth telling” from earlier this week, here’s a quote from former President Roosevelt that sums up the notion of the inner and outer critic beautifully:
“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 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 and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for 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 he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt – Citizenship in a Republic, Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
Message? — If you never try…never fail…how will you know how great you can be. Silence the inner critic and dare to do amazing things. I know you can.
And here’s one of my favorite TED talks (ever) by Dr. Brene Brown. This is an incredibly honest look at vulnerability and the human condition. If you have not seen this please take the 18 minutes to watch.
Hi, my name’s Katie, and I found your blog on shewrites.com. It’s very strange that I came upon your blog, because just this week I watched the same video from TED talks, and I loved it! I like the idea behind your blog. I’m now a follower!
Hi Katie – thanks for the follow, it’s sincerely appreciated. Its amazing where we draw our inspiration for writing, right? I loved your post on “Writing obsessions” — I often tell my other half that there’s a conversation in my head and I’ve got to put it on paper. LOL
Hi,
Thanks so much for the like and follow.
You have a really inspiring blog and wish you all the best with it
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Thanks for stopping by! Please come back through
— I’d appreciate the support.
Loved this! As a hockey mom, I’ve heard the Roosevelt message in so many different ways (in fact, just after hoisting the Stanley Cup last night didn’t one of the LA players say to a reporter, “you just have to believe in yourself because if you don’t … no one else will” … but I digress). I truly appreciated the connection to *me* after listening to that TED talk. Wholehearted. Indeed!
Hi Astra I love it when you stop by! Yes indeed the art of failure and deceit of fear should be taught to us sooner than later. Hockey mom?! Wow!
Hi, thank you so much for checking out my blog. Had a chance to read several of your posts over the weekend…very inspiring! Keep up the great work! T.
Hey Tieshka I really enjoyed your blog. Stop back by here and visit again.
How very neat. I love that quote by Roosevelt. I especially like the idea that critics are “cold and timid souls”… as a writer, that’s a very appealing notion.
All jokes aside, it’s powerful to think of myself as a doer, versus someone who just keeps making mistakes. Thank you!
Well put, Adriana! As long as we’re “doing”…we’re moving forward…