Taking Responsibility and Failing isn’t Failure

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 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.

Teddy Roosevelt, Citizenship in a Republic

There are days I wonder why I have a job with significant responsibility. My job involves managing people and clients in a pretty complex industry. It’s stressful with long hours and lots of problems. I feel like the person in Teddy’s narrative: I strive valiantly, but often I come up short.

Sometimes, when I feel a bit too bloody, I get to thinking that I should take a job with less responsibility. Wouldn’t it be nice to go into work and have a set of prescribed tasks to go through. No one to manage. I can just manage my own workload and not have to worry about anyone else. That would be perfect, right?

Not Really

Those times are when I need to remind myself: Even though the change might feel good at first, it won’t last. I won’t get joy from that type of a gig for long. Soon, I will turn into one of those cold and timid souls. Work lacking challenge is boring to me. I crave the ability to fix things. I know it sucks to fail or have things work against you, but the opposite is worse. Engaging in repetitive, mundane work doesn’t thrill me at all. Even though the stress bothers me sometimes, I derive great satisfaction taking risks and making decisions that create consequence and meaning. I love to strategize and put those ideas into motion.

At the end of my work day, I relish the responsibility. I find joy in trying to make our business thrive. I want the working lives of the people on my team to improve. Sometimes I fail, but I am never a failure if I work hard, am respectful, and push to be better. It’s easy to be a critic. It’s much harder to take responsibility and try to make a difference, but it’s totally worth the effort.