If you want to be successful in life, you have to get in the arena. Today I’ll tell you what that means.

“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.” - Theodore Roosevelt

That’s one of my favorite quotes of all time, and today I want to talk about what it means to me and how it applies to our daily lives. Actually, a couple of things happened to me recently that made me think of it.  

First, I saw multiple people back out of buying a home because they were worried that it had multiple offers and they didn’t want to get stuck in a bidding war. 

This kind of thing bothers me. Why wouldn’t a person want to be involved in a bidding war? If you don’t make an offer, you won’t get a home that might be a perfect fit for your family. Wouldn’t you want to at least try to make an offer? If you don’t try, you’ll never get what you want. 

“If you want to be successful in life, you’ve got to be in the arena.”

Second, someone challenged the stats I referenced after I made a post on a social media site that thanked Barbara Corcoran for helping make me the No. 1 agent in the capital region and my team the No. 3 team in the entire state of New York. I would never make a claim or list a stat that I couldn’t verify, so I messaged this person and showed him my references for these rankings. He replied that I should’ve listed those citations the first time around.

This person was a relatively new Realtor, so that’s when I told him he needed to get in the arena. The line itself is taken from a larger quote which you can read at 3:00 in the video above, but in any case, if you want to be successful in life, you’ve got to be in the arena. You’ve got to be in the game. If you want to buy a house for your family, you have to make an offer. 

When I started my business many years ago, there was one thought that drove me: I didn’t want to be on my deathbed wondering what would’ve happened if I tried starting a real estate business. I decided that I would rather start a business and potentially fail than regret never trying at all. 

That’s what life boils down to. You can’t be a spectator. You can’t not participate. I’ve failed in my life plenty of times, but I’m always stretching and trying new things, and without that, I never would’ve achieved the breakthroughs I’ve accomplished.

If you’d like to talk about how you can “get in the arena” in your own life or there’s anything else I can help you with, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to speak with you.