Steve Jobs was famous for saying, “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” To be successful in anything, you have to have some talent, but more so, persistence – a persistence that is fueled by a touch of madness.
Let’s take a look at a few people who met failure after failure, yet trusted their own madness and created success:
- Thomas Edison – He was told by his teachers that he was ‘too stupid to learn anything’. He went on to hold more than 1,000 patents, including the phonograph and practical electric lamp.
- Steven Spielberg – He was rejected twice by University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. He went on to win five Academy Awards.
- Albert Einstein – He didn’t speak until age four and couldn’t read until age seven. He was considered to be mentally handicapped. He not only changed the way we perceive physics; he won a Nobel Prize.
- Stephen King – His first book, Carrie, was rejected by publishers 30 times. Frustrated, he threw the manuscript into the trash. His wife retrieved it, asking him to try one more time. He did and it was his first book deal.
- Sylvester Stallone – He was rejected by talent scouts over 1,500 times. When he was writing Rocky, he was so broke he had to sell his dog to keep the electricity on.
- Oprah – She was told she was unfit for television and fired from her first job.
- Katy Perry – Her first album sold a mere 200 copies before the record label went out of business. After that she was dropped by two record labels. Ten years later she released I Kissed a Girl, and her career took off.
- Michael Jordan – He was cut from his high school basketball team for lack of talent.
- Howard Schultz – When developing Starbucks, he was turned down by banks 242 times.
- Walt Disney – His idea for a theme park was trashed 302 times.
These are people who helped create our world as we know it today. They are the ones who never gave up because they trusted their madness, their vision.
When you feel like giving up, keep going. You will never know what you’ll miss if you don’t.
