Overcoming Obstacles Leads to Greatness

With talent like Michelangelo’s, it’s no surprise that many of the artist’s contemporaries were jealous enough to try and keep him from gaining any more fame. The architect Bramante was one of those people. Michelangelo had been commissioned by Pope Julius to carve his tomb. Michelangelo enthusiastically accepted and spent eight months in a marble pit carefully selecting and cutting the stones he would use. Bramante somehow managed to turn the pope against the project and the pope cancelled it.

Later, the pontiff came up with another idea for a special project. Bramante knew it would be a time-consuming project that would provide little recognition for whomever performed the work. So he recommended Michelangelo for the job. Though Michelangelo knew Bramante’s trap, he still accepted the commission and set to work – spending years carefully and tediously painting the Sistine Chapel.

Michelangelo showed that talent and hard work can overcome obstacles, no matter how much – or who – is stacked against you.

– Adapted from InspirationalStories.com

At each stage of his life, Abraham Lincoln encountered failure and defeat. The following are major events in his life.

1832 – Defeated in the Illinois State legislature
1833 – Failed in business
1838 – Defeated for state speaker of the House
1843 – Lost nomination for Congress
1854 – Defeated for vice presidential nomination
1858 – Defeated for U.S. Senate seat
1860 – Elected president of the United States

Lincoln considered himself unqualified to hold presidential office. At first he was, he had little experience and had to learn quickly. The first two years of his presidency were marked by very few Union victories in the Civil War. Key members of the nomination committee even wrote to Lincoln to ask him to resign as his party’s nominee in the 1864 presidential election. His authority wasn’t established until after he was re-elected.

Lincoln learned from his mistakes, corrected what he could and moved on. Ambitious and persistent, the lifelong learner possessed outstanding abilities for self-reflection and understanding others. These attributes led him from failures to leader of our country.

Get Results By Calling At the Best Time

Your time is precious, so why spend it waiting on hold with the electric company or the bank? The secret to getting faster service is in the timing. Here are the best times to call:

Bank: 9 a.m. – 10 a.m. and 3 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Doctors: 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. – 5 p.m. Doctors generally take calls before and after appointments.

Phone and electric companies: The best time to call is early afternoon in the middle of the week. The call volume is lowest during this time while staffing is at its highest.

Retail stores: 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. In most stores, clerks reserve the afternoon to answer calls from customers.

Teachers: 4 p.m. – 5 p.m. Teachers are still in the building

 – Adapted from Redbook