Leadership Series #4: EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE ARE PERSISTENT!
Perhaps the greatest testimony of a persistent persons remain Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States of America. “He successfully led his country through its greatest constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War-preserving the Union while ending slavery, and promoting economic and financial modernization. Reared in a poor family on the western frontier, Lincoln was self-educated…each time a general failed, Lincoln substituted another until finally Grant (Ullyses S. Grant) succeeded in 1865 to win the war…His Gettysburg Address of 1863 became the most quoted speech in American history…Lincoln has been consistently ranked by scholars and public as one of the three greatest U.S. presidents.” Whao! For a man who lost many elections before he finally made it as the 16th President of the United States! He stood against slavery until slavery crumbled in the US, he believed in the Unity of his country in the face of secessionists everywhere and won the Civil War. That’s persistence!
I love the following two quotes about persistence:
“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “Press On” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” - Calvin Coolidge
“Too many of us wait to do the perfect thing, with the result we do nothing. The way to get ahead is to start now. While many of us are waiting until conditions are “just right” before we go ahead, others are stumbling along, fortunately ignorant of the dangers that beset them. By the time we are, in our superior wisdom, decided to make a start, we discover that those who have gone fearlessly on before, have, in their blundering way, travelled a considerable distance. If you start now, you will know a lot next year that you don’t know now, and that you will not know next year, if you wait.”- The William Feather Magazine
You and I would do well if we heed these quotes. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. It’s the key to becoming an extraordinary person!
Bankole Olubamise, Aug 14, 2012
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