It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.
— Marcus Aurelius
Michael was born in a small town in England in 1791. It was not a time or place where a child of low birth to poor parents could expect to see his situation elevated. He received little formal education and at age 14, was apprenticed to a local bookseller. For the next seven years, Michael worked in the bookshop, binding and selling books for no payment other than a roof over his head and three meals a day.
For Michael, there was one perk to his indentured position; he had access to books. Although he had little education, Michael could read, and that is what he did. He developed an interest in science, particularly chemistry and electricity. But the book that most captivated him was Issac Watts’s book The Improvement of the Mind. Michael would take this book to heart and believed that he could elevate himself despite Britain’s rigid class-based system.
After completing his apprenticeship, Michael began to attend lectures at the Royal Institution and the Royal Society. There he was mainly influenced by the lessons of Humphrey Davy, an English chemist and a bit of a self-promoter. Michael took detailed notes on Davy’s presentations and then used his bookshop skills to bind them into a beautiful 300-page book. He sent the book to Davy in the hopes that it would result in a job for Michael in the noted chemist’s lab. Davy’s response was kind and favorable, but he did not see a use for an untrained individual.
In 1813, Davy damaged his eyesight in a lab accident. Needing someone to record his lab notes and work, Davy remembered the book given him by Michael and decided to employ Michael as an assistant. Michael’s enthusiasm, quick mind, attention to detail, and hard work ethic saw him advance through the ranks to become one of the most respected experimenters and inventors. A man of little education, Michael found himself awarded an honorary Doctor of Civil Law by Oxford University. Several of the most prestigious scientific academies in Europe and America awarded him with membership. Perhaps an even more incredible honor is that Albert Einstein kept a portrait of Michael on his study wall beside those of Issac Newton and James Clerk Maxwell.
Although you may not have heard of Michael Faraday before, you are familiar with is work. His experiments in electricity and electromagnetism made electricity practical. His work on electromagnetic dynamism led to the electric motor. He also established a relationship between light and electricity that laid the foundation for modern radio waves, television, and wi-fi. It is hard to underestimate the impact this man had on the conveniences that make everyday life.
Michael Faraday’s achievements in science are impressive, but equally noteworthy is how he elevated himself in 19th century England’s class-bound system. With little education, he became one of the most respected experimenters and scientists in history. And it all started with reading books. Although he had little schooling, he could read. Using the principles he learned from The Improvement of the Mind, Michael became self-educated in chemistry and electricity. Utilizing the skill he had as a bookbinder, he was able to bring himself to the attention of the most prominent chemist in London. Through his industry and willingness to accept menial work in exchange for the opportunity to learn and demonstrate his ability, he worked his way up to become one of the great minds in science. Perhaps then it is no surprise that one of the most often quoted statements of Michael Faraday is, “But still try, for who knows what is possible.”
Was Michael Faraday’s rise to prominence in the scientific community assure? Certainly not, but he would have never had a chance if he had not made an effort. It may have been a lucky fluke that Humphrey Davy injured his eyesight and thus needed an assistant. Still, if Michael Faraday had not been prepared and shown what he could do before that accident, Faraday’s name would not have come into Davy’s mind.
But still try, for who knows what is possible?
— Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday could have accepted his position in life and settled for a bookbinder life. Instead, he aimed for more with no clear plan or promise of success. The important thing was that he did not accept where he was as good enough. He avoided the trap that the remarkable renaissance Italian painter and sculptor Michelangelo warned us about,
The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.
— Michelangelo
The easy thing for Faraday to have done was to accept his situation. He could have made a comfortable living in the book trade. He had invested seven years in mastering a skill, and most people would settle into doing that thing. It is as the American operatic tenor Robert Brault put it,
We are kept from our goals, not by obstacles but by a clear path to a lesser goal.
— Robert Brault
Are you settling for a lesser goal? Do you find it easier to stay in a job that doesn’t take advantage of your abilities, because you know how to do that job and it pays well? Perhaps you should take note of this advice from the American protestant author, teacher, and preacher Francis Chan,
Our greatest fear in life should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.
— Francis Chan
Is leading a “successful” life successful if you are doing meaningless work that you don’t care about or work you know is below your abilities? Does it matter how successful you are in that setting? What if Michael Faraday had settled for being a successful bookseller? Think about that the next time you turn on an electrical appliance or see a Tesla drive down the road. The Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, playwright, and tutor to Emperor Nero, Seneca may have summed up your modern dilemma two-thousand years ago when he wrote,
What difference does it make, after all, what your position in life is if you dislike it yourself?
— L.A. Seneca
It may not seem easy for you today, but what Faraday did would have been considered impossible by most of his contemporaries. Yet, Faraday persisted where many would have given up. Michael followed the advice of the Chinese philosopher Confucius who taught,
When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.
— Confucius
When lack of a university education denied Faraday a career in the sciences via the usual path, he made his own path. Via self-education and using the skills he had as a notetaker and bookbinder, he showed how he could be useful.
When Faraday determined to pursue his goal of becoming a scientist, there was no guarantee of success. In fact, I am writing about him because what he did is the exception rather than the rule. If not for an ironically lucky lab accident, Michael Faraday may have remained in the bookshop his entire life. Yet, knowing the unlikeliness of success, Michael Faraday proceeded as best he could. There are no guarantees of success in life, but as United State President John F. Kennedy put it,
There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.
— John F. Kennedy
The important thing was that Faraday dreamed big. He worked diligently on that dream, doing his best at every turn, and he proved Henry David Thoreau’s advice correct,
… if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
— Henry David Thoreau
What dream should you be advancing on?
What quiet talent are you keeping hidden from the world?
What will it take to make you come alive?
The world needs you to come alive, share what is within you, and make the world a better place by making yourself what you can be.
