13.07.2016

20 Most Inspiring Famous Failures


You are not alone! Here’s the list of FAMOUS FAILURES for inspiration

    1. Abraham Lincoln –Former US President Abraham Lincoln first went into politics at the age of 23 when he campaigned for a seat in the Illinois General Assembly and failed. He then opened a general store which failed after only a few months.
    2. Michael Jordan –The most famous name in basketball was actually cut from his high school basketball team.
    3. Steven Spielberg –He dropped out of high school and applied to attend film school three times but was unsuccessful due to his C grade average.
    4. Beethoven –His music teacher once told him that he was a hopeless composer.
    5. Harry S. Truman –This former US President was rejected by the US Military & Naval Academies due to his poor eyesight. At one point he was a clerk in a newspaper mailroom, and also an usher in a movie theater.
    6. Henry Ford –The Ford Motor Co was Henry Ford’s third business, the first two didn’t work out.
    7. Winston Churchill –This former British Prime Minister did poorly in school and had a speech impediment in his early years.
    8. Marilyn Monroe –Marilyn Monroe spent much of her younger years in foster homes. One of her first jobs, during the Second World War, was inspecting parachutes.
    9. Walt Disney –He was fired by the editor of a newspaper for lacking in ideas.
    10. Soichiro Honda –The founder of Honda was turned down for an engineering job by Toyota after World War Two.
    11. Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita –These two were the founders of Sony, but one of their first products was an electric rice cooker. They only sold 100 or so of these cookers because they tended to burn rice rather than cook it.
    12. Charles Darwin –His father told him he would amount to nothing and would be a disgrace to himself and his family.
    13. Albert Einstein –He learned to speak at a late age and performed poorly in school.
    14. Thomas Edison –As a boy he was told by his teacher that he was too stupid to learn anything.
    15. John Grisham –This best selling novelist’s first novel was rejected by sixteen agents and twelve publishing houses.
    16. Isaac Newton –He failed at running the family farm and did poorly in school.
    17. J.K. Rowling — At one point in her life, Rowling was nearly penniless, depressed, divorced and had to raise her child on her own. While writing the manuscript of Harry Potter, she was on welfare. Adding to that, 12 publishers rejected the manuscript.
    18. Steve Jobs — He was fired from the very company he began. The dismissal made him realize that his passion for his work exceeded the disappointment of failure. Further ventures such as NeXT and Pixar eventually led Jobs back to the CEO position at Apple.

«I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me,” Jobs said in 2005.

    1. Bill Gates — Bill Gates was a Harvard dropout. He co-owned a business called Traf-O-Data, which was a true failure. However, skill and a passion for computer programming turned this failure into the pioneer of famous software company Microsoft.
    2. Vincent Van Gogh — During his lifetime Vincent Van Gogh suffered mental illness, failed relationships, and committed suicide at the age of 37. He only ever sold one painting in his life, pinning him a failure as an artist. However that did not put a damper on his enthusiasm and passion for art.

Glossary

Go into politics Идти в политику Be fired Быть уволенным
Campaign for a seat Баллотироваться на должность For lacking the ideas За недостаток идей
A store Магазин A founder Основатель
Cut from a team Выгнать из команды Turn down Отказать
Drop out of school Выгнать из школы Be a disgrace to a family Быть позором
C grade average В основном «тройки» Run a family farm Управлять семейной фермой
Apply to attend a school Подать заявление в школу Former Бывший
Be hopeless Быть безнадежным Do poorly at school Плохо учиться в школе
Be rejected Быть отвергнутым Speech impediment Дефект речи
Poor eyesight Плохое зрение Foster home Детский дом
An usher билетер Work out Сработать, получиться