Not everyone
who’s on top today got there with success after success. More often than not,
those who history best remembers were faced with numerous obstacles that forced
them to work harder and show more determination than others. Successful people
commit to taking personal responsibility for their career success. They kept
their eye on their goals .They also react
positively to the people and events in their lives – especially the negative
people and events.
“Only the guy
who isn’t rowing has time to rock the boat”.-Jean Paul Sartre.
Business
Gurus.
These
businessmen and the companies they founded are today known around the world,
but as these stories show, their beginnings weren’t always smooth.
1. Henry
Ford: While Ford is today known for his innovative assembly line and
American-made cars, he wasn’t an instant success. In fact, his early businesses
failed and left him broke five time before he founded the successful Ford Motor
Company
2. Akio
Morita: You may not have heard of Morita but you’ve undoubtedly heard of his
company, Sony. Sony’s first product was a rice cooker that unfortunately didn’t
cook rice so much as burn it, selling less than 100 units. This first setback
didn’t stop Morita and his partners as they pushed forward to create a
multi-billion dollar company.
3. Walt
Disney: Today Disney rakes in billions from merchandise, movies and theme parks
around the world, but Walt Disney himself had a bit of a rough start. He was
fired by a newspaper editor because, “he lacked imagination and had no good
ideas.” After that, Disney started a number of businesses that didn’t last too
long and ended with bankruptcy and failure. He kept plugging along, however,
and eventually found a recipe for success that worked.
Scientists
and Thinkers.
These people
are often regarded as some of the greatest minds of our century, but they often
had to face great obstacles, the ridicule of their peers and the animosity of
society.
4. Albert
Einstein: Most of us take Einstein’s name as synonymous with genius, but he
didn’t always show such promise. Einstein did not speak until he was four and
did not read until he was seven, causing his teachers and parents to think he
was mentally handicapped, slow and anti-social. Eventually, he was expelled
from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. It
might have taken him a bit longer, but most people would agree that he caught
on pretty well in the end, winning the Nobel Prize and changing the face of
modern physics.
5. Charles
Darwin: In his early years, Darwin gave up on having a medical career and was
often chastised by his father for being lazy and too dreamy. Darwin himself
wrote, “I was considered by all my masters and my father, a very ordinary boy,
rather below the common standard of intellect.” Perhaps they judged too soon,
as Darwin today is well-known for his scientific studies.
6. Isaac Newton: Newton was undoubtedly a genius when it came to math, but
he had some failings early on. He never did particularly well in school and
when put in charge of running the family farm, he failed miserably, so poorly
in fact that an uncle took charge and sent him off to Cambridge where he
finally blossomed into the scholar we know today.
Inventors
These
inventors changed the face of the modern world, but not without a few failed
prototypes along the way.
7. Thomas
Edison: In his early years, teachers told Edison he was “too stupid to learn
anything.” Work was no better, as he was fired from his first two jobs for not
being productive enough. Even as an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful
attempts at inventing the light bulb. Of course, all those unsuccessful
attempts finally resulted in the design that worked.
8. Orville
and Wilbur Wright: These brothers battled depression and family illness before
starting the bicycle shop that would lead them to experimenting with flight.
After numerous attempts at creating flying machines, several years of hard
work, and tons of failed prototypes, the brothers finally created a plane that
could get airborne and stay there.
Public
Figures.
From
politicians to talk show hosts, these figures had a few failures before they
came out on top.
9. Winston
Churchill: This Nobel Prize-winning, twice-elected Prime Minster of the United
Kingdom wasn’t always as well regarded as he is today. Churchill struggled in
school and failed the sixth grade. After school he faced many years of
political failures, as he was defeated in every election for public office
until he finally became the Prime Minister at the ripe old age of 62.
10. Abraham
Lincoln: While today he is remembered as one of the greatest leaders of our
nation, Lincoln’s life wasn’t so easy. In his youth he went to war a captain
and returned a private (if you’re not familiar with military ranks, just know
that private is as low as it goes.) Lincoln didn’t stop failing there, however.
He started numerous failed business and was defeated in numerous runs he made
for public office.
Hollywood
Types.
These faces
ought to be familiar from the big screen, but these actors, actresses and
directors saw their fair share of rejection and failure before they made it big.
11. Fred
Astaire: In his first screen test, the testing director of MGM noted that
Astaire, “Can’t act. Can’t sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.” Astaire
went on to become an incredibly successful actor, singer and dancer and kept
that note in his Beverly Hills home to remind him of where he came from.
12. Sidney
Poitier: After his first audition, Poitier was told by the casting director,
“Why don’t you stop wasting people’s time and go out and become a dishwasher or
something?” Poitier vowed to show him that he could make it, going on to win an
Oscar and become one of the most well-regarded actors in the business.
13. Charlie
Chaplin: It’s hard to imagine film without the iconic Charlie Chaplin, but his
act was initially rejected by Hollywood studio chiefs because they felt it was
a little too nonsensical to ever sell.
14. Oliver
Stone: This Oscar-winning filmmaker began his first novel while at Yale, a
project that eventually caused him to fail out of school. This would turn out
to be a poor decision as the the text was rejected by publishers and was not
published until 1998, at which time it was not well-received. After dropping
out of school, Stone moved to Vietnam to teach English, later enlisting in the
army and fighting in the war, a battle that earning two Purple Hearts and
helped him find the inspiration for his later work that often center around
war.
Writers and
Artists.
We’ve all
heard about starving artists and struggling writers, but these stories show
that sometimes all that work really does pay off with success in the long run.
15. Vincent
Van Gogh: During his lifetime, Van Gogh sold only one painting, and this was to
a friend and only for a very small amount of money. While Van Gogh was never a
success during his life, he plugged on with painting, sometimes starving to
complete his over 800 known works. Today, they bring in hundreds of millions.
16. Emily
Dickinson: Recluse and poet Emily Dickinson is a commonly read and loved
writer. Yet in her lifetime she was all but ignored, having fewer than a dozen
poems published out of her almost 1,800 completed works.
17. Theodor
Seuss Giesel: Today nearly every child has read The Cat in the Hat or Green
Eggs and Ham, yet 27 different publishers rejected Dr. Seuss’s first book To
Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.
18. Charles
Schultz: Schultz’s Peanuts comic strip has had enduring fame, yet this cartoonist
had every cartoon he submitted rejected by his high school yearbook staff. Even
after high school, Schultz didn’t have it easy, applying and being rejected for
a position working with Walt Disney.
19. Steven
Spielberg: While today Spielberg’s name is synonymous with big budget, he was
rejected from the University of Southern California School of Theater, Film and
Television three times. He eventually attended school at another location, only
to drop out to become a director before finishing. Thirty-five years after
starting his degree, Spielberg returned to school in 2002 to finally complete
his work and earn his BA.
20. J.
K. Rowling: Rowling may be rolling in a lot of Harry Potter dough today, but
before she published the series of novels she was nearly penniless, severely
depressed, divorced, trying to raise a child on her own while attending school
and writing a novel. Rowling went from depending on welfare to survive to being
one of the richest women in the world in a span of only five years through her
hard work and determination.
21. Monet:
Today Monet’s work sells for millions of dollars and hangs in some of the most
prestigious institutions in the world. Yet during his own time, it was mocked
and rejected by the artistic elite, the Paris Salon. Monet kept at his
impressionist style, which caught on and in many ways was a starting point for
some major changes to art that ushered in the modern era.
22. Louisa
May Alcott: Most people are familiar with Alcott’s most famous work, Little
Women. Yet Alcott faced a bit of a battle to get her work out there and was
encouraged to find work as a servant by her family to make ends meet. It was
her letters back home during her experience as a nurse in the Civil War that
gave her the first big break she needed.
Musicians
While their
music is some of the best selling, best loved and most popular around the world
today, these musicians show that it takes a whole lot of determination to
achieve success.
23. Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart: Mozart began composing at the age of five, writing over 600
pieces of music that today are lauded as some of the best ever created. Yet
during his lifetime, Mozart didn’t have such an easy time, and was often
restless, leading to his dismissal from a position as a court musician in
Salzberg. He struggled to keep the support of the aristocracy and died with
little to his name.
24. The
Beatles: Few people can deny the lasting power of this super group, still
popular with listeners around the world today. Yet when they were just starting
out, a recording company told them no. They were told “we don’t like their sound,
and guitar music is on the way out,” two things the rest of the world couldn’t
have disagreed with more.
25. Ludwig
van Beethoven: In his formative years, young Beethoven was incredibly awkward
on the violin and was often so busy working on his own compositions that he
neglected to practice. Despite his love of composing, his teachers felt he was
hopeless at it and would never succeed with the violin or in composing.
Beethoven kept plugging along, however, and composed some of the best-loved
symphonies of all time–five of them while he was completely deaf.
Athletes
While some
athletes rocket to fame, others endure a path fraught with a little more
adversity, like those listed here.
26. Michael
Jordan: Most people wouldn’t believe that a man often lauded as the best
basketball player of all time was actually cut from his high school basketball
team. Luckily, Jordan didn’t let this setback stop him from playing the game
and he has stated, “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have
lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game
winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my
life. And that is why I succeed.”
27. Stan
Smith: This tennis player was rejected from even being a lowly ball boy for a
Davis Cup tennis match because event organizers felt he was too clumsy and
uncoordinated. Smith went on to prove them wrong, showcasing his not-so-clumsy
skills by winning Wimbledon, U. S. Open and eight Davis Cups.
Next time you feel like giving up on your
dreams, keep these famous people in mind and remind yourself that more often
than not failure can lead you to your greatest successes.
I would love
to hear how you turned your obstacles into your greatest successes.
Finally,
“Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of
you. Never excuse yourself”.-Henry Ward Beecher.
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