A Resolution to Succeed
What a short letter from Abraham Lincoln can teach us about success
In a letter to Isham Reavis on November 5, 1855, Abraham Lincoln wrote:
If you are resolutely determined to make a lawyer of yourself, the thing is more than half done already. It is but a small matter whether you read with any body or not. I did not read with any one. Get the books, and read and study them till, you understand them in their principle features; and that is the main thing. It is of no consequence to be in a large town while you are reading. I read at New-Salem, which never had three hundred people living in it. The books, and your capacity for understanding them, are just the same in all places….
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing. Very truly Your friend
A. Lincoln
This is a fantastic letter for so many reasons. The reason I want to bring it to your attention today is as a way to encourage you to think about what success looks like, and how you are going to achieve it in your life.
An Inner Desire
Have you ever wanted to do something? I mean, really wanted to do something?
I think we all have a list in the back of our minds that we want to accomplish. The idea of a “bucket list” is a popular one — the things that you would like to do before you “kick the bucket”.
To be honest, I haven’t really thought about it all that much myself. I’m sure there are a few things I would like to do in my lifetime.
I’d like to see a game in all the MLB parks at some point. I’d love to return to Cooperstown and see the Baseball Hall of Fame again. I’d like to take my family on a nice vacation where we didn’t have to worry about finances or finding the cheapest possible way of doing… well… anything. I want to be completely out of debt, living a life with minimal financial stress. However, while these are all nice goals, and certainly things to be working towards, I can’t say I have a deep, all-encompassing desire to accomplish them.
In this letter, we see Lincoln giving some advice to a (presumably) young man who wants to be a lawyer.
In those days, one did not necessarily have to go to law school — Lincoln didn’t. They used an apprenticeship model whereby one would study under the tutelage of an established lawyer, and, in time, one would develop the necessary skills to practice. Now, that’s a gross oversimplification of the system, but you get the idea.
But, what does Lincoln say to this young man?
If you are resolutely determined to make a lawyer of yourself, the thing is more than half done already.
I’ve heard a quote that was attributed to former Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight that goes like this: It’s not the will to win that matters. It’s the will to prepare to win.
If you want to truly do something in your life, the desire isn’t enough to get you where you want to go. You have to be, as Lincoln says, “resolutely determined”. He doesn’t tell Mr. Reavis that he should merely wish to be a lawyer and it will happen. He tells him to be “resolutely determined”.
Make up your mind, and do whatever it takes to make it happen — even if you have to do it on your own.
What is Essential?
I was at a seminar a couple weeks ago, and the presenter made a great analogy. Now, keep in mind that this was a room full of clergy and lay leaders in the church that he was addressing. He said, “Going to seminary to be a pastor is a lot like a camel preparing for a journey. You fill the hump with water, only to get over the first dune and find yourself in the jungle.”
The idea here is that our schooling prepares us for what was, not necessarily what is to come.
We need to be able to adapt to the world as it is, not as it was. There are a lot of organizations that are prepared just in case 1968 ever comes around again. They are not the ones that are going to be around in 100 years, or even 50 for that matter.
The key to move into the future is to be able to build a solid foundation on the essentials, and then find a way to adapt the rest.
For Lincoln, that meant getting a solid foundation in the law, by whatever means necessary. While the apprentice model was common, it was not the only way in. Certainly, there are professions even today that use the apprentice model as a way of bringing people into the profession. And, frankly, for some professions that is the best way to accomplish the goal.
I don’t know about you, but I would rather have a plumber or electrician who has learned from an experienced person with hands-on application than somebody who has only read the books — and that’s coming from somebody who went to graduate school specifically to read and study books! In the end, though, there is no substitute for simply getting one’s hands dirty — literally and/or metaphorically.
Determine the essentials that are necessary to accomplish your goal.
You Determine Your Success
What does it mean for you to be successful?
That’s going to be a hard question for some people. Here’s why: more often than not, we allow other people to determine the definition of success for us, and then we spend our lives chasing their definition. Then, when we aren’t successful, we look for somebody to blame.
Look: life is hard. There will be some goals that you will not obtain — no matter how hard you work. That’s not an easy thing to hear, is it? Having read that, are you ready to work harder? Are you ready to give up? Are you ready to redefine the parameters?
Some people, in the face of opposition, will work even harder. In some cases, they will accomplish their goals in spite of the opposition that has stacked up against them. For example, do you know how difficult it is to become a professional athlete?
According to the NCAA, only about 9.8% of eligible players get drafted by Major League Baseball. Only 775 of the 7,880 student-athletes who were draft eligible were selected. There were a total of 1,214 players drafted in all. That sounds like a lot, right? Well, it is, especially when you compare them to the number of players drafted by the NBA (1.2%), WNBA (0.9%), NFL (1.6%) and NHL (6.9%). Of those players who were drafted by Major League Baseball, how many actually make it to the Majors? Not many.
300 players will never actually sign with an organization. Already, down 25%. Then you have the minor league system. Several different levels for every organization that one has to stay healthy and prove oneself before getting a promotion. When it’s all said and done, only 17.6% of players who were drafted from 1981–2010 actually played in the Major League.
It’s not necessarily the ones who are the most talented that end up making it. Sure, the upper echelon seem to coast through the minors and get called up by the big club, but they aren’t the only ones who make up the team. Who are the others? The ones who didn’t quit. The ones who matched talent (though they may not have had as much as the future All Stars) with work ethic.
Sure, there are some athletes who don’t make it because of health problems. There are some who don’t have the talent to play at the highest levels. But this is professional sports. In life, things are a little different.
In life, you determine what it means to be successful. And maybe, just maybe, if you aren’t seeing yourself as a success, then maybe you need to redefine what success really means.
In his letter, Lincoln talks about the size of the town in which one does one’s reading.
It is of no consequence to be in a large town while you are reading. I read at New Salem, which never had three hundred people living in it. The books, and your capacity for understanding them, are just the same in all places.
I would say that Mr. Reavis thought that in order to be a success as a lawyer, he was going to have to go “to the big city”. That’s the dream, right? Small town teen goes off to Hollywood to make it big. Only to discover that Hollywood is filled with small town kids with big dreams filling up the service industry.
(Look, I’m not saying that the server you had tonight is a failed artist. I don’t mean anything at all derogatory about the service industry. The point is that people think they need to go where the talent pool is much larger, and find out that they aren’t quite ready. What they really needed to do was sharpen their skills, instead of relying on the fact that they were the star in their local high school production of Grease.)
You see, what Mr. Reavis was doing was falling into a definition of success that was not entirely accurate. You didn’t need to go to the big city to make your way as a lawyer. Lincoln didn’t. What you need to do is put in the work.
Success is not a big expense account, a fancy car, and a house that will sleep 400 people (even though only three live in it). If that’s your definition of success, then maybe you need to reevaluate your priorities in life.
Your Own Resolution
So, are you resolved to succeed? Are you ready to determine what that means in the first place? Don’t let anyone else define it for you. The culture, your family, your friends, your colleagues — they don’t get to dictate to you what it looks like for you to be successful. Only you can do that, and once you do, muster up the resolve to do whatever it takes to make it happen.
Always bear in mind that your resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing.
Very truly your friend
A. Lincoln
