Here are 3 quotes, the most interesting thing I learned this week, 1 essay, and 1 question to reflect on.

3 Quotes

“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.” Theodore Roosevelt, speech Citizenship in a Republic” at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, April 23, 1910

“Happiness depends more upon the internal frame of a person’s own mind than on the externals in the world” – Mary Washington

“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.” – Thomas Jefferson

The Most Interesting Thing I Learned this Week

According to the interwebs, Florida Power & Light Company serves more customers and sells more power than any other utility in the country as America’s largest electric utility. The business provides electricity to approximately 5.8 million accounts, or more than 12 million people. Reportedly over 3.4 million people are without power in Florida. Hopefully everyone can recover quickly in NC, FL, and GA.

The Strenuous Life is Learned

Theodore Roosevelt is perhaps known as the best example of someone who excelled at the strenuous life. Many do not know that he was born frail, weak, sickly, with terrible asthma. While doctors encouraged him to take it easy, rest, and stay in bed, his dad knew better. Theodore’s dad warned him. He told him it would be up to him to “make your body.” A life in bed was no way to live. Theodre transformed himself through hard discipline training in gymnastics, boxing, weightlifting, and many other physical endeavors. He learned how to become an uncompromising man of action. 

Too often we are seduced by men and women with new ideas. Without action, ideas are merely a wish. A fleeting thought. You have to put ideas into practice. The idea that as a parent you can tell your kids what to do is ludicrous. You must show them through your daily discipline and actions.

The same is true at work. Your team and others are watching what you do. Are you leading by example? Are you finding solutions? Are you calm in the chaos? 

When George Washington was ten years of old, his dad Augustine Washington died, leaving George and five other children fatherless. Their mother was equal to the task that was unwillingly imposed upon her. She developed in her kids a character that was simple, sincere, grave, and earnest. 

Later at twenty-one years old, George was sent on a scouting mission by the British army to ask the French commander why he had invaded the King of England’s colonies. For 750 miles, more than half of the distance through an unbroken wilderness, he made his way, accompanied by only seven others. After forty-one days of struggling through the woods he reached his destination in the middle of December. 

After completing his mission, he set out in the dead of winter to retrace his steps home. The horses gave out, and the drivers were left to take care of them; he and one companion pushed ahead on foot, again through the wilderness. When they came upon an Indian, he pretended to act as a guide, led them off their route, and then shot at them. Contrary to the wishes of his friend, Washington spared the Indians life and soon got rid of him, and then walked all night to escape pursuit. 

Coming to the Allegheny river, they found it only partly frozen over. Here the two men laid down upon the bank in the cold snow, with nothing but their blankets over them. Tired and hungry, they tried to sleep. The next morning they worked with a single hatchet to build a raft. Launching it on the turbulent stream, when nearly half across, huge fragments of floating ice came down the river and jerked them overboard into ten feet of water.

The two adventurers swam and waded to an island, where they were forced to sleep amid frost and snow, wet to the skin, without a blanket to cover them or a spark of fire with their clothes frozen stiff upon their backs. They were now without the means of reaching either shore; but it was so cold that the river froze overnight so that the next morning they walked across a bridge of ice to reach the other shore. After escaping being shot at by the Indian, the dangers of the forest, and death by cold, they finally made it home after an eleven week journey.

Just another day at the office. And to think that we freak out when the internet is slow or not functioning. Hard lessons teach us how to live hard lives. 

Both Theodore and George learned the discipline of the strenuous life from their parents. Parents who set the example.

Whether you are at work or at home, you have the ability to act. You have the ability to demonstrate what it means to live a life of adventure. But you also have the ability to set the example. Never fear hard work. 

1 Question to Reflect on

What are you doing to not only learn about the strenuous life but also to act on it?

The Real Con 100