I have three heroes; Cato the Younger, Marcus Aurelius and Theodore Roosevelt.

The first two relate to my following of Stoicism; Cato for his unshakeable determination in the toughest of circumstances and Marcus for his wisdom and consideration of ‘learning have to live’ explored in The Meditations.

Theodore Roosevelt has some stoic traits but my admiration for him stems more for his energy, enthusiasm and action-orientation.

The stories of Teddy’s passion for ‘getting things done’ are numerous. In the sixty years of his life he embodied a light-bulb burning bright, ceaseless in the quest to move his projects forwards. If you want to learn more then I recommend the Presidential podcast episode on Teddy Roosevelt.

‘Get Action’ was a phrase passed on to him by his father as a simple maxim to remind him to do things, to never be the spectator, always be the actor…

Despite being less famous than the ‘Man In the Arena’ speech / quotation ‘Get Action’ really brings to life one of the most important concepts in my life: doing something beats doing nothing. Don’t wait for the perfect moment to start something, don’t strive for the fully detailed project plan before starting – get action and take action.