We had an inspiring meeting today in a mentoring group that I am involved with.

The host of the group Doberman Dan shared some of his non success and some of the trials he has had along the way to being successful in his business.

One of the points he raised was about the negativity that we face when we try and better ourselves. By breaking out of the mold and trying something creative or entrepreneurial we suddenly find ourselves a target for negative reactions.

Often times this negativity comes from within our close circle of friends and family. Possibly because they want to protect us from “failure” but also because they don’t want to be shown up as a failure either.

Dan read this great Roosevelt quote:

“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.”

“Citizenship in a Republic,”
Sorbonne, Paris – April 23, 1910

Don’t die wondering what if. You only get one shot at life and it is up to you to make the most of it. No one else can do it for you.

By the same token, don’t let other people put you off giving life your best shot.