who's afraid to fail?

At the age of seven, a young boy and his family were forced out of their home. The boy had to work to support his family. At the age of nine, his mother passed away. When he grew up, the young man was keen to go to law school, but had no prior formal education.


At 22, he lost his job as a store clerk. At 23, he ran for state legislature and lost. That same year he went into business.
It failed, leaving him with a debt that took him 17 years to repay.
At 27, he had a nervous breakdown.
Two years later, he ran for speaker in his state legislature. He lost.
At 31, he was defeated in his attempt to become an elector.
By 35, he had been defeated twice while running for Congress.
Finally, he did manage to secure a brief term in Congress, but at 39 he lost his re-election bid.


At 41, his four-year-old son died. At 42, he was rejected as a prospective land officer.
At 45, he ran for the Senate and lost. Two years later, he lost the vice presidential nomination. At 49, he ran for Senate and lost again.


At 51, he was elected the President of the United States of America.

Thus was the life of Abraham Lincoln.




Excerpted from the Executive Report.