Some of the most influential and richest people in the world experienced tremendous failures before they reached where they are now. Just like the majority of us, they experienced hardships first before they tasted success in life. Listed below are worth-the-read inspiring stories of failures and triumphs about three of the most successful people in the history.
Joanne Katherine “J.K” Rowling
The woman behind every magical word on Harry Potter books had some dark parts of her early life. Before JK Rowling’s success on Harry Potter, her life had gone through a whirlwind of hardships and failures. Her marriage failed leaving her in agony of poverty and even emotional disasters. Rowling herself came from a family who was also struggling from poverty.
As stated by J.K Rowling in her commencement speech at Harvard University back in ’08, despite of the poverty and hardship she had to go through, she saw rays of hopes just as soon as she became truthful to herself. She bravely accepted the challenges lying in front of her. Rowling realized that her life wasn’t that bad and she still had a resource which she was really good at, and that was–writing. She also had her loyal friends, her daughter and that old typewriter on where she placed all her belief and imagination.
Rowling’s idea about Harry Potter started when she was stranded on a train. From there, she couldn’t get off from her mind the idea of writing the story about that boy.
The first Harry Potter book itself had gone through failures. Twelve publishers rejected Rowling’s submission before the manuscript was given a chance by a small publishing house (back then) in England. That publishing house is now one of the most popular and successful publishers in the world.
Millions of readers were attracted to the story of that fictional boy named Harry Potter. Millions of copies of that book were sold and it was amazing how that story was given life on big screens bringing more success to Rowling’s life. Today, J.K Rowling is considered as one of the most powerful and richest women in the world.
Bill Gates
Bill Gates is one of the most influential people in today’s technological century. He is also practically one of the richest men in the world. Yet, this person also had to go through failures at some parts of his life.
Gates’ failures might not be as excruciating as what JK Rowling had. Yet, those failures affected Gates’ life in many ways. Bill Gates dropped out from Harvard University, a fact that is considered by many as one of Gates’ biggest failure. While at Harvard, Gates struggled on his studies, not because he was not good in classes but he couldn’t find inspiration and motivation from what he was doing. He’d spent long nights in front of the computer and end up sleeping during classes hours. After Gates left Harvard, his college buddy, Paul Allen kept in touch with him and was the one who always supported Bills skills and knowledge. Allen kept pursuing Gates to build a software company.
They both build a company, but at first that company failed too.
Despite of that failure, the two didn’t stop. After that first attempt, they formed Microsoft which became the foundation of Gates’ success. Today, Bill Gates is known to be one of the most successful business entrepreneurs and philanthropists. Gates also stated that ones he gets older and crusty he will give away 95% from his fortune.
Akio Morita
You may have not known who Akio Morita is, but you surely heard about his company called Sony. Before his company was established, it had undergone to failures too. Sony’s first manufactured product was a rice cooker on which it couldn’t cook rice perfectly, but burn the rice instead. It only sold less than a hundred units. Yet, that failure didn’t stop Morita. With his intelligence and determination, he knew that he would reach something bigger out of his hard work. He and his partners pursued Sony.
Today, Sony is recognized as one of the leading manufacturers of home appliances, devices and gadgets. It is also one of the most popular trademarks in the market.
It’s truly inspiring how these people succeed despite of the struggles they had to go through. Your own story might not be the same as theirs and you might be looking at your own failures in bigger ways. But, realize that failures will always be a part of your life. No matter how cautious you are, instances happen and all you can do is get up on your knees and pursue your goals. Individuals who dream to become bigger do not recognize failures but see them as “ways that didn’t work.”
When failure is looked at as a positive thing, it can change so much in your life. It will change your vision and will fuel up your determination. Looking at failures as positive things can build your strong faith within you. It can make you think that no matter how people and situations may turn you down, you believe that at end you will succeed. Look at each of your failures as stepping stones to success. Self doubts, trials, poverty and life pains will block you from succeeding. Yet put in mind that no one and nothing can stop you on your objective but only yourself.
All those three people as discussed above, as you can see, they have one concept in common and that is –their belief on what they are doing. Failure surely hurt them too, but they didn’t let it discourage their faith to themselves. You can do the same. No matter how small or big is your life goal.
Develop your own personal wisdom, do your best on what you’re good at and excel personal mastery. You might not succeed by the next day, yet, with perseverance, success shall strike in your life. Sometimes success will happen during those most unexpected times. Lastly, do not compare the size of your success to others. Be the own version of your success and be proud of what you are working hard for.