I’m currently reading Brene Brown’s bestseller ‘Daring Greatly.’ Brown has some of the most watched TED talks ever and an overview of this book can be found on TED.

An extract from the book is Theodore Roosevelt’s speech delivered at the Sorbonne in 1910:

‘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, 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.’

This quote resonates with me in many ways. I love being in the ‘arena’ of Servants. As 2014 develops I look forward to embracing the ‘dust and sweat and blood’ of the tasks at hand. I trust too that this year in Servants will prove to be full of value and satisfaction for all involved.