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đBoredy McBoredingtonâs Old-Fashioned Bored Time: Epic Fails of the Wildly Successfulđ
1 year ago · 0 · Just for fun, +2
296
đSir James Dyson:
You know that frustrating feeling when you donât get something on the first attempt?
Multiply that by 5,126 because thatâs the number of failed prototypes Sir James Dyson went through over the course of 15 years before creating the eponymous best-selling bagless vacuum cleaner that led to a net worth of $4.5billion.
If he gave up every single time he failed, he would not have been a successful entrepreneur who has successfully manufactured some of the best household appliances.
Steven Spielberg:
His cinematic output has grossed more than $9 billion and brought him three Academy Awards, but the master of the blockbuster was rejected TWICE by the University of Southern Californiaâs School of Cinematic Arts. Aside from that, this director also struggled with dyslexia which made it harder for him to cope with school.
To date, he has won 11 Emmys, 3 Oscars, and 7 Golden Globes, and heâs one of the most successful directors of todayâs time.
As their way of saying âOops, I guess we were wrong about youâ the school built a building in honor of Spielberg.
Thomas Edison:
In what might be at once the most discouraging statement and worst teaching practice of all time, Thomas Edison was told by his teachers he was âtoo stupid to learn anythingâ.
Edison went on to hold more than 1,000 patents, including the phonograph and practical electric lamp. Death most likely spared his teachers the ignominy of their incorrect assessment. Edison is now known as one of the most successful inventors who ever lived, and his creations changed the lives of billions of people.
Albert Einstein:
His name is synonymous with intelligence yet it wasnât always that way for Albert Einstein. As a child he didnât start speaking until he was four, reading until he was seven, and was thought to be mentally handicapped. If he gave up and never persevered, his most important theories could not have been known.
He went on to win a Nobel Prize and altered the worldâs approach to physics. I guess he was just thinking of the right thing to say for those first four yearsâŚ
J.K. Rowling:
Before there was a wizard, there was welfare. Rowling was a broke, depressed, divorced single mother simultaneously writing a novel while studying. Itâs hard to believe it but a lot of publishers rejected Harry Potter.
Now one of the richest women in the world.
Abraham Lincoln:
Lincolnâs failures were broad and numerous. He achieved the unique feat of leaving for a war a captain and returning a private (the lowest military rank).
He next took failure in his stride during multiple failed business attempts. Undeterred, Lincoln marched into the political realm, where he launched several failed runs at political office before his ascendance to President.
He shared this quote about his failure:
âMy greatest concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.â
Jerry Seinfeld:
Before the show about nothing, Seinfeld was a young comedian on the stand-up circuit. His first time on stage didnât go so well. On seeing the audience he froze and was booed and jeered off stage.
His choices: pack it in and accept comedy isnât his thing or return to the same stage the following night and have the audience in hysterics. He opted for the latter and went on to become one of the most successful comedians of all time.
Theodor Seuss Geisel:
Known to generations as Dr Seuss, the much-loved childrenâs author had his first book rejected by 27 different publishers.
According to him, he was on his way home to burn his manuscript when he ran into one of his Dartmouth classmates who eventually helped him to find a publisher for his book.
Now, heâs known as one of the best childrenâs authors.
His books that werenât good enough for these publishers went on to sell more than 600 million copies worldwide.
Stephen King:
In another instance in the never-ending series âBook Publishers Making Dumb Decisionsâ, mega novelist Stephen King had his first book Carrie rejected 30 times.
This iconic storyteller was even told by publishers that they are not interested in any kind of science fiction that touches on negative utopias because they do not sell.
Dejected, King dumped the book in the trash. His wife retrieved it and implored him to resubmit it which led to his first book deal and spawned his illustrious career.
Vincent Van Gogh:
A Van Gogh painting will cost you upwards of $100 million nowadays. But in his lifetime, Vincent Van Gogh couldnât get rid of the things.
He sold just one painting, âThe Red Vineyardâ, during his lifetime, and the sale came not long before his death. Unfortunately for Vincent, others got to enjoy the financial spoils of his lifetime of toils.
According to this artist:
âSuccess is sometimes the outcome of a whole string of failures.â
Elvis Presley:
âYou ainât goin nowhere, son. You might as well go back to drivin that truck.â
These are the words that greeted Elvis Presley after his first performance at the Grand Ole Opry, after which he was promptly fired. Disposing of the keys to the truck, Presley went on to become the worldâs biggest star with a legacy that endures.
Michael Jordan:
Either he was part of the greatest high school roster of all time or his coach made a huge mistake in cutting Michael Jordan from his high school basketball team. Six Championships and five MVPs later, Jordan became arguably the greatest basketball player of all time.
Jordan famously said:
âI 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.â
Kipman, S. (2022) â15 Highly Successful People That Failed Before Succeedingâ
~~~
My Masterpiece
Itâs slim and trim and bound in blue;
Its leaves are crisp and edged with gold;
Its words are simple, stalwart too;
Its thoughts are tender, wise and bold.
Its pages scintillate with wit;
Its pathos clutches at my throat:
Oh, how I love each line of it!
That Little Book I Never Wrote.
In dreams I see it praised and prized
By all, from plowman unto peer;
Itâs pencil-marked and memorized
Itâs loaned (and not returned, I fear);
Itâs worn and torn and travel-tossed,
And even dusky natives quote
That classic that the world has lost,
The Little Book I Never Wrote.
Poor ghost! For homes youâve failed to cheer,
For grieving hearts uncomforted,
Donât haunt me nowâŚ. Alas! I fear
The fire of Inspirationâs dead.
A humdrum way I go to-night,
From all I hoped and dreamed remote:
Too late⌠a better man must write
The Little Book I Never Wrote.
-Robert Service
đ
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