I love this quote from Theodore Roosevelt…
It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.
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You have to remember that Teddy was a rich kid. The guy was born into old money, generations old. Work wasn’t a prerequisite for survival like it is for the vast majority of us.
But his spirit wasn’t one swayed by contentment nor by ending his life where he began.
There was a motion about the man. He was always moving, always working, practicing, training, hunting, and exploring.
There are days when every one of us gets down. I’ve been there and I’m sure you’ve been there. We feel like we’ve done enough to warrant a better life, but we look at others who have that life but seem to have done even less than we have.
We complain and compare and pity ourselves. (Read This: Stop. Fucking. Complaining)
These must remain as mere moments and nothing more. For while we may want ease, we may want reward, we may want what we don’t yet have, “It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.”
And so, on a daily basis we need to look in the mirror and ask ourselves, are we living by that code, that creed?
If we are, then better things are on the horizon. And the man that those better things are dependent on is being created with each swipe of the brow and grimace of the face as we push day after day to become more.
If we’re not living by this code then we have no excuse. We can’t whine nor can we wish. We have to come to a crossroads where laziness is left behind and a different road is taken.
Live each day as if to expend all of your energy within its hours.
That’s the way to better things.
That’s the way of the superior man.
Read This: Becoming The Best Version of Yourself
