This is probably going to sound like an extremely odd choice, but my hero is Theodore Roosevelt. I am very interested in US history, politics, conservation/outdoor recreation and Teddy was a master at all of those things. Along with all of those attributes, Teddy was able to overcome significant obstacles in his lifetime and rise to the pinnacle of world power: the President of the United States of America.
There are many attributes of the former presidents that I admire very much, but to keep it short, I will discuss two. The first thing that I admire about his is that he overcame a great deal of adversity through childhood. The young TR was born into wealth to be sure, but was described as a ‘sickly’ child, had asthma and was near sighted. His father understood that he was needed to build up his body to be as strong as his mind, so Theodore set out to do just that. He started boxing, lifting weights and living what he called “The Strenuous Life”. Even after he had built himself up so he was no longer sickly, a doctor told him to take a desk job. He responded by climbing the Matterhorn, and throughout his life believe that with hard work, focus and dedication, one can set aside problems and achieve great things.
I firmly believe, just as TR did, that if one works hard and keeps trying, things will eventually line up for them. The more that I read about how much Teddy did during his lifetime, the more I realize that I’m not working nearly as hard as he did. One of the ways that he was able to accomplish as many things as he did was his ability to focus on the task at hand and work until the job is complete. While I am able to do this on occasion, I struggle greatly with many times as well. There are times when I’m working away, all of the sudden to be distracted by one little thing and find myself not back on task almost an hour later! This is an area where I can (and should) make improvements. There were many significant hurdles that he faced as a youngster, and was able to overcome them all with his motivation, desire and focus.
The second thing that I admire most is his service. Along with his tenure as president, He served as a State Legislator in New York, Governor of New York, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and as a Rough Rider. To Theodore, there was always something that could be done to benefit the lives of his fellow countrymen and women. As a president, he fought for tighter regulations of industry (most famously the meat packing industry) and was the first president to talk about having health care for all Americans.
I admire his desire to make things better for those around him, and I try to do that in my own life as well. While I have nowhere near as big of a pulpit as he did, I try to focus my efforts in two places: my community (the place I live) and the online community (through yakezie). I feel like I have been able to do some good through both of these avenues, though I always feel like there is something more that can be done.
To become more like my hero, next year I plan on starting out with a list of goals, divided into different sections: Personal, Community, Work and Other. Each of these areas will have projects that I’d like to complete, and when thinking about these projects, I plan to create a list of goals broken down into action steps that will allow me to complete the next step while focusing on the big picture. This should keep me focused and on task with each of my projects.
Readers, any particular Presidents of the United States inspire you? How is your ability to focus and stick to a task for the long term? How do you think President Obama is doing? Do you think he will get re-elected in 2012?
Since I am still quite young, and don’t appreciate history as much as I should, I do not have many presidents on my radar for the most inspirational. Teddy is a great choice, I’ve often been intrigued by his tactics and ideas.
I think I’m going to go with Lincoln. He is quite often said to be one of the most honest men in history. I think that says a lot, and I try to model my moral life after him.
I don’t particularly like Obama’s actions since he began his presidency, but I think any president would have it rough at this point. People just want to live richly again, and they put all of the weight on the president, not on themselves. Hopefully we all learn that the president can’t do it all. We need to do our part as well.
Thanks for the Input, Life.
There is a lot of great stuff about teddy floating around. If you’re looking for some motivation you should read his speech The Strenuous Life (given in Chicago http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Strenuous_Life). It’s a great speech about hard work and sacrifice.
This is a great post. I love TR as well. I read with gusto the first two volumes of Edmund Morris’s biography of TR and just picked up the recently released third volume. I started reading it right away but really felt like I wanted to go back and reread the first two since it’s been a few years. These books are highly recommended.
Additionally, I’ve always liked Lincoln and find his life to be that of the quintessential self-made man.
Teddy is one of my favorite presidents as well. He established many of the national parks we enjoy today and was a true conservationist (he realized that future generations needed these open areas to enjoy – and noticed that the westward expansion was moving at light speed!) I believe that the Teddy Bear was also named after him (every year I read Smart About the Presidents to a class and that’s one of the quirky highlights about Theodore Roosevelt).
This article is both inspiring and informative. Well written. I’m definitely going to take the “focus” reminder from your post. Thank you.
Thanks for your post. It’s always fascinating to learn about the lives of our President’s before they took office. I learned a lot about Thomas Jefferson last year and had a much great appreciation for our country’s history and for a lot of the architectural influences he had.
Very interesting post. I haven’t seen TR listed as a mentor in a long time. He was truly a great President.
It’s also interesting to note how his ideals changed history. He was a great patriot and wanted to promote American knowledge and power, so he instrumented the completion of the Panama Canal. The Canal and TR’s policies that were linked to it set the US back on the international stage as a power and a force to be reckoned with. I think that’s a lesson to take, too: one action can have consequences that ripple throughout our lives. But I like the idea of staying on task too :)
I too have enjoyed reading about TR!
He was responsible for using science in criminal investigations early in his career.
CSI and NCIS owe him a great debt!
Wow!
It’s amazing what Theodor Roosevelt did to impact America!
I’m not very familiar with the history of all of the presidents, but anyone which improved the living standards and the freedom of people will shine brightly in my book. I also need to work on avoiding distractions and staying focused on task!
[…] a huge fan of Teddy (yea, we are even on a first name basis!). I’ve written about him for yakezie, and I’ve read quite a bit about him as well. Teddy grew up in New York, to a prominent […]
Hard work is definitely a part of Teddy’s legacy. I am a firm believer that hard work will get you just about wherever you want to go.