If You Never Fail, You Never Tried Anything New”
Einstein, the famous scientist, was right in saying – “if you never fail, you never tried anything new”. Success and failure are both sides of the same coin. History is with filled with examples of people who fell so hard in life that standing up once again seemed a Herculean task but they did and you can too.
As the Japanese proverb – “fall seven times and stand up eight” – rightly implies, when life knocks you down, get up and get going. Remember that defeat is only a state of mind.
If you’re going through a bad phase in life where nothing seems to be working, read these inspirational and motivational stories of people on whom life did everything to knock them down but they emerged as the winner, ultimately.
Failure is the other side of success. If you never fail, you never tried anything new. If you never fail, you cannot enjoy the taste of success.
Start by watching this video and read further.
Let’s get going.
(1) Henry Ford
Bankruptcy is scary but here we have Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Industries and an American Industrialist, going completely broke five times before stepping into success. Before Ford made his name in the automobile industry, he tried his hand in a lot of business ventures.
There is discrepancy over the number of times he went bankrupt. Some reports state only twice while some say five times! Whatever the fact is, it is hard to build up a life anew after going bankrupt and here, Ford did it and with great aplomb.
(2) J. K. Rowling
The creator of the exceptionally successful Harry Potter series and named the “Most Influential Woman in Britain”, J. K. Rowling’s is a classic “rags to riches” story.
She was a struggling single mother living on state benefits and short of being homeless. Many times she contemplated suicide. She was out of job, had a failed marriage, her mother was suffering from health issues, severely depressed and she had a dependent child.
The first Harry Potter novel was written during a train journey and it was rejected by 12 publishers before getting accepted by Bloomsbury publishers. The rejections hurt every time but she never gave up and the rest is history!
(3) Charlie Chaplin
Any mention of cinema is incomplete without Charlie Chaplin. The iconic director and actor suffered a lot since childhood but never let those experiences become a hindrance for his life. His life was full of hardships and poverty.
Did you know that Chaplin was initially rejected in Hollywood? It is very surprising to know given his acting mettle.
The studio directors, upon seeing his acts, believed they were too nonsensical and therefore, they would never sell.
Still, Chaplin he persevered and became one of the top comedians of his times.
(4) Steven Spielberg
Spielberg, the man behind iconic movies like Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan, is one of the best American director and screenwriter. His movies are big budgets and makes box office history.
He started making small films and documentaries from his teenage years. Later, he wished to make film direction his profession and applied to the University of Southern California School of Theater, Film and Television but he was rejected, not once but thrice!
Eventually, he enrolled with California State University but dropped out to pursue his directorial dreams. However, in 2002, he returned to University and completed his BA.
Just think where Hollywood would be today if Spielberg hadn’t taken those rejections in his stride!
Music is synonymous with the name of Mozart. Yet, most of his popularity is posthumous.
Mozart started composing music by the age of five and by the time he passed away, there were 600 compositions to his name. To this day, they are considered the timeless creations of music.
He never achieved that kind of roaring success he received posthumously. His whole life was a struggle. Briefly, he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg but he lost that position due to restlessness and the search for better opportunities.
His end years were fraught with financial tensions even though those last years of life were times of immense productivity.
Endnote
The list doesn’t stop here.
History has countless examples of people who failed and failed and failed in the beginning but came out successful in the end.
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