{"id":231674,"date":"2021-11-14T13:13:24","date_gmt":"2021-11-14T18:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coreywilkspsyd.com\/?p=231674"},"modified":"2024-01-27T21:53:41","modified_gmt":"2024-01-28T02:53:41","slug":"7-pieces-of-writing-to-help-you-develop-an-unconquerable-mindset-and-live-with-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coreywilkspsyd.com\/7-pieces-of-writing-to-help-you-develop-an-unconquerable-mindset-and-live-with-purpose\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Pieces of Writing to Help You Reach Your Potential"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cAll poetry is supposed to be instructive but in an unnoticeable manner; it is supposed to make us aware of what it would be valuable to instruct ourselves in; we must deduce the lesson on our own, just as with life.\u201d<\/p>\n\u2014Goethe<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It can be terrifying anytime you put yourself or your work out into the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though you have a vision for the impact you want to have, sometimes we all need a gentle nudge to keep going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some of the pieces of writing I\u2019ve found that inspire me to put myself out there, strive to be better, and focus on doing meaningful, purpose-driven work that makes the world a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope they can inspire you to new heights and lift you up when you start to stumble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And let me know if you have some I should add. I\u2019m always looking for more inspirational pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t

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  1. If\u2014 by Rudyard Kipling<\/a>
  2. The Man in the Arena Speech by Theodore Roosevelt<\/a>
  3. Can't by Edgar Albert Guest<\/a>
  4. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost<\/a>
  5. Invictus by William Ernest Henley<\/a>
  6. Desiderata by Max Ehrmann<\/a>
  7. How Did You Die by Edmund Vance Cooke<\/a>
  8. So Live Your Life by Chief Tecumseh<\/a>
  9. Wrapping Up<\/a><\/ol>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\n\n

    \u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If\u2014 by Rudyard Kipling<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

    If you can keep your head when all about you
    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
    If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
    But make allowance for their doubting too;
    If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
    Or being lied about, don\u2019t deal in lies,
    Or being hated, don\u2019t give way to hating,
    And yet don\u2019t look too good, nor talk too wise:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you can dream \u2013 and not make dreams your master;
    If you can think \u2013 and not make thoughts your aim;
    If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
    And treat those two impostors just the same;
    If you can bear to hear the truth you\u2019ve spoken
    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
    Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
    And stoop and build \u2019em up with worn-out tools:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you can make one heap of all your winnings
    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
    And lose, and start again at your beginnings
    And never breathe a word about your loss;
    If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
    To serve your turn long after they are gone,
    And so hold on when there is nothing in you
    Except the Will which says to them: \u2018Hold on!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
    Or walk with Kings \u2013 nor lose the common touch,
    if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
    If all men count with you, but none too much;
    If you can fill the unforgiving minute
    With sixty seconds\u2019 worth of distance run,
    Yours is the Earth and everything that\u2019s in it,
    And \u2013 which is more \u2013 you\u2019ll be a Man, my son!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Man in the Arena Speech by Theodore Roosevelt<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

    “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.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Can’t by Edgar Albert Guest<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

    Can’t is the worst word that’s written or spoken;
    Doing more harm here than slander and lies;
    On it is many a strong spirit broken,
    And with it many a good purpose dies.
    It springs from the lips of the thoughtless each morning
    And robs us of courage we need through the day:
    It rings in our ears like a timely-sent warning
    And laughs when we falter and fall by the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Can’t is the father of feeble endeavor,
    The parent of terror and half-hearted work;
    It weakens the efforts of artisans clever,
    And makes of the toiler an indolent shirk.
    It poisons the soul of the man with a vision,
    It stifles in infancy many a plan;
    It greets honest toiling with open derision
    And mocks at the hopes and the dreams of a man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Can’t is a word none should speak without blushing;
    To utter it should be a symbol of shame;
    Ambition and courage it daily is crushing;
    It blights a man’s purpose and shortens his aim.
    Despise it with all of your hatred of error;
    Refuse it the lodgment it seeks in your brain;
    Arm against it as a creature of terror,
    And all that you dream of you some day shall gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Can’t is the word that is foe to ambition,
    An enemy ambushed to shatter your will;
    Its prey is forever the man with a mission
    And bows but to courage and patience and skill.
    Hate it, with hatred that’s deep and undying,
    For once it is welcomed ’twill break any man;
    Whatever the goal you are seeking, keep trying
    And answer this demon by saying: “I can.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

    Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
    And sorry I could not travel both
    And be one traveler, long I stood
    And looked down one as far as I could
    To where it bent in the undergrowth;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Then took the other, as just as fair,
    And having perhaps the better claim,
    Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
    Though as for that the passing there
    Had worn them really about the same,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And both that morning equally lay
    In leaves no step had trodden black.
    Oh, I kept the first for another day!
    Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
    I doubted if I should ever come back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I shall be telling this with a sigh
    Somewhere ages and ages hence:
    Two roads diverged in a wood, and I\u2014
    I took the one less traveled by,
    And that has made all the difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Invictus by William Ernest Henley<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

    Out of the night that covers me,   
    Black as the Pit from pole to pole,   
    I thank whatever gods may be   
    For my unconquerable soul.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In the fell clutch of circumstance 
    I have not winced nor cried aloud.   
    Under the bludgeonings of chance   
    My head is bloody, but unbowed.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Beyond this place of wrath and tears   
    Looms but the Horror of the shade, 
    And yet the menace of the years   
    Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It matters not how strait the gate,   
    How charged with punishments the scroll,   
    I am the master of my fate:
    I am the captain of my soul.<\/p>\n\n\n