I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial… – Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill was prime minister of Great Britain during World War II (and again in the 1950’s). He was an inspirational and charismatic man who, like FDR and Lincoln, remains a great example of a leader whom History put in the right position at the right time. Churchill was also an army officer and a writer, earning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953.
Today’s Thought reveals a trait we’ve noted in great people and that we’ve talked about here before: they had a deep-seated belief in themselves and what was meant to happen in their lives. This trait is not reserved for good people, either. Another World War II leader who felt as if he were merely living out was meant to happen to him was Adolf Hitler who, of course, is as evil a man as our species has produced.
Both Churchill and Hitler displayed the four traits that attend success.
One, they had a plan for their life. Neither doubted they were destined for the history books and would live down the ages.
Two, they made the execution of that plan the primary purpose of their life. Hitler made it his sole purpose while Churchill chose to bother with the distractions of a wife and children.
Three, both came back strong from defeat and the other setbacks that attend any achievement.
Four, both believed their success was a foregone conclusion.
These four traits are not reserved for those in the history books, either. They are traits displayed by anyone who has achieved anything of merit. They’re traits you’ve displayed when you’ve achieved something worthwhile and we’ve even displayed them from time to time on the occasion of one of our few and modest attainments.
What destiny are you walking with? What has your past life prepared you for? If you have a plan for your life, if you execute that plan, if you come back strong from defeat and if you believe success is merely a foregone conclusion, your path will take exactly where you are meant to go in this life.
The Thought for the Day runs regularly. Quotes are from Gaylon’s private stock.
