Role models of persistence and self-belief
If there is one thing that can exponentially increase your chances for success in whatever you do, it's persistence. So much of turning your dreams into reality is sticking with it long enough for that reality to unfold.
The stories of Thomas Edison and Abraham Lincoln's dogged pursuit of their quests (for a light bulb and for political office, respectively) get told so often in self-help material that they have almost become cliches. Every time I run across them, I think, There must be more examples of persistence than these."
So I was delighted to find this list of people who have stuck it out through various forms of adversity to find success on the other side.
It can sometimes be tempting to get down on our own ideas and abilities when others express doubt, skepticism, or even outright hostility towards them. So I especially loved the ones that showed how it pays to take the opinions of others with a grain of salt. For example...
Rocket scientist Robert Goddard found his ideas bitterly rejected by his scientific peers on the grounds that rocket propulsion would not work in the rarefied atmosphere of outer space.
Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas." He went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. In fact, the proposed park was rejected by the city of Anaheim on the grounds that it would only attract riffraff.
After his first audition, Sidney Poitier was told by the casting director, "Why don't you stop wasting people's time and go out and become a dishwasher or something?" It was at that moment, recalls Poitier, that he decided to devote his life to acting.
After Harrison Ford's first performance as a hotel bellhop in the film Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round, the studio vice-president called him in to his office. "Sit down kid," the studio head said, "I want to tell you a story. The first time Tony Curtis was ever in a movie he delivered a bag of groceries. We took one look at him and knew he was a movie star." Ford replied, "I thought you were spossed to think that he was a grocery delivery boy." The vice president dismissed Ford with "You ain't got it kid , you ain't got it ... now get out of here."
Michael Caine's headmaster told him, "You will be a laborer all your life."
Rodin's father once said, "I have an idiot for a son." Described as the worst pupil in the school, he was rejected three times admittance to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. His uncle called him uneducable.
And that's just a smattering of the examples you'll find. Definitely a list worth bookmarking.
Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst TM
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