The pheonix and Lincoln

A few days ago one of my best friends was feeling depressed and tensed about some of the career related issues. We talked about them in the night and then at morning when I woke up the first thought I had been of this thing. I instantly what’s apped him and told him some things I could tell to cheer him up.

As I went of talking I remembered a story I read about Abraham Lincoln in “chicken soup for the soul”. And I felt it will better cheer him up so I typed the whole thing and sent him. which goes like this.

Abraham Lincoln Didn't Quit

The sense of obligation to continue is present in all of us. A duty to strive is the duty of us all. I felt a call to that duty.

Abraham Lincoln

Probably the greatest example of persistence is Abraham Lincoln. If you want to learn about somebody who didn't quit, look no further.

Born into poverty, Lincoln was faced with defeat throughout his life. He lost eight elections, twice failed in business and suffered a nervous breakdown.

He could have quit many times—but he didn't and because he didn't quit, he became one of the greatest presidents in the history of our country.

Lincoln was a champion and he never gave up. Here is a sketch of Lincoln's road to the White House:

1816 His family was forced out of their home. He had to

work to support them. 1818 His mother died.

1831 Failed in business.

1832 Ran for state legislature—lost.

1832 Also lost his job—wanted to go to law school but couldn't get in.

1833 Borrowed some money from a friend to begin a business and by the end of the year he was bankrupt. He spent the next 17 years of his life paying off this debt.

1834 Ran for state legislature again—won.

1835 Was engaged to be married, sweetheart died and his heart was broken.

1836 Had a total nervous breakdown and was in bed for six months.

1838 Sought to become speaker of the state legislature—defeated.

1840 Sought to become elector—defeated.

1843 Ran for Congress—lost.

1846 Ran for Congress again—this time he won—went to

Washington and did a good job.

1848 Ran for re-election to Congress—lost.

1849 Sought the job of land officer in his home state—rejected.

1854 Ran for Senate of the United States—lost.

1856 Sought the Vice-Presidential nomination at his party's national convention—got less than 100 votes.

 1858 Ran for U.S. Senate again—again he lost.

1860 Elected president of the United States.

The path was worn and slippery. My foot slipped from under me, knocking the other out of the way, but I recovered and said to myself, "It's a slip and not a fall."

Abraham Lincoln After losing a senate race

Source Unknown

We talked so many things related to this story. And we came up to the bottom line as Lincoln had even the worse obstacles than us, and even after that he became the president of America . The most powerful man in mankind. We have rather all the things we need , parents to care, support us, enough money to keep us going. And our aim is not even high as him, we just have to earn a job which gives us satisfaction and excel in it. My friend felt better after that and we decided to move on from the past failures and look ahead with our efforts.

Then after this incidence I went for a campus drive and couldn’t make through the first round. I felt so disappointed after coming home since I had prepared for this and I felt maybe my luck wasn’t with me that day to get me through it. My parents consoled me when I started crying over this and regretting the thing. And my father (who does not really talk much ) said that “if you get something easily, you never get its value. Your success will even matter more when you will strive more for it” and I felt the contradictions of our situations again. As  just few days ago I was telling the same words to my friend and now they were coming back to me. Just in another form.

I always prepare one question for my HR interviews as “how do you handle a failure?”

I would say that “I actually don’t believe that there are books which will change our life in one day. Or the people who will change our thought process in a day. I believe that inspiration for our win has to come from within. I believe that the confidence and spirit you need to achieve a grand success has many days and nights spent by arguments with ourselves. And then you get a one aim and then you start doing everything you can to chase it. Chase it until you finally have the moment of victory. So that’s how I handle my failure, by seeing what were my mistakes and what went wrong in my past attempt. And I would overcome those in my next attempt. Once I heard a really good line, “ commit as many mistake you want, but do not repeat them…”

And that would be my strategy to overcome them.

When we are on the verge of something we go through lots of thoughts, some of fear for failure , some for imagining the moment of happiness, and some utterly horrible visuals of not getting something we want. But we need to control them at least till we have given our try.

Opportunities are coming again now. And I have to be prepared for them. J

Since Abraham Lincoln didn’t quit, We cant either…

Wish me luck everyone…