The road to success is marked by setbacks that test your resilience, grit, and determination. For these successful people, failure became a crucible that eventually forged their paths to success. The stories of these famous people who overcame adversity show the power of unwavering spirit, self-belief, perseverance, and determination.
Inspiring stories of overcoming setbacks through determination
1. Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone is famous for his portrayal of John Rambo and Rocky Balboa. But his journey to stardom had failures that would discourage many.
He was born in 1946 in New York City, where complications at birth caused paralysis of the lower left side of his face (including parts of his lip, tongue, and chin), which gave him his signature snarling look and slurred speech. As a result, he was bullied as a child and coped with it through bodybuilding.
He spent part of his infancy in foster and boarding care. He rejoined his parents at the age of 5 and initially stayed with his father, but at age 15, he joined his remarried mother in Philadelphia.
He strived to become an actor early on, but he was rejected about 1,500 times by agents and talent scouts in the film industry. They told him he walked funny and couldn’t act with his slurred speech.
He was so broke that he had to sell his beloved dog for US$25 to pay his electricity bill. Later, he became homeless and slept in the New Jersey Port Authority bus terminal while saving money to rent another apartment.
Amidst his most desperate moments, Stallone found inspiration for his film, Rocky, from a match between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner. He was offered up to US$325,000 for his Rocky script on one condition — he would not star in the film. He refused and later accepted just US$35,000 plus a percentage of the film sales. Rocky grossed over US$200 million!
2. Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey was born in 1954 to a single teenage mother in rural Kosciusko, Mississippi. She grew up in her grandmother’s house in utter poverty before her mother moved to Wisconsin with her when she was 6 years old.
Her childhood was not only hard, but it was also traumatic. Her relatives and a family friend raped her. At 14, she became pregnant, though her son died shortly after birth.
Things started looking up for her when at 17, she won a beauty pageant, eventually becoming a news anchor in Nashville after college. But when she later moved to Baltimore to co-anchor the news, she was dismissed for being “unfit for television.”
In 1983, she took over a new show, AM Chicago, which later birthed, The Oprah Winfrey Show — a high-rated talk show that ran for 24 consecutive years. Today, she is a billionaire and a philanthropist.
3. Stephen King
Stephen King, one of the most successful fiction writers, was born in 1947 in Bangor, Maine. He was always passionate about writing and was 12 when he started submitting short stories to low-budget magazines using a secondhand typewriter. However, many were rejected, and he pinned the rejection letters on a nail on the wall. When the nail could no longer bear the weight of the letters, he replaced it with a spike.
He entered the University of Maine to study English. He held various jobs to pay for his studies, working as a janitor, a gas station attendant, and an industrial laundry worker. After graduating, he earned a certificate to teach high school, but, unable to find a teaching post immediately, supplemented his laboring wage with a limited number of short stories sales. At the same time, his wife worked at Dunkin’ Donuts.
He continued writing, but his first novel, Carrie, was rejected by 30 different publishing firms. He was so frustrated that he threw it in the trash, but his wife retrieved the story and urged him to finish it.
Ultimately, Carrie was published, and he was given US$2,500 in advance. He later received US$200,000 for the rights to the book. Today, his net worth exceeds US$500 million with over 400 million copies of his over 65 books sold, with many adapted into movies, including The Shawshank Redemption, The Shinning, Carrie, Misery, Stand by Me, The Mist, and It.
4. J. K. Rowling
J.K. Rowling’s story of determination never fails to inspire. She was born in 1965 in Yate, England, and since she was young, she had to deal with an ailing mother and a distant father.
She failed to join Oxford University, but joined the University of Exeter, where she acquired her Bachelor of Arts in French and Classics. She moved around as a young person from London, Manchester, to Porto, Portugal — where she went to teach English.
Her mother died of multiple sclerosis, and she was distraught. She met a man in Porto with whom she had her firstborn in 1993. But the man was abusive, and she had to move to Edinburgh, Scotland, to live with her sister.
She was over 30 and considered herself a failure living as a single mother depending on government assistance. She was also depressed and even contemplated suicide, but found solace in writing her manuscript for her first Harry Potter book. However, the book was rejected by 12 publishers before being picked by a small publisher, Bloomsbury.
Her book was published, selling over 500 million copies. According to Forbes, Rowlings was the first author to become a billionaire through book writing. Today, she’s a literary success, philanthropist, and advocate of equality and social justice.
5. Colonel Harland Sanders
The brainchild behind Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is famous for his tenacity and determination after failing countless times in life and business. Harland Sanders famously made it when he was 65 years old.
He was born in 1890 in Henryville, Indiana. His father died when he was young, leaving his mother to fend for them. She would be gone for several days, and he had to step up to care for his siblings. By the time he was 7 years old, he had advanced his knowledge as a cook, learning to prepare vegetables, bread, and meat.
When his mother remarried in 1902, things became too hard for him, and he left when he was 13. He held several jobs at a young age, including a steam engine stoker, insurance salesman, and filling station operator. Eventually, he opened his first restaurant inside a former gas station in Corbin, Kentucky, called Sanders Cafe, where he began selling fried chicken during the Great Depression.
During that time, he developed his “Secret Recipe” of herbs and spices and his patented chicken cooking method in a pressure fryer, all of which he scratched out on the back of the door to his kitchen.
He recognized the potential of the restaurant franchising concept. Despite receiving 1,009 rejections, he persisted, and the first KFC franchise opened in South Salt Lake, Utah, in 1952. Today, over 20,000 KFC restaurants in 125 countries serve his finger-lickin’ good chicken.
6. Bethany Hamilton
Born in 1990 in Lihue, Hawaii, Bethany Hamilton embodies determination and resilience. As a young girl, she wanted to become a professional surfer. However, all that came crashing down when she was bitten by a 14-foot tiger shark while surfing at age 13.
The shark bit off her left arm, but she refused to let this be the end of her career. Within weeks, the teenage girl was back on her surfing board, learning to surf with just one arm. She later realized her dream, became a professional surfer, and competed in several events globally.
Today, she inspires many people and is an outspoken advocate for shark conservation.
The power of perseverance and determination
These stories of how successful people overcame extreme odds exemplify the impact of creativity, determination, and perseverance. These people are not just characters; they symbolize the strong-willed people who turned setbacks into a launchpad of success. Their journeys remind us that failures are not roadblocks, but can be stepping stones to greatness.
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