How often do you truly challenge yourself? By the age of 42, becoming the youngest president in American history, Theodore Roosevelt had raced through a lifetime of adventure and worldly achievements that would astound any historian.
Before becoming president, it seemed as if he had already lived 30 different lifetimes. He was a published ornithologist (the study of birds) before even attending Harvard University. He served as a state legislator, police commissioner, and governor in New York. He collected unbelievable stories from his days as a rancher, cowboy, and sheriff in the Dakota Territory (following the deaths of his mother and wife.) He managed to write 35 books over the course of his life, as well as read 1-3 books a day, sometimes in multiple languages. He served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and returned home as a war hero after defeating the Spanish forces in Cuba as Colonel of “The Rough Riders”. He also explored uncharted Amazonian rainforests and rivers, was the first American to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Teddy Roosevelt has been my undisputed idol since I was 16 years old. It seemed like any task he set his mind to, he completed with a level of greatness that almost bothered me. Learning how one person could succeed in such a vast range of fields reminded me of Leonardo Davinci, although even his accomplishments could be boiled down to creating various art forms. Roosevelt, on the other hand, memorized entire books, conquered Spanish armies on the battlefield, built ranches as well as the Panama Canal, and gave a 90-minute speech directly after getting shot straight in the chest. His incredibly productive 60 years of life can’t be owed to any particular talent or resource. So what was it that allowed him to attain such a ridiculous amount of success?
Theodore Roosevelt believed in and lived a life of: strenuous effort. He believed that Americans should be a people of overcoming challenges, not avoiding them. Hard work, energy, and courage were his 3 keys to success, and with them, no goal was too big or too frightening. By deciding to live a difficult and tough lifestyle, every goal in his way would simply collapse under the sheer weight of his previous experience. A good example of this mentality would be a small hike over a hill. That would be nothing to a man who pits himself against Mount Everest every year.
"The Strenuous Life" was Roosevelt's philosophy of life. He boxed with Naval officers, wrestled with Sumo champions, and skinny dipped in a freezing, iced Potomac River. Roosevelt stayed awake for days with the cowboys on cattle drives, stood up to gunslinging bullies to save a frightened saloon, and surrounded himself with the toughest and smartest individuals he could possibly find. In fact, Theodore Roosevelt entered politics, the "wild west", and even The Spanish American War (and later attempted to volunteer for World War 1) simply because these kinds of environments terrified him. He practiced fearlessness in the face of danger until it became habit. No matter what you want to do with your life, there's a lot to be learned from this type of attitude.
In other words, Theodore Roosevelt wasn’t born great, but instead constantly sought great challenges.
