THE ROAD TO SUCCESS PASSES THROUGH FAILURE

Are you discouraged and disappointed with life because you have failed in your pursuit of success. How many times have you been rejected? How many times have you met with failure? Do you remember the time you were told bluntly that you weren’t meant to succeed?

If you think life has been difficult and hard on you, think again! The success stories of the following famous personalities will teach you that a failure here and there is not final. Read their stories and learn from them:

The Vice President of Columbia once told this famous actor that he was never going to make it in the business. Do you know this actor? Harrison Ford, perhaps one of the most successful Hollywood stars ever.

His first book was rejected by 12 publishing houses and sixteen agents. One of my favourite authors, I was addicted to his brand of books after I read “The Pelican Brief”. John Grisham today is a household name worldwide.

Turned down by a recording company saying, "We don't like their sound and guitar music is on the way out".  They were talking about one of the best groups ever. They sung their way into the hearts of millions of fans the world-over. They were The Beatles.

When he was young, he was told by his father that he would amount to nothing and be a disgrace to himself and his family. Yet, he was disheartened. His pursuit of success led him to become a household name today - Charles Darwin 

Considered to be one of the best in his field of pursuit, he was once told by a music teacher "as a composer he is hopeless". Could you believe that “hopeless” person was none other than Beethoven himself?

This famous Italian tenor sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and North and South America but he was once told that "he couldn't sing at all". His name - Enrico Caruso

He was once fired from a newspaper because he "lacked imagination and had no original ideas". Yet his imagination and ideas have taken him to great heights of success. He side-stepped failure to become a famous film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon  and philanthropist. The company he founded today has annual revenues of approximately U.S. $35 billion. His name - Walter Elias "Walt" Disney. A name known even to small children world-wide.

When the idea for the book series were first mooted, he was told by publishers that "anthologies didn't sell" and the book was "too positive". His idea was rejected a total of 140 times. The book? Chicken Soup for the Soul. Jack Canfield, an American motivational speaker  and author is best known as the co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series, which currently has nearly 200 titles and 112 million copies in print in over 40 languages.  According to USA Today, Chicken Soup for the Soul and several of the series titles by Canfield and his writing partner, Mark Victor Hansen, were among the top 150 best-selling books of the last 15 years.

Still discouraged? Then read on…….

Considered by a teacher to be "too stupid to learn anything"  Thomas Alva Edison persevered in his fields of studies to become a famous inventor, scientist  and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park" (now Edison, New Jersey) by a newspaper reporter, he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and large teamwork to the process of invention, and therefore is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory.

Considered to be the greatest Prime Minister of England, Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade. But that only steeled his resolve to become what he later was.

Wasn't able to speak until he was almost 4 years old and his teachers said he would "never amount to much" - Albert Einstein

Did poorly in school and failed at running the family farm - Isaac Newton

Was not allowed to wait on customers in the store he worked in because "he didn't have enough sense" - F. W. Woolworth

Was cut from the high school basketball team, went home, locked himself in his room and cried - Michael Jordan

Producer told her she was "unattractive" and could not act - Marilyn Monroe

This book was rejected 18 times before it was published. It then sold over one million copies the first year. The book was Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach

 

Auditioned for All My Children and got rejected - Julia Roberts

Received 30 rejections and the author threw it in the trash. Luckily his wife fished it out again and encouraged him to resubmit it. The book was Carrie - the author Stephen King

As you can see, these are just a few of the people who refused to listen to the criticism or the "experts".

If they could do it - so can you!