Much can be learnt from Thomas Edison, whose birthday it is today…
We learn about never giving up and that ‘failure’ is part of the normal journey towards success.
Thomas Edison’s teachers said he was “too stupid to learn anything.” He was fired from his first two jobs for being “non-productive.” As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps!”
Other famous people have also had difficult starts, overcome adversity and then found their bliss…
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 initially rejected on the grounds that it would only attract riffraff.
Henry Ford failed and went broke five times before he succeeded.
Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher called him “hopeless as a composer.” He nevertheless ignored them and wrote five of his greatest symphonies while completely deaf!
Charlie Chaplin was initially rejected by Hollywood studio chiefs because his pantomime was considered “nonsense.”
In high school, actor and comic Robin Williams was voted “least likely to succeed.”
Van Gogh sold only one painting during his life. This was to the sister of one of his friends for 400 francs (approximately $50). This didn’t stop him from completing over 800 paintings.
12 publishers rejected J.K. Rowling’s book about a boy wizard before a small London house picked up Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
Elvis Presley was fired after just one performance. He was told, “You ain’t goin’ nowhere, son. You ought to go back to drivin’ a truck.”
Charles Schultz had every cartoon he submitted rejected by his high school yearbook staff. Oh, and Walt Disney wouldn’t hire him!
27 publishers rejected Dr. Seuss’s first book, ‘To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street’.
The lesson for us…difficulties and challenges are normal…
You too can overcome adversity and find your bliss…
Keep going!
