At 19 years old, he then attended Fort Hare College, where he studied English, politics, anthropology, native administration and law. He studied so hard that he finished his junior certificate at Healdtown College within two years, instead of the usual three. He was the first person in his family to go to school, which is also where his teacher Miss Mdigane gave him his British name Nelson – the reason for which he never found out (but guessed it had something to do with Lord Nelson).įrom the very start of his education, Nelson Mandela realized that this was the true path to freedom. It probably feels natural to focus on the violent protests and Nelson Mandela’s attitude towards violence as a justified means in desperate times, but if you look beyond those, you’ll see that Nelson Mandela was as committed to education as very few people are. If you want to save this summary for later, download the free PDF and read it whenever you want.ĭownload PDF Lesson 1: Education holds the key to freedom.Īs I was reading through these blinks, the theme of violence vs. Would you like to be mentored by Nelson Mandela? Well, this is as close as it gets, let’s do this! It’s most important that you don’t give up right after your biggest setback.If you want to be remembered, you must learn to challenge authority.Your best bet at finding true freedom is education.

I tried to draw 3 high-level lessons from his biography, here they are: That’s why there’s so much to learn from the life of Nelson Mandela and that’s exactly what we’ll do. Can you imagine going to sleep in a place that has nothing but a mat on the floor and a bucket in the corner, and waking up every morning to grueling work (mostly crushing stones) for 10,000 days and nights in a row? In his struggle against apartheid (the racial segregation of blacks and whites in South Africa), he spent 26 years in prison, from 1964 to 1990. Surviving for over three years in places where every day, dying was more likely than living, I can’t even imagine the scenario. An achievement so big, an act of defiance so massive, I can’t even remotely understand how a human being can do such a thing.Įarlier this year, Viktor Frankl was one such example. However, sometimes, maybe once or twice a year, I learn about a person who did something I can’t even comprehend.

There’s no shortage of them and plenty of opportunity to get inspired. Writers, creatives, entrepreneurs, actors, academics, you name a field, I can tell you a person I admire in it. Listen to the audio of this summary with a free reading.fm account:

A long walk to freedom