Get Your Ass Kicked

If you want your opinion to matter, get in the arena

“If you are not in the arena getting your ass kicked on occasion, I am not interested in or open to your feedback.” — Brené Brown

Lots of people enjoy giving feedback.

Did I say lots? I mean…

LOTS of people enjoy giving feedback… on everything.

It can be hard to tune them out. Because you care. You care about them. You care about others. You care about the greater picture.

But when you’re assessing who you should listen to, what feedback you should receive, what advice you should take part in, take it from someone in the arena.

“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.” — Theodore Roosevelt

Behind the Blog (the writing of the blog)

I’m feeling overwhelmed. Maybe I shouldn’t be. Maybe I try to do too much.

Actually yes, I do way too much.

I’m back at work, well, I never left, but NBA games started again. I’m in a writing class on-line that I rarely show up to. I bought a new house and am trying to get it in order… repair the AC, buy a table, buy a couch, go to IKEA, Costco, shop on-line, etc, etc… and then 5 minutes ago, “Do you have a plunger?” I check my Amazon orders, “It will be here Thursday.” It’s Monday. Well, we’ll see if dishwashing soap does the trick and if not, I’ll just go buy one tonight because… well, it’s my house, I live here AND… I’m a landlord now. So the dirty work and big bills are mine, muhaha.

So back to doing too much. I’m watching a basketball game for work purposes. It’s already past 8pm but I need to finish it. I’m also listening to Brené Brown’s book Dare to Lead, because that’s what I do. I don’t always enjoy podcasts and books, I listen to them and scramble for nuggets.

“Found one!” (I’m like a squirrel.)

“If you are not in the arena getting your ass kicked on occasion, I am not interested in or open to your feedback.” — Brené Brown

(Extended Quote: “If you are not in the arena getting your ass kicked on occasion, I am not interested in or open to your feedback. There are a million cheap seats in the world today, filled with people who will never be brave with their own lives but who will spend every ounce of energy they have hurling advice and judgement at those of us who are trying to dare greatly. If you’re criticizing from a place where you’re not also putting yourself on the line, I’m not interested in what you have to say. We have to avoid the cheap seats feedback. Get clear on who’s opinions matter. We need to seek feedback from those people. If we shield ourselves from all feedback, we stop growing. If we engage with all feedback, it hurts too much.”)

So I stop doing my actual work that needs to be done and I open up Microsoft Word and start writing my blog… because… SQUIRREL! It seems to come together nicely and quickly and I submit it on my site to release on Friday. And then, I’m like, that was really good, I should upload it on Medium too, so I do that. And then I’m like, well, I should go ahead and do my behind the blog which yeah, I’m writing now.

In the midst of that, the plunger incident.

And I still haven’t finished my actual work for my job today.

One thing you can’t fault me, I am certainly getting my ass kicked. Maybe I don’t need to. Maybe I’m kicking my own. But it’s certainly being kicked.