10 people who failed in life... before becoming Legends #WriteBravely

Dr Roshan Radhakrishnan
18
They told him he lacked imagination and had no good ideas when he was a young man working at a newspaper. Walt Disney went on to redefine the animation and movie industry in America with his ideas.

They told her she was too emotionally invested while firing her from he first job as a television anchor. Oprah Winfrey stayed emotionally invested with her guests and went on the become the first African American billionaire woman thanks to her own talk show.

She failed in her early dreams - to make the national Olympic figure skating team and later to become the editor of the magazine she worked for. At 40, disillusioned, she started in an entirely new direction, designing wedding gowns. Today. Vera Wang is one of the leading names in the fashion industry.

10 men and women who did not give up after failing and went on to become global icons in their fields.


Harland David Sanders was fired from dozens of jobs and deemed a failure as he entered his sixties. He finally started travelling around America, selling chicken dishes in others' restaurants. Today, the face of Colonel Sanders and his Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise are known across the globe.

Having taken her son out of school to help look after the family farm, the young mother soon realized the boy was no good at it and had to make a choice whether to persevere with him on the farm and send him back to school. Sir Isaac Newton would return to school and go on to change the world's concepts of physics and mathematics.

He was so bad at his audition that the director told him to stop wasting his time and go work as a dishwasher. Sidney Poitier would go on to become the first African American to win an Oscar for Best Actor.

She was struggling to make ends meet after a failed marriage, living inside a car and receiving rejection letters for her work. Today. JK Rowling is one of the richest (the first billionaire author) and most read authors of all time thanks to her Harry Potter series.

Another author was so frustrated over his repeated failures and inability to succeed that he threw the first draft of his first full length novel in the dustbin. His wife had faith though and picked it out, encouraging him to work on it. That book was 'Carrie' which would go on to make author Stephen King the gold standard of modern day horror fiction.

This Taiwanese man failed his college entrance exams twice which was a huge embarrassment for the family since his father was a respected high school Principal. He tried joining acting school but his English was not good enough. Ang Lee would go on to become a 3 time Academy Award winning director with classics like 'Life of Pi' and 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.'

No music company was ready to sign this young rapper so he had no option but to sell his own song CDs from the back of his car to anyone who would listen. Jay-Z is today a rap legend and one of the best selling music artists of all time.


10 people who failed in life.
Who were berated for their inadequacies.
Who could have given up.
But did not. 
And ended up becoming legends.

Authors note:

This is my take for the prompt provided for Day 3 of Write Tribe's "Festival of Words June 2018"
The prompt for today was - “Our fate lives within us. You only have to be brave enough to see it.” from the movie, Brave.


This is my take on the Picture Prompt provided for Day 2 of the Write Tribe Festival of Words June 2018.
You can see entries by other bloggers for the prompts of Day 3 here.


Top post on IndiBlogger, the biggest community of Indian Bloggers



My other entries for this festival are:
In My Defense (Short Story)





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18Comments

Let me know what you think.

  1. So many to draw inspiration from...
    Lovely post!

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  2. Ultimately one needs to have courage to lead their life..is what I understood..had they given up anytime..today they might have not been at that stage..great collection sir.

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  3. Such wonderful examples of never giving up.Thanks for an inspirational post.

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  4. These true stories about living icons really give you goosebumps. Good goosebumps. Wow. Very inspiring.

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    Replies
    1. Well, some living, some not. But,still. Goosebumps.

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  5. Such stories inspire us to never give up. Nice take on the prompt.

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  6. Such stories inspire us to never give up. Nice take on the prompt.

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  7. Read this out to my ten year old daughter. How inspirational Doc.

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  8. It is a marvel how you put together such great lists and often. This one was inspiring in the truest of forms for me. 5 years out of work already and still have a life time before me to do good :)

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  9. I draw inspiration from such legends on a regular basis. Great compilation.

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  10. Thank God they tried.Enjoyed reading this.

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  11. Great compilation, I must say. Very inspiring post Doc Roshan.

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  12. I love reading your inspiring posts and this one is better than most. Fabulous take on the prompt.

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  13. Inspiring one.... one of the must reads you wrote.....

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  14. Such a wealth of inspiration for us to draw our strength from, Doc! I think kids of today need to be told about these famous figures often. They need to realise how much of their own destinies lie within their own reach. It should be a part of the everyday conversations in homes where kids are pushed to perform and do well to "become" successful in life.

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  15. Inspirational! Thanks for sharing,Dr.Roshan!

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  16. This is so inspiring! Thank you for sharing with us

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  17. So very inspiring. Every child and adult needs to read this one.

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