Stronger Than Inspiration

Michael Jordan didn’t make the varsity basketball team in high school.

"I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” –Michael Jordan

Oprah Winfrey was fired from one of her first jobs as a news anchor. 

“I had no idea what I was in for or that this was going to be the greatest growing period of my adult life” - Oprah Winfrey

Walt Disney was once fired from a Missouri newspaper for “not being creative enough.” 

“We don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney

Albert Einstein did so poorly in college he almost dropped out and his father considered him a failure. 

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” – Albert Einstein

Elvis Presley recorded two failed demos and was rejected by a singing group because “he couldn’t sing”. 

“When things go wrong, don't go with them.” – Elivs Presley

Jim Carrey spent 11 years trying to break into acting and was booed off the stage at his first stand-up gig. 

“You can fail at what you don't want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.” – Jim Carrey

George Lucas’ first movie did so badly at the box office that it lost money, and his script for Star Wars was rejected by two major studios before becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time. 

• “The secret is not to give up hope. It’s very hard not to because if you’re really doing something worthwhile I think you will be pushed to the brink of hopelessness before you come through the other side.” –George Lucas

Before publishing Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling had to move in with her sister at the age of 38, and struggled with depression and suicidal thoughts.  Once she finished the manuscript for the first novel, it was rejected by all twelve major publishing houses before finally being accepted by a small publisher. 

• "You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default." –JK Rowling 

Thomas Edison tried thousands of different times before he successfully created a commercially-viable incandescent light bulb.

“I have not failed 10,000 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 10,000 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.” – Thomas Edison

Harrison Ford worked many odd jobs before landing his first uncredited role as a bellhop at the age of 24.  He was told by studio execs that “he would never make it in this business.”  Nine years later Ford landed his breakthrough role in American Graffiti. 

“If you’re going to define me properly, you must think in terms of my failures as well as my successes.” – Harrison Ford