Getting History Done

“During another period I smoked excessively, threatening to ruin my health. Then my will asserted itself and I not only stopped, but destroyed all inclination. Long ago I suffered from heart trouble, until I discovered that it was due to the innocent cup of coffee I consumed every morning. I discontinued at once, though I confess it was not an easy task. In this way I checked and bridled other habits and passions, and have not only preserved my life but derived an immense amount of satisfaction from what most men would consider privation and sacrifice.” — from My Inventions by Nikola Tesla

“…only to be in reality industrious and frugal, but to avoid all appearances to the contrary. I drest plainly; I was seen at no places of idle diversion. I never went out a fishing or shooting; a book, indeed, sometimes debauch’d me from my work, but that was seldom, snug, and gave no scandal; and, to show that I was not above my business, I sometimes brought home the paper I purchas’d at the stores thro’ the streets on a wheelbarrow.” — from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

“Behrns remembers how Zuerlein [St. Louis Rams’ rookie kicker] never seemed much like a kicker when he was at Omaha. Most kickers tend to be by themselves, working out away from the regular practices, rarely lifting when their much larger teammates did. Zuerlein was different. He wanted to lift with the linemen and run with the receivers. He wanted to get faster and stronger. He wanted to be seen as one of the players, not a guy who just likes to kick balls for half an hour and then go off to the showers. Behrns wonders if this is maybe where Zuerlein’s strength comes from.” — from “Rams rookie Greg Zuerlein has become a kicking sensation and has the nicknames to back it up” from Yahoo! Sports

“Of all things, I liked books the best. My father had a large library, and whenever I could manage to, I tried to satisfy my passion for reading. He did not permit it, and would fly into a rage when he caught me in the act. He hid the candles when he found that I was reading in secret — he did not want me to spoil my eyes. But I obtained tallow, made the wicking and cast the sticks into tin forms, and every night I would cover the keyhole and the cracks in the door and read, often till dawn, when the rest of the family slept and my mother started on her daily tasks. On one occasion, I came across a novel entitled Abafi (The Son of Aba), a Serbian translation of a well known Hungarian writer, Josika. This work somehow awakened my dormant powers of will, and I began to practice self-control. At first, my resolutions faded like snow in April, but soon I conquered my weakness, and felt a pleasure I never knew before — that of doing as I willed.” — from My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla

“Nor did I ever intermit collecting facts bearing on the origin of species; and I could sometimes do this when I could do nothing else from illness.” — from the Autobiography of Charles Darwin

Darwin spent a surprising amount of time sick and largely incapacitated. He was always working on and collecting facts for the Origin of Species, though. It took him years and years to research and write. Stick with whatever you’re working on in times of sickness and in health.

“It was not easy being a messenger boy in Pittsburgh or in any city whose streets did not cross at right angles in a New York City-style grid. Andy’s greatest fear was that he would not be able to find the offices he was supposed to deliver messages to. ‘So I started in and learned all the addresses by heard, up one side of Wood Street and down the other. Then I learned the other business streets in the same way.’ After memorizing the street map, he learned the names — and faces — of the city’s businessmen so that, should he manage to meet one in the street, he could say hello and, in those rare but magical moments when he had a telegram, deliver it on the spot.” — from Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw

Have a menial job? Is there something you can do to set yourself apart? Andy Carnegie was a messenger boy but he did a lot more than just deliver messages. He did everything he could to be the best messenger boy he could possibly be and notable people remembered him because of it.