A Look Into The Lives Of People Who Persevered
Before giving you techniques and strategies on how to become successful by sheer perseverance, this chapter presents you with inspiring success stories of people who relied on their inner strength to achieve their dreams.
The people on this list understand how to fail, stand back up, and persevere until reaching success.
Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs found success at the age of 20 when he started Apple in, of all places, his garage. In as little as 10 years, the company became a $2 billion empire.
Read and Learn More Prayers of Perseverance
However, the company board of directors fire Jobs around the 10-year mark. There he was, age 30 and jobless, fired from his own company!
Instead of succumbing to depression after losing the company he built, he used this time to re-evaluate his life. In an interview later on, he said getting fired was the best thing that ever happened to him.
A man who knew how to persevere soon founded a software company called NeXT. Not too long after, he founded Pixar, the production company that created one of the most popular movies of all time, Finding Nemo.
In a seemingly unexpected twist of fate, NeXT was purchased by Apple. Jobs reunited with his former company, bringing more impact than ever.
He was instrumental in creating the gadgets that have made Apple such a sought-after brand today.
Aside from acknowledging that part of his success was because of his family, he believed that he would not have become successful without being fired from Apple when he was 20 years old.
Thomas Edison
When he was a young boy, Thomas Edison was pulled from school by his parents. His teachers told him that he was, “too stupid to learn anything.”
He was later fired from many jobs, and even when he began inventing, he still failed. Did you know he made 1,000 attempts before he perfected the light bulb, a necessity that people still depend on today?
His famous quote, “If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”
Vincent Van Gogh
He is one of the most popular painters but he died not knowing how he would inspire people. Van Gogh surprisingly sold only one painting in his lifetime, and it was a friend of his who bought it.
Yet, this disappointment did not dampen his love for painting, and he went on to finish more than 800 pieces. Today, his paintings are very sought after, with some currently valued up to $142.7 million.
J.K. Rowling
J.K. Rowling is the author of the famous Harry Potter books and is now said to be the second-richest female entertainer in the world, just behind Oprah Winfrey.
Success did not come easily for Rowling. The first Harry Potter book she wrote back in 1995 was rejected by 12 different publishers. Even Bloomsbury, the publishing house that eventually purchased her manuscript, told her to, “Get a day job.”
While Rowling was writing the first book, her life was not all that rosy. She was in the middle of divorce proceedings, living in a small apartment that she shared with her daughter where they survived day-to-day on government subsidies.
Her mother also passed away around this time from multiple sclerosis.
Those hardships did not hinder the writer from writing one of the most successful books and movies of all time.
She said she turned all the challenges in her life into positive energy. She devoted most of her free time to completing the series and now the brand name continues to make billions of dollars around the world!
Walt Disney
Walt Disney was the man behind the popular Disney Company who also had his share of adversities. He was fired from the Kansas City Star Newspaper for lack of creativity.
Instead of finding another job, he created an animation company called Laugh-O-Gram Films. He used his natural salesmanship skills to raise about $15,000 for the company, but his distributor went out of business, leading to his only company’s dissolution.
He was broke and could not even earn enough money to pay rent and buy decent food. Despite his struggles, he did not let the challenges defeat him.
In an apparent leap of faith, he boarded a train to Hollywood with his last few dollars. He always knew his misfortunes were far from over.
In 1926, Oswald the Rabbit was born, a cartoon character of his own creation. Universal Studios, the cartoon’s distributor, secretly patented the Oswald character.
Universal continued with the character and hired Disney’s own artists away from him. Disney ended up without a cent for the use of his creation.
Distributors rejected his cartoons. When he was about to release the first Mickey Mouse film, he was told that his venture would fail because the mouse would terrify women.
Another classic, The Three Little Pigs was also rejected because distributors wanted more characters. Pinocchio was shut down while in production and Disney was asked to rewrite the entire storyline.
Other classics like Fantasia and Bambi were misunderstood during that time, but these movies have become classics and favorites everywhere.
A classic example of Disney’s perseverance can be seen when he decided to adapt the book Mary Poppins in 1944. The author, Pamela Travers, was not interested in selling her book to Hollywood.
Disney did the unthinkable to win her over. The author was based in England, and to convince her, Disney repeatedly went to visit Travers at her home for the next 16 years!
It took a decade-and-a-half for her to agree to produce the movie, and Mary Poppins is now one of Disney’s timeless classics!
His Disney Company purchased ABC in 1996. ABC was then owned by Kansas City Star, the same newspaper that once fired him for being “uncreative.”
Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan has been hailed as the greatest player to ever play the game of basketball. In spite of his giant success, he has been quoted saying, “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 again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”