Obstacles That Celebrities Overcame To Achieve Ultimate Success

Nobody would honestly that the path to success was easy but many famous celebrities had to overcome obstacles in order to achieve that very .success.  What they shared was perseverance and a strong belief in themselves.  Here are some examples that can let us all take heart in the knowledge that failures can be overcome and that you're never too old!

At age 23, Oprah was fired from her first reporting job.  It was said that a producer told her she was unfit for television news.

At age 24, Stephen King was working as a janitor and living in a trailer.

At age 27, Vincent Van Gogh failed as a missionary and decided to go to art school.

At age 28, J.K. Rowling was a single parent living on welfare.  Her first book was turned down by 12 publishers.

At age 30, Harrison Ford was a carpenter.

At age 37, Ang Lee was a stay-at-home-dad working odd  jobs.

Julia Child released her first cookbook at age 39, and got her own cooking show at age 51.

Grandma Moses began painting in earnest at the age of 78 and is often cited as an example of an individual who successfully began a career in the arts at an advanced age.

At the age of 36, R.H. Macy launched R.H. Macy & Co., which grew to become Macy's, one of the largest department store chains in the world and host of the famous Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas".  He also declared bankruptcy at age 23.

At age 23, Tina Fey was working at a YMCA.

Steven Spielberg was twice rejected by the University of California School of Cinema Arts.

Vera Wang failed to make the Olympic figure skating team, didn’t get the Editor-in-Chief position at Vogue, and designed her first dress at age 40.

Stan Lee didn’t release his first big comic book until he was 40.

Alan Rickman gave up his graphic design career to pursue acting at age 42.

Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team in North Carolina when he tried out.  He recounted in an ESPN interview, "It was embarrassing not making that team. They posted the roster and it was there for a long, long time without my name on it."

Samuel L. Jackson didn’t get his first movie role until he was 46 ("As a young black actor, my character always dies!").

Tiger Woods overcame years of well-documented adversity to win his 5th Masters, his first Masters win since 2005 and his first Major win in 11 years.  After multiple surgeries, some doubted whether he would even be able to play golf again, let alone win a tournament.

Morgan Freeman landed his first MAJOR movie role at age 52.

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Train Your Brain: Memorizing the Highest Paid Celebrities of 2017

Memorizing the Highest Paid Celebrities of 2017

The list of the highest paid celebrities for 2017 has just been released and they certainly raked in a ton of  money!  A fun mental exercise to boost your brain power is to memorize the top 10 celebrities on the list in a way where you can recite them from top to bottom or bottom to top.

You can refer to the original article on this topic for a list of the top 10 Corporations.

The Top 10

As a reminder, here are the links to every number to which you will associate with the people on the list.

They are:

1. sun
2. shoe
3. tree
4. door
5. hive
6. sticks
7. heaven
8. gate
9. wine
10. pen


Now, we'll take a look at  the Top 10  Celebrities list (as of June 2017).

They are:

Now, let's link the celebrity with the memory aid for each number.

1. Sean 'Diddy' Combs/sun - Imagine Sean Combs enjoying the sun

2. Beyonce/shoe - Imagine Beyonce with a distinctive pair of shoes

3. J.K. Rowling/tree - Imagine J.K. Rowling in a treehouse

4. Drake/door - Imagine Drake and those flying-wing car doors

5. Cristiano Ronaldo/hive - Imagine Cristiano Ronaldo with a bee on his face (actually a moth from the Euro Cup Final but let's say a bee)

6. The Weeknd/stick - Imagine The Weekend using a chopSTICK

7. Howard Stern/heaven - Imagine Howard Stern entering HEAVEN

8. Coldplay/gate - Imagine Coldplay in front of the Golden GATE Bridge

9. James Patterson/wine - Imagine reading a James Patterson book with a glass of wine (hey there, George Clooney!)

10. Lebron James/pen - Imagine Lebron James using a PEN to sign one of many autographs

After you create these images, you'll find it very easy to recite the list from the top or bottom and to instantly recall any number. Quick, what's number 6?  Stick - The Weeknd

With the links, you can substitute other words for the numbers, such as one-gun or eight-gate but any word will do.  Have fun with the exercise and use it for any top 10 list that you can find useful!


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Learning From Failure: An Important Part of Success

"This organization does not tolerate failure"

Failing at something is often seen as a stigma rather than as a learning experience.  It is impossible to succeed at everything at life but the fault is to make any failure seem larger than it actually is.  Treat it as an opportunity for growth, as have these famous personalities!

I can accept failure, everyone fails at something.  But I can't accept not trying.
Michael Jordan

My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.
Abraham Lincoln


Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt

It's fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.
Bill Gates


Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. 
Winston Churchill

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
 Robert F. Kennedy


The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.
Henry Ford

You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.
Beverly Sills

Failure is so important. We speak about success all the time. It is the ability to resist failure or use failure that often leads to greater success. I've met people who don't want to try for fear of failing. 
J.K. Rowling

When you take risks you learn that there will be times when you succeed and there will be times when you fail, and both are equally important. 
Ellen DeGeneres




People think that the opposite of success is failure, but it's not. Failure is part of the process of success. 
Randy Gage

Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success. 
Dale Carnegie

 


Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. 
Confucius

Have you ever failed at something in your life?  Just like a child that fails at his first attempt at walking, it's persevering that overcomes all obstacles that may be in the way.




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