Success is only a Succession of Failed Attempts

Success is often linked with how much money we earn at ‘our corporate jobs’ or what role we hold as our designation. However, the reality is that this is not how we need to be limited to.

There are so many people who choose to not work in the corporate sector but possess an incredible amount of talent and there are others who choose other professions outside this realm. 

“Success is not final and failure is not fatal. However, it is the courage to continue that counts.” These famous words were said by Winston Churchill and yet resounds till date. Of course, everybody loves someone who is succeeding at his or her jobs/roles but reaching that position takes time, patience and a lot of hard work.

If you look back at some of the most successful people in the world, you will see that they had all encountered some type of failure. It is important however to remember that failure should never be regarded as final but only as part of the journey. Failure can teach us how to improve ourselves and maximise our potentials. 

Some success stories worth knowing are:

1)   Walt Disney:  Despite his current fame, it is a known fact that Walt Disney was abruptly fired from the Kansas City Star newspaper because his editor felt that he lacked imagination and had no good ideas. Besides that, he even formed his own animation company – Laugh-o-Gram Films.

Although he even raised $15,000 for this company he was forced to shut it down following the close of an important distributor partner. He yet stood strong and was literally desperate out of money, but he found his way back into Hollywood.

However, he faced a lot of criticism and failure before finally a few of his classic films started to skyrocket in popularity. Today, he is known as one of the creative geniuses of the 20^th century. 

2)    Oprah Winfrey: She was publicly humiliated and even fired from her first job in TV as a reporter in Baltimore for “getting too emotionally invested in her stories”. This was because she would often be seen crying while reporting tragic news in her job. She is one of the best examples of a woman who moved from rags to riches, rose from poverty to the top of the world and changed America and the world for the better. 

 

3)   Steven Spielberg: He was rejected by the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts multiple times but today stands out as one of the most sought after directors of Hollywood movies. However, that never stopped Spielberg from becoming the director that he is today and winning awards. Now when you think of him, you immediately think of movies such as Jaws, E.T. (the Extra-Terrestrial), Lincoln, Schindler's List and many others. Failure didn't prevent him from moving forward! Today he is the highest grossing director in the world!

4)   Saul Bellow: Although he was never encouraged to pursue literary art and in fact was even dismissed as a ‘dud’ by his English professor Bellow has gone ahead to become one of the greatest authors of the 20^th century. He even went on ahead to win the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, A Guggenheim and the National Medal of Arts.      

5)   Arianna Huffington: She got rejected by 36 publishers before achieving the fame she has today. Many people had given negative reviews about its potential and quality when it was first launched. However, Arianna had to overcome these hurdles and finally cemented her name to be one of the successful outlets on the Internet.

6)   J.K. Rowling: When people think of J.K. Rowling they would probably think of success, but not many know that her success was achieved from literally rock bottom. She was a single mother, divorced and living off welfare when she first penned down the first Harry Potter and the six sequels.  Life wasn't a bed of roses for her. She has literally lived rags to riches life where she shot to fame; where she progressed from living from state benefits to being a multi-millionaire within a span of five years.   

7)   Bill Gates: Known to be the richest man in the world, Bill also had it rough in the beginning. In fact, he majorly flopped before he is said to have struck it so big. His first venture, Traf-O-Data was a product that read and processed data in traffic tapes. However, it didn't work when he tried to sell it along with his partner Paul Allen. They were thus very careful and lucky when founding Microsoft, the software company.    

8)   Albert Einstein: His name would only indicate a sense of a mastermind, but even he faced a tremendous amount of difficulties before getting it easy. In fact, he was slow to start speaking and even when he grew older he faced a lot of odds with school administrators. However, we all remember him for the genius that he was and the fact that he formulated the theory of general relativity. He even won the prestigious Nobel Prize, but he wouldn't have had he given up on himself.

9)   Milton Hershey: Everyone has heard of the popular Hershey’s bars, but nobody knows that the man who founded the company actually had started three candy companies before Hershey’s. Milton Hershey was actually “a-nobody” when he started his candy production career.

In fact he was forced to watch all three of these candy ventures fail before he finally founded the Lancaster Caramel Company, which started to get enormous profits. It was only then that he founded the Hershey’s Company and became one of the well-known names in the industry.