Chapter 105 to establish eternal goals

A young man, eager to study law, wrote to Lincoln for advice, and Lincoln wrote back: "If you have made up your mind to become a lawyer, the whole thing is more than half done—put your The most important thing is to keep the decision in your heart until you succeed." Lincoln said that because that's what he did all along.During his lifetime, he received less than a year of schooling.As for books, I have to borrow them fifty miles from home.Usually, there was a log fire burning all night in Lincoln's log cabin, and sometimes he used it to read.Lincoln would often place a book in the gap between the wood, and every day at dawn, he would turn over on the bed made of leaves, rub his sleepy eyes, take out the book from the gap in the wood, and start reading greedily .

Lincoln would walk twenty or thirty miles to hear a speaker.When he returned home, he continued to practice speaking, whether in the fields, in the woods, or in the Jones family's grocery store in Guernstreeville.At the same time, he joined the literary and debating societies of New Salem and Springfield, doing speaking exercises on the hot topics of the day, just as you are doing today. For a long time, Lincoln suffered from low self-esteem.He is usually silent and shy when it comes to women.When he went on a date with Mary Todd, he would sit still, flushed, and listen to her talk without finding anything to talk about.However, it is such a person who, through continuous practice and self-study, has made himself a speaker who can debate with eloquentists.Then, after the Gettysburg Address and the second inaugural address, he elevated his oratory to a level few in history have achieved.

No wonder Lincoln wrote in the face of difficulties and challenges: "If you have strengthened your faith and decided to become a lawyer, then the whole thing is more than half done." In the Oval Office, there is a photo of Abraham Lincoln that is alive and well.Theodore Roosevelt once said: "I have to deal with some things often, and some things are very difficult. They are often closely related to people's rights and interests. Whenever this is the case, I will look up at Lincoln. , imagine how he would behave in that situation. It might sound weird, but, frankly, it tends to make things manageable."

If in the process of learning to speak, you feel disappointed and want to give up, why not try Roosevelt's method?You can pull a Lincoln five-dollar bill out of your pocket and ask yourself what Lincoln would have done under the circumstances.And you may know a past story about Lincoln: When he ran for the U.S. Senate, Lincoln was defeated by Douglas, but he exhorted his supporters to "never give up, even if you fail a hundred times."