Abraham Lincoln — A Resume Full of Defeats

The early life of Abraham Lincoln, America's most beloved president, is told as a catalog of defeat: born in a log cabin with almost no formal schooling, failed in business, lost his love, suffered breakdown, lost legislative and congressional and senate races — the traditional list is partly exaggerated, historians note, but that his road was paved with losses is beyond dispute.

Then, in 1860, at fifty- one, he won the presidency — into a nation splitting in two — fought through the worst war in its history, achieved emancipation, and at Gettysburg spoke of government of, by, and for the people.

Had he won that senate seat, President Lincoln might never have existed; defeat kept pushing him toward the larger stage. Words attributed to him: "I walk slowly, but I never walk back." The number of your defeats does not determine your worth; only whether you stopped walking does.

To you with the résumé full of losses: you are still short of Lincoln's fifty-one.

What do you work for?