“from Factory Boy to Famous Author: Learn the Principles of Success From the Biographies of Successful People”

People today are troubled. Could the r-word turn into the big “D”? That’s right; recession always presents a real danger of sliding or crashing into depression. History can repeat itself. But if we look back at history with the purpose of finding the best ways to succeed even when economic times are tough, we can find many, many examples of people who turned their dreams into a new reality for themselves and their families and others.

Even when things look their bleakest, a vision of how life should be can draw you closer and closer to that new reality. History can be our mentor and our guide as we study and learn the science and art of success from the biographies of successful people. This is particularly important when times are tough and we feel discouraged. The stories of our heroes in history can perk us up and get us going in the right direction—they serve as our compass on the stormy seas of life.

When we think of Charles Dickens, for example, we may think only of his successes. He was such a famous author that we know his work in an instant from all the movies and stage plays that have been made of his stories and the reading we did in school at every level. A Christmas Carol has been immortalized in remakes over the decades to the extent that we can hardly imagine Christmas without that story’s important lessons of the heart. We have
known Scrooge so well growing up that we now delight in introducing him to our children and grandchildren. And there are many more examples of his work that live with us every day: Bleak House, Nicholas Nickleby, A Tale of Two Cities (who does not know the first line of that novel: “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times”? Who does not recognize that those words ring true for every age?),

Great Expectations…

But what did it take for Charles Dickens to get there, to succeed as an author so well that he has lived in us as a beacon of light and compassion? Charles Dickens was born into a family that was quite poor. Even as a child he read voraciously and took well to his studies. He dreamed as a boy of a life as a refined gentleman—educated, intelligent, insightful. He dreamed of being a writer and author. At a very young age, however, his dreams were put on the back burner because of his family’s needs.

His parents took in boarders to make ends meet in those hard times. One of them, seeing how young Charles spent his days studying and dreaming, suggested to his parents that he be put to work in a factory. They liked the idea and soon poor Charles, at about the age of 10 mind you, was placed in a blacking factory in London away from his home and family. This was grueling, dirty, early morning until late at night work for the lad. In addition, knowing
he was destined for a greater fate, this was also terribly humiliating for him, but he never complained and never discussed with anyone how he came to be there. In fact, he couldn’t talk about it until much later in his life. He simply did his duty to his family, kept on reading and studying, and held close to his heart the dream of what his future life would be.

Later on, with success and a lovely family with four boys, Charles Dickens’ best advice to his sons as they went on their own adventures, was “Do your best in everything that you do.” This is a fine lesson from history and demonstrates that the principles of success are repeated again and again throughout history. A dream of a better life is timeless—and achievable by anyone who wants to learn the principles and apply them in his or her own life. That is how to turn “the worst of times” into the “best of times” for your own life.