When Justin Timberlake was given the iHeartRadio Innovator Award, he shared a Theodore Roosevelt quote that he found powerful when he was younger:
“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.”
Then he offered up his own suggestion for today’s kids who are criticized for being different.
He directed that part of his speech toward young people, but I think his advice applies to all of us. Unique people help make the world go ’round, but we always have critics.
JT’s advice for anyone who’s “weird” or “different.”
Don’t stop being you, even in the face of criticism.
And I know I can’t be the only mom/wife who swooned a little at the end when he addressed his wife, Jessica Biel, who is pregnant with their baby!
