Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Facing the Obstacles

obstaclesIn Confronting the Brutal Facts of Reality from Angela Maiers Educational Services, Inc., Angela Maiers shares,

“Many times I’ve read that people who enjoy success rarely enjoy an obstacle-free ride to the top; they simply learn to overcome whatever challenges they came across. The most successful people are the ones who never believe that they have “won;” they follows Kipling’s admonition that if you ‘meet with Triumph or Disaster, treat these two impostors just the same.’”

This is so true and you can look back through history to know this is true. If you look at people who have become President or other famous people, you will see how each person had individual struggles.

Henry Ford went broke 5 times before he started his Ford Motor Company.

R. H. Macy started several businesses before he started his popular Macy’s department store.

Soichiro Honda was turned down for an engineer’s job by Toyota. While jobless, he worked on scooters at his own home. Eventually he founded the now billion dollar Honda Corporation.

Harland Sanders had his chicken recipe rejected over 1000 times before a restaurant accepted it. Eventually he found Kentucky Fried Chicken.

After our latest visit to Disney, I found out that Walt Disney failed at several ventures before Mickey Mouse became popular.

Albert Einstein didn’t speak until he was four and didn’t read until he was seven.

Thomas Edison failed over 1000 times before he got the light bulb to work.

Abraham Lincoln lost several elections before he finally got on the road to the Presidency.

Dr. Seuss’s first book was rejected 27 times.

Stephen King’s first book Carrie was rejected 30 times when his wife talked him into resubmitting it again.

Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.

These are just some of the things I’ve found and I’m sure there are many. There are probably a lot of local well known people who have their own stories to tell. I think it would be great for students to find and interview local people for their own inspirational stories.

Do you have or know someone who has overcome obstacles to get where they are? Please share.

Image: 'Overcoming obstacles'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35703177@N00/6999691421
Found on flickrcc.net

1 comment:

Sioux Roslawski said...

Just this year's season of "The Voice," there was a young man who made it to the final four. He was 18 and had a gorgeous voice. His high school music teacher had told him his voice stunk.

Apparently she was wrong. And apparently he would have missed out on a mind-blowing experience if he had listened to her.