Analysis Of Stephen King's Autobiography Of Calvin Coolidge

Many radically successful people—CEOs, entrepreneurs, and visionaries alike—are almost infatuated with the idea of working as hard as humanly possible. Stephen King has his self-imposed “2000 words a day” policy. Elon has his 80-hour workweeks; Jeff Immelt, his 100-hour workweeks; and Marissa Mayer, her 130-hour workweeks. (One-upmanship seems to be a popular game among CEOs.)

In the “Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge”, Coolidge harps on the fundamental importance of hard work to one’s eventual success, far before it was ever fashionable to do so. He stresses that his career, in law and politics alike, had “little about it that was brilliant, or spectacular”, but was rather “the result of persistent and painstaking work”.

Coolidge’s many successes can be attributed, paradoxically, to his acceptance of his limitations. He knew that the hand that he had been dealt in life was not one of a

It isn’t about how much you spend. It’s about how hard you work.” There’s been a gradual shift by the wealthy towards incessant working

Although the article argues that this merely a ploy by the rich to justify their ungodly bank accounts by “showcasing their superhuman levels of industry”, a less cynical take on the matter might show a more heartening message, one that Calvin Coolidge himself, a century prior, endorsed—that the people in power got there not by means of circumstance or otherworldly talent, but by putting in the hours to make sure that they succeeded. That anyone with the right approach towards life, anyone willing to sacrifice and cry and bleed to improve themselves, could be like them.

Today, the widespread proliferation of available information has caused our modern era to be dubbed the “Information Age”. Never before have so many people had access to so many sources of previously specialized knowledge and