In the last post, Important Facts About Adversity, we described the reality that adversity happens to everyone. In fact, there are many famous people who overcame adversity.
They experienced rough times that could have very much derailed their success.
Today we will take a look at several famous people who didn’t let adversity from stopping them to become successful in their careers.
They all failed many times but refused to give up and let those failures define them.
Some Famous People Who Overcame Adversity
Walt Disney: The man who gave us Tom and Jerry cartoons and other classic animations. His work is known all around the world for his ability to create thrilling and interesting cartoons.
Did you know the story behind his success? Do you know that he was once fired from his job at the Kansas City Star? Why?
His editor said he lacked any creativity or ideas that were needed to succeed!
Of course, this sounds ridiculous now. Still, this is the truth. If you think that this story is surprising, you need to hear more about this interesting man.
Since he was undeterred by being fired, he created his first animation company in 1921 in Kansas City.
He started making cartoons that he would ship to a distribution company in New York City. However, he wouldn’t get paid for six months.
You would think that no company could survive on such an absurd arrangement.
He eventually had to close the company because he couldn’t afford the rent for the space. As well he could barely pay his other bills or eat.
Are wondering how a man who faced such challenges could be nominated for fifty-nine Academy Awards?
He knew a secret. He knew that hard times don’t last forever and he refused to give in even if the odds looked like they were stacked against him.
Oprah Winfrey: Today Oprah is a self-made billionaire. Her story has become an inspiration to countless people around the world.
She is in fact a great example of people who overcame adversity and it made her stronger.
She had numerous reasons to give up and think that she wasn’t meant for success. But, she didn’t give up and kept advancing forward.
Oprah was born into poverty as her mother had her when she was still a teenager.
As well, Oprah gave birth to a child at fourteen but the child died not long after it was born.
This all sounds pretty depressing, and one would think that her life would never get much better.
However, Oprah had other plans. She decided to go to school and learn to be a journalist.
Although things didn’t get better right away, she kept persevering. She has talked about how in her first job a producer told her she was cut out for TV and should quit.
Despite hearing that, she didn’t let that stop her. She kept working and the results are that she has inspired so many people because of her sheer determination and courage to succeed.
Bill Gates: He is one of the richest and well-known men in the world. However, the co-founder of Microsoft wasn’t always a success.
In fact, he struggled to find his area of expertise in the early years of his life before he eventually became successful.
Gates started the company Traf-O-Data, which was designed to create reports for roadway engineers from raw traffic data.
Unfortunately, things did not go as planned or anticipated.
The company was closed when the machine that was designed to process the data crashed when it was presented to a Seattle County traffic representative.
Nevertheless, Gates wasn’t discouraged by this unhappy situation. He chose to start from scratch by learning the lessons from this experience.
The lessons from his first failed attempt to develop a company gave him the blueprint for one of the most influential companies in the world. He is just one of the many people who overcame adversity.
Colonel Sanders: This is the story of someone who showed us that it is never too late to start a worldwide brand.
It may be better to start early, but, Colonel Sanders proved that you can start a thriving business even in old age.
Colonel Sanders started developing his fast-food empire when he was already sixty-two years old! Yes, that is correct!
You would think that he was at that stage in life where he would rather just enjoy his retirement. However, he decided that was not the route for him.
He started by presenting his chicken recipe to various restaurants. Evidently, he was rejected by more than a thousand people.
The good news is that the colonel was resilient and wasn’t about to give up.
His determination was to pay off when he found his success with a restaurant in Corbin, Utah. The restaurant became the very first Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The company was able to triple its sales within a year thanks to the colonel’s chicken recipe.
Whenever you feel like throwing in the towel, remember the doggedness of this man and hang in there.
JK Rowling: Everyone in the world has either read the books or watched Harry Potter movies. The writer behind that story is JK Rowling.
She has become a tremendous success. But, things were very different for her before her breakthrough. As a result, you will probably appreciate her success even more.
JK Rowling felt that she had written some pretty interesting stories and that publishers would be scrambling to publish her books.
However, things didn’t go the way she expected. In the end, she would submit her manuscript to twelve major publishers all of who rejected it much to her dismay and shock.
She kept writing her stories despite facing so many challenges that would have made others quit writing for something they felt would be more lucrative.
She was divorced and had a young daughter to support while trying to write the first parts of the book.
So, you would think that during those hard times when her work was rejected, she could have considered that writing wasn’t for her.
But, she decided to keep on trying. She submitted the manuscript a year later, and the publisher Bloomsbury accepted it.
The company gave her a small one thousand and five hundred Euros to publish the first book.
However, it would turn out to be one of the best decisions the publishing firm ever made.
Stephen King: You may not be a fan of horror stores but the name Stephen King is definitely well known in this genre.
He is an excellent example of the success that can be achieved when we choose to try again after several rejections.
King could have given up on one of his most renowned works ever, Carie, if he had listened to all the critics who told him that his story was outlandish.
He actually ended up making a difference at a time when horror wasn’t that popular.
At that time it wasn’t easy to publish books. King ended up submitting the manuscript of Carie to thirty publishers but was turned down by all of them.
Let’s face it, many people would have given up already. It seems that one of the publishers wanted King to forget about publishing the book stating that “negative utopias” wouldn’t sell.
Here is a very neat fact. King had actually decided that he had had enough and threw the manuscript into the garbage.
However, when his wife retrieved it he decided to give it one more try since she had encouraged him that it would be worth talking to another publisher.
It may sound pretty ridiculous. You might ask why anyone would make the thirty-first attempt thinking anything would be different from the first thirty tries.
Being the smart man he is, King listened to his wife, and as they say, the rest is history.
10 Celebrities Who Have Overcome Adversity Video:
These are just a few of the stories of people who are hugely successful today, but they had a lot of adversity before they became successful.
Here is a story worth mentioning. If you heard this basketball career record: missed more than 9,000 shots, lost almost 300 games, was entrusted with the game-winning shot twenty-six times, and missed, you might think that this guy is a loser.
In fact, he has failed repeatedly. However, this guy is Michael Jordan.
He has said of this record “I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
So, if these people who overcame adversity can do it, so can you!
