How Churchill's energy saved us from Nazism

It first struck me when I was out on one of my book-searching rounds at the library. There I was strolling through the aisles, picking up any book that caught my eye. As I went past the History, the Sci-Fi and Language sections I found myself in front of the psychology section. In it, was a small category dedicated to "self-development". Usually, I wouldn't of even stopped to glance at these grim, gloomy books but this was an exception. Indeed, I found, in between two books on "How to become more self-confident" and "5 ways to be a better public speaker" a book on Churchill. My instant reflection was that someone very lazily must of dropped it there by mistake. However, upon examining the front and back cover, I realized that it did actually belong in this section. You see, this wasn't a book about Churchill's achievements, or a biography of his life, but a lesson on how to think, speak, act like Churchill. It tells you, in a few hundreds pages, how to develop the skills to achieve success in life, with Winston Churchill used as a detailed example.

Written literature on iconic historical figures is something we are all too familiar with. Authors every year pile up books about History in order to write a short story about one of their lifelong heroes. Churchill hasn't escape this trend, far from it, new books every year are published about his life and contribution to history. Yet here I was, standing in the last section you would expect a man like Churchill to be in. And that, my friends, shows what an incredible man he was.

Winston Churchill's energy is what lies behind all his achievements. When he was a young boy and the subject of immense bullying by his contemporaries, he used his energy to fight back and to throw stones at them. When his mind became blank during a session in the House of Commons, he used his energy to defeat his struggle with public speaking and came back sharper and better prepared. When the cabinet and the nation supported a Halifax leadership to succeed Chamberlain at the outbreak of war, it was Churchill's energy that he used to deliver an awe-inspiring speech about "Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat" and consequently woo the nation and his cabinet. When finally he decided to quit politics after an astounding parliamentary career that streched over 65 years, it was the last remains of his energy that he used to write books late into the night and produce more words to his name than Shakespear and Dickens combined.

We should all take example from Churchill. Not because of his achievements, or his skills as an author and orator, but because of his appetite for life and his relentless kick to keep going.