We don’t hear much about Abraham Lincoln’s defeats because his victories were so notable, but for much of his life the odds were against him. His mother died when he was nine. In 1832 he lost an election to the Illinois State Legislature.In 1849 he was rejected as Commissioner of the General Land Office. He lost Senate races in 1855 and 1858, and in between failed to win a vice-presidential nomination. However, his most painful loses were the deaths of his four-year-old and twelve year-old sons.

Born in the backwoods of Kentucky, Lincoln had only a few months of “blab-school”–one without books where students repeated the teacher’s words. He taught himself mathematics, read the classics and worked on his writing and speak-skills using the Bible as his model. His philosophy was, “I’ll study and prepare, and when the time comes I’ll be ready.”

He told a friend, “Bear in mind, your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other thing.” His Gettysburg Address is one of the most notable speeches in history. During the darkest days of the Civil War he said, “I do the very best I know how . . . and I mean to keep on doing it to the end.” He understood that what happens in you is more important than what happens to you.