Everyone has experienced failure at some point or another. Don’t believe me? Even some of the world’s most successful people have failed big time in the past. Be encouraged by these 8 highly successful people’s stories.
1) Oprah Winfrey
Billionaire Oprah Winfrey may be one of the most influential people in the world, but she hasn’t always had it easy. She was born into a very poor family, moved from state to state, and was abused as a child. Despite the rough upbringing, she was offered a full scholarship to Tennessee State University, where she majored in communications.
After graduating, she worked as a reporter and anchor for a Baltimore newscast. After just a few months on the job, she was promptly fired. Even after being fired, she went on to host the highest-rated talk show in Chicago. And now, she is a billionaire philanthropist, author, talk show host, and media mogul.
2) Thomas Edison
Perhaps one of the most recognized American innovators, Thomas Edison is most well known for creating the lightbulb. But did you know that in his attempts to create the lightbulb, he failed over 10,000 times?
Instead of viewing failure as a setback, Edison delighted in it. In fact, he is famous for this recognizable quote:
I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
3) Steve Jobs
The late Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, was no stranger to failure. He only attended college for about six months before dropping out due to financial constraints.
He continued to experiment on his own, and eventually created the first Mac computer. He then went on to co found Apple. In 1985, Jobs was fired from his own company. Can you imagine how he would have felt being ousted from the company he created?
Instead of fleeing the tech scene forever, Jobs continued to innovate. Later, in a Stanford commencement speech, Jobs stated that being fired was the best thing that could have happened to him. It forced him to become a beginner again, and he entered into one of the most creative periods of his life.
Obviously, Jobs eventually went back to work for Apple, where he created many of the products we love and use today.
4) Jerry Seinfeld
Before starting in the sitcom Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld was trying to make it as a stand-up comedian. It’s hard to believe today, but he was actually booed off the stage during his first stand-up comedy act.
It would have been easy to admit defeat, and forget about comedy entirely, but Jerry wasn’t ready to give up. He returned to the exact same stage the following night and was met with wild success.
5) Walt Disney
Can you believe that beloved Walt Disney was once fired because he supposedly “lacked imagination?” That might be hard to believe now, but it was true. In 1919, he was fired from his job at the Kansas City Star, but he didn’t let that deter him.
And his failures didn’t stop there. Disney stumbled from misfortune to misfortune, including having his ideas stolen and filing for bankruptcy. It is even rumored that he had to succumb to eating dog food to survive. But he didn’t let that stop him.
He went on to create one of the biggest cultural empires of all time. When asked about his failures, Disney responded:
I think it’s important to have a good hard failure when you’re young… Because it makes you kind of aware of what can happen to you. Because of it I’ve never had any fear in my whole life when we’ve been near collapse and all of that. I’ve never been afraid.
6) J.K. Rowling
Before she became one of the best selling authors of all time, J.K. Rowling was a single mom surviving on welfare. In fact, she first wrote down her ideas for Harry Potter on a napkin.
Her tenacity led her to submit her script for Harry Potter to 12 major publications – where she promptly received 12 rejections. Eventually, after much persistence, Harry Potter was published and Rowling went on to be one of the most successful authors of all time.
7) Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey, the successful actor, has starred in some of the highest-grossing comedies of all time, such as Dumb and Dumber, Ace Ventura, and The Mask. Carrey is no stranger to hardships. He grew up in a poor family and actually had to dropout of high school to work as a janitor to support the family.
In the initial stages of his comedy career, he was booed off the stage and rejected for Saturday Night Live. Despite all of this, he has gone on to become of the the most successful actors of all time.
In a 2014 commencement speech to the Maharishi School of Management, Carrey discussed the concept of failure.
So many of us choose our path out of fear disguised as practicality. What we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect so we never dare to ask the universe for it. I’m saying: I’m the proof that you can ask the universe for it. My father could have been a great comedian but he didn’t believe that was possible for him. So he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant and when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job and our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father. Not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.
8) Katy Perry
Most people know Katy Perry as a wildly successful pop singer, but it wasn’t always that way. After dropping out of high school in 1999 to pursue a career in singing, Katy faced years of rejection.
In fact, she was signed and promptly dropped from three record labels in a seven year period. Talk about defeat. But Katy didn’t give up. She worked odd jobs to get by and was eventually signed to Capitol Music Group in 2006. It was then that she released her chart-topping record, One of the Boys.
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I came up with a saying a year or so ago “The first step to success is failure.”
You can’t succeed extraordinarily if you aren’t prepared to fail extraordinarily.
Ooh, I love that saying. I listened to Brooke Castillo’s Life Coach School podcast lately, and one of her earlier episodes is all about fear of failure. Highly recommend.
I love this post. A lot of people start a business or side hustle and quit within 6 months to a year. Becoming a success takes years for most people. You have to stay with it and don’t give up, even when the times are tough.
Thanks, Jason! You’re so right about that. I think consistency, even when you aren’t getting the immediate results you want, is key. It isn’t easy, but by being consistent, you’re already doing better than 90% of the people who started.