Famous failures for kids: 8 famous failures kids can learn from

8 famous failures kids can learn from

When kids make a mistake, it can be hard for them to look past the frustration and see the rewards that lie ahead. One way to keep your child from getting discouraged is to remind him or her that some of the world’s most successful people made big mistakes. In fact, it’s important that kids learn that the only way to succeed is by failing (sometimes more than once!). These famous failures can help your child understand that failure is a common pitfall on the path to success.

Here are eight stories to share with your child about famous people who kept trying and learned from their failures:

1. Rihanna, the R&B superstar, has achieved phenomenal success in the music world but has had her share of struggles, too, including a childhood affected by her father’s addiction to crack cocaine. Rihanna’s view of mistakes is reflected in a tattoo, which reads “Never a failure, always a lesson.” She says it reflects her personal philosophy: “It’s kind of my motto in life for everything. Instead of considering things to be mistakes, consider them lessons.”
2. The Wright Brothers are known as the inventors of the airplane, but their big success came after lots of mistakes: The brothers built seven flying machines and crashed all of them more than once. (Fun fact: One of their early models would turn in the opposite direction they wanted it to!) But they learned from these setbacks. Each time they rebuilt an airplane, they were able to fix something that had gone wrong before.
3. Michael Jordan, a basketball legend, didn’t make the cut when he was a sophomore in high school. “It was embarrassing not making that team,” he said, but he used that failure to motivate him. “Whenever I was working out and got tired and figured I ought to stop, I’d close my eyes and see that list in the locker room without my name on it, and that usually got me going again.”
4. Abraham Lincoln, one of the most famous and accomplished U. S. presidents, experienced plenty of failures before he was elected to the nation’s highest office. When he was young, he opened a general store in Illinois, but the business failed and he had to declare bankruptcy. He also failed twice to get elected to the U.S. Senate.
5. Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka were the cofounders of the Sony Corporation, the electronics giant that makes popular products like PlayStation. The Sony partners made plenty of mistakes with one of their first products: an electric rice cooker that burned the rice instead of cooking it.
6. Katie Couric was the first woman to anchor a U.S. network news program. Although she is a very successful journalist now, things didn’t look promising for her when she was younger. The president of CNN banned her from the air because of her high-pitched voice.
7. Babe Ruth is regarded as one of our greatest baseball players. He hit 714 home runs during his career, but he struck out even more: 1,330 times, to be exact. Ruth viewed his mistakes in a positive light, though: “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.”

To read more about these successful “failures,” check out:

“Rihanna Inks Her New Motto Onto Her Chest,” OK magazine

“Famous Failures,’” The Wall Street Journal

“Michael Jordan Transcends Hoops,” ESPN.com

Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company

Famous Failures to Inspire Grit

Every parent wants success for their child. What many don’t know is what it takes to be successful. Talent and encouragement are both helpful, but ultimately, grit is the most important quality for success. A research study undertaken in partnership with classroom teachers by University of Pennsylvania psychologist Angela Duckworth showed that students became less frustrated with the learning process and put forth more effort when they understood even experts struggle to learn their craft.

Advertisement – Continue Reading Below

Here are 10 numbers to remind your kids that even the most renowned geniuses and accomplished heroes of our time struggled— a lot. These famous failures show us that achievement happens not in spite of, but because of failure.

10: 

9,000

Michael Jordan is considered to be the best basketball player in the history of the game, but did you know he’s also one of the most famous failures in the NBA? He has missed more than 9,000 shots in his career. He has also lost almost 300 games, 26 of which resulted from missing the winning shot.

And who can forget that he failed to make his high school basketball team? But for Jordan, failure is the recipe to his success: “I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

9: 

5,126

James Dyson was frustrated with his Hoover vacuum and its loss of suction. So he had an idea to create the world’s first bagless vacuum cleaner. It took Dyson 5,126 attempts before finally getting it right. Even then, no distributor in the UK would take on the product, so Dyson ended up creating his own company to market the product.

Today, Dyson is worth $4.8 billion all because of his refusal to give up. His famous failures are an inspiration for aspiring engineers and entrepreneurs everywhere.

8: 

1,330

During his career, Babe Ruth set the record for most home runs in a season with 714 home runs. The number to remember here, though, is 1,330. That’s how many times Ruth struck out. So for every home run he made, Ruth struck out about twice. He was successful a lot, but he failed even more. “Every strike brings me closer to my next home run,” the Great Bambino once said.

7: 

1,200

Musicians know that concert performance—that unique experience with audience interaction—is critical to honing their craft. In 1960, the Beatles were still an unknown high school rock band. For the next four years, they frequented local clubs in Hamburg, Germany, playing and practicing sometimes eight hours a night seven days a week.

Advertisement – Continue Reading Below

When they burst onto the scene in 1964, they had played over 1,200 concerts together. This is an extraordinary number in such a short time considering most bands today don’t perform 1,200 times in their entire career. The Beatles were as good as they were because they literally outperformed most bands.

6: 

1,000

Thomas Edison pretty much takes the cake when if comes to famous failures. As a young boy, teachers told him he was “too stupid to learn anything.” He got fired from his first two jobs. Even as an inventor, Edison didn’t seem to bear much fruit—not when he was starting out, at least.

Edison made more than 1,000 attempts before succeeding at inventing the first commercially viable light bulb. Throughout it all, he didn’t consider himself a failure. Edison believed that each failure brought him closer to success. To use his words, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. ”

More inspiring famous failures on page 2…

1 of 2

NEXT

12 famous people who failed but then went on to achieve worldwide success

12 famous people who failed before they succeeded were people who did not give up when faced with difficulties. These are people who stubbornly went to the goal. At one time they overcame their limits, made breakthroughs, and their names have become synonymous with success in their respective fields of science and work.

We all know these names. We have heard them many times. But most people don’t know what they failed at before they succeeded. The general notion of success in the arts, entertainment, or business does not take into account personal struggles. Everything we see is the epitome of that success, no matter how we look at it. nine0003

“Success consists in going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill

As you struggle day by day to realize your hopes and dreams, know: “If there is no struggle, there is no progress. ” Although Fredric Douglas made this statement over 150 years ago, this thought has been evident since time immemorial. Organisms, both small and large, have always fought for survival, fought for progress in all areas of life.

Contents:

#1 – Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey

We all know Jim Carrey as the laughing comedian who gave us some of the highest grossing comedies of all time, like The Mask, Dumb and Dumber and Ace Ventura. But not everyone knows the history of Kerry’s struggle. He grew up in a low-income family with a father who struggled to keep his job. They were so poor that Jim had to leave school at the age of 15 and take a job as a janitor just to help the family.

During his first comic stand-up at Yuk Yuk’s in Toronto, he was booed on stage. Later when Carrey auditioned for Saturday Night Live in season 1980-81, he couldn’t get the part.

However, we are all aware of Kerry’s later success. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Carrey talks about how he used the law of attraction by writing himself a check for $10,000,000 million for “acting services rendered”, later placing the check in his wallet for 7 years until he received $10,000,000 million for his work in Dumb and dumber.

#2 – Katy Perry

Katy Perry

Most people know the name Katy Perry, but they don’t know the hardships she went through to make this breakthrough. Perry began her career as a teenager, dropping out of high school after her freshman year at 19.99 to take up singing. Initially, she was a church singer, taking an example from her parents, who were true Christians.

In 2001, Katy Perry released her first album of church songs with Red Hill Records, which was a commercial failure. After selling only 200 copies of her album, the record company went out of business and subsequently went bankrupt. After that, Perry switched to popular music, moving to Los Angeles to record with producer Glen Ballard. nine0003

In 2003, she signed with Island Def Jam, which was also terminated. In 2004, Katy signed with Columbia Records, which set out to make her the vocalist of a group called The Matrix. However, this deal also fell through when Columbia Records shelved the project, which was about 80% complete.

After her three-label failure, one would think Perry had given up. But this did not happen. She continued to pursue her career, taking odd jobs and singing backing until she signed with the newly formed Capitol Music Group in 2006. It was there that she worked on her first big hit single, I Kissed A Girl, which launched her commercially successful career. nine0003

№3 – Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey

The beginning of Oprah’s life was difficult. As the daughter of a low-income teenage mother, she led a far from glamorous lifestyle. Of her early years, Oprah reveals that not only were her living conditions harsh, she was also always sexually abused from the age of 9 by her cousin, uncle and family friend. At 14, Oprah became pregnant, but her son died shortly after birth.

However, at the age of 14, Oprah was sent to live with her father, Vernon, in Tennessee. He helped her focus on her studies, and she was subsequently accepted on a full scholarship to the University of Tennessee, majoring in communications. In high school and her first two years of college, Winfrey interned at a local radio station, helping to lay the foundation for a career in the media. nine0003

But even after Oprah was hired as a local TV news reporter, things didn’t go so smoothly. She was fired by the producer because she was “unsuitable for television”, she later took a position at another station in Baltimore. She eventually became the host of a local talk show called People Talk.

Later, in 1983, Winfrey moved to Chicago to host a low-rated talk show called AM Chicago. Within months, the show had skyrocketed from last place in the ratings, higher than Donahue’s number one show at the time. This led to the program being renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show, which was syndicated nationwide. nine0003

#4 – Jay-Z

Jay-Z

From an early age, Jay-Z felt the rhythm. But his meteoric rise to fame did not happen overnight. He faced several obstacles on the way to success. For example, in 1995, when Jay-Z tried relentlessly to get a contract, no label signed him. This prompted him to form his own record label, Roc-A-fella Records, with partners Damon Dash and Karim Biggs.

After being rejected by many labels and eventually starting his own record company, Jay-Z worked tirelessly to secure a distribution deal for his first album. He eventually landed a successful contract with Priority, later releasing his debut album, Reasonable Doubt, which went on to go platinum. nine0003

Jay-Z has had many setbacks along the way. These failures were not only at the beginning of his career, but it was at the beginning that he met the greatest resistance, which he overcame in order to succeed. Even in the prime of his career, Jay-Z was accused of allegedly punching someone at a record release party. He appeared in court without pleading guilty, but later pleaded guilty to a lesser crime, resulting in a three-year suspended sentence.

Given that Jay-Z appeared in a housing project in Brooklyn, New York and grew up in extreme poverty, he faced many setbacks and obstacles in his life. But he never gave up. No matter what happened to him, no matter what setbacks he faced, he pushed forward, grew as a person and matured to become a better person. nine0003

#5 – JK Rowling

JK Rowling

Rowling is one of the most inspiring success stories of our time. Many people simply know her as the woman who created Harry Potter. But most people do not know what preceded the achievement of fame. Rowling’s life has not been as sweet as peaches and cream. She fought desperately.

In 1990, Rowling first had an idea for a Harry Potter book. She stated that the idea “fully formed” in her head at one point while she was on the train from Manchester to London. She began to write furiously. However, later that year, her mother died after 10 years of complications from multiple sclerosis. nine0003

In 1992 she moved to Portugal to teach English, where she met a man, got married and had a daughter. In 1993 her marriage ended in divorce and she moved to Edinburgh, Scotland to be closer to her sister. At the time, she had three chapters of Harry Potter in her suitcase.

Rowling considered herself a failure at the time. She was unemployed, divorced, penniless and with a child in her arms. She suffered from bouts of depression, eventually signing up for public assistance. It was a difficult time in her life, but she overcame setbacks. nine0003

In 1995, all 12 major publishers rejected the Harry Potter script. But a year later, a small publishing house, Bloomsbury, accepted him and gave him a very small advance of £1,500. In 1997, the book was published in only 1000 copies, 500 of which were distributed to libraries.

In 1997 and 1998 the book won the Nestle Smarties Book Prize and the British Book Award for Children’s Book of the Year. After that, Rowling’s dizzying rise began. Today, Rowling has sold over 400 million copies of her books and is considered the most successful female author in the United Kingdom. nine0003

#6 – Stephen King

Stephen King

Stephen King is known for a large number of acclaimed novels, most of which have been made into films. However, Stephen King’s first novel, Carrie, was rejected 30 times before it was published.

Moreover, King threw the manuscript into the trash, which was later restored by his wife, who firmly believed in his dream of becoming a published author.

However, King’s early years were also not to be admired. As a child, his family barely made ends meet, and in his later years, as an English teacher, he worked part-time selling stories to magazines. nine0003

Today, King has over 50 novels and has sold over 350 million copies of his books. Can you imagine what King’s life would be like if he gave up? It is hard to imagine that such a successful author was once rejected so many times.

In his early years, King says, he pitched his stories to magazines from the age of 16 and hung rejection notices on a nail until they got so heavy that he had to replace the small nail with a large one.

#7 – Bill Gates

Bill Gates

Before starting Microsoft, Bill Gates failed in business. Known today as one of the richest men in the world, Bill Gates was from an upper-middle class family, a stark contrast to some other successful losers who didn’t have wealthy parents.

However, Bill Gates did not rely on his family. His business acumen was unparalleled. But his first case really failed. Traf-O-Data was the company of Gates, Paul Gilbert and Paul Allen. The goal of the business was to generate reports for road engineers from raw traffic data. nine0003

A company has had little success filing raw traffic data for revenue. But the machine they had built to process data failed when they tried to present it to a Seattle County Highway Officer. However, this business helped Gates and his partner Paul Allen achieve great success at Microsoft.

Although Gates failed in his first business, that didn’t stop him from trying again. He didn’t want to give up because the very idea of ​​the business intrigued him. He managed to create a company that revolutionized the personal computer market. And we all know how successful it was for him. nine0003

#8 – Henry Ford

Henry Ford

Many people know Henry Ford from the Ford Motor Company, one of the most successful automobile companies of all time. What they don’t know, however, is that Ford failed twice and went bankrupt before successfully launching the current incarnation of his company.

Ford is no stranger to falling, but he also did not give up. However, when we think of Ford, we don’t think of failure, because once we succeeded, it eclipsed them. However, in 1899, at the age of 36, Ford founded his first company, the Detroit Automobile Company, with the support of the famous lumber baron William H. Murphy. This company went bankrupt.

His second attempt was in 1901, when he created the Henry Ford Company, from which he left, leaving the rights to his name. This company was later renamed Cadillac Automobile Company. However, Ford’s third foray was the Ford Motor Company, with which he hit the bull’s-eye.

What happened after, we all know. Ford revolutionized the automotive industry by not only creating the Model T and the assembly line, but also proving the need for a car in every home. Driving became an important “thing” and the Ford Model T subsequently sold over 17 million units. nine0003

#9 – Colonel Sanders

Colonel Sanders

People know him because of his iconic white suit and bow tie. Colonel Sanders was the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). However, the start of the extravagant Sanders turned out to be unsuccessful. In fact, it wasn’t until the age of 62 that he set out with a $105 Social Security check to pitch his chicken recipe to restaurants. People called him crazy, but he didn’t give up.

Sanders has worked many jobs including fireman, tire salesman, insurance agent and, of course, a cook. He invented his secret chicken recipe between 1939-1940, when he figured out how to pressurize a chicken faster to make it more flavorful. He was then 50 years old.

However, it wasn’t until 1952 that he got his start selling his chicken restaurant franchise. The first restaurant he got was in Salt Lake City, Utah, and became the first Kentucky Fried Chicken. The restaurant tripled its sales within a year, with 75% of that revenue coming from the colonel’s chicken.

The company grew and expanded faster than he could have imagined. At 19In 1964, at the age of 74, Sanders sold the company for $2 million to a group of investors led by Jack S. Massey and John Y. Brown, Jr. He retained the rights to the Canadian franchises and remained as a salaried goodwill ambassador for the company.

However, this clearly shows that no matter how old you are or how much money you have, you can always achieve something great.

№10 – Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison

We have all heard this name before. This famous American is credited with over 10,000 fruitless attempts to invent a commercially viable electric light bulb, but he didn’t give up. When a newspaper reporter asked if he felt like a failure and if he wanted to give up after 9000 failed attempts, Edison simply said, “Why should I feel like a failure? And why should I give up? Now I know for sure more than 9,000 ways that a light bulb won’t work. Success is almost in my hands.”

This is also the person who was said by teachers to be “too stupid to learn anything” and who was fired from his first two jobs for not being productive enough. However, Edison, thanks to his failures, is also the greatest innovator of all time since 1093 US patents to his name, along with several others in the UK and Canada. This is someone who refused to give up no matter what.

It is said that in early childhood he attributed his success to his mother, who took him out of school and began to teach herself. It was thanks to his mother, her unshakable faith in him, that he succeeded, not wanting to disappoint her. His early passion for chemical experiments and mechanical engineering paved the way for an incredibly bright future. His company GE is still one of the largest public companies in the world, constantly innovating in almost every area. nine0003

#11 – Walt Disney

Walt Disney

The man who influenced future generations with his cartoon creations was once considered a failure. Disney was fired by the editor in 1919 from his job at the Kansas City Star newspaper because he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” However, the man who gave us Mickey Mouse and many other characters did not end there.

Disney’s first steps in the business ended in bankruptcy when he acquired an animation studio called Laugh-O-Gram. The company was acquired because Disney cartoons were gaining popularity in the Kansas City area at the time. But when he hired employees, he couldn’t manage the money, and the business ended up in debt. He subsequently filed for bankruptcy and moved to Hollywood, California. nine0003

Disney’s first setbacks didn’t stop him from moving forward. Of course, like everyone else, the failures were a blow to Disney’s ego. Anyone who has experienced the pain of failure and bankruptcy knows what it feels like. However, it laid the foundation for a successful career. When he founded the Walt Disney Company, all of his past failures helped pave the way for a successful business.

Disney and his company have touched the lives of millions of people around the world. Cartoons, theme parks and animated films created for children and adults alike give them the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of Disney’s labors. If he had given up, things would have been different. But he survived, even despite the bankruptcy. nine0003

No. 12 – Sir James Dyson

Sir James Dyson

The world famous Dyson vacuum cleaner does not lose suction power. The idea of ​​its development was born long ago. Dyson first had this idea in the early 1930s when he became frustrated with his Hoover vacuum cleaner because of the loss of suction power. At that time, the turnover of disposable vacuum cleaner bags was estimated at around £100 million per year.

His great idea was to use the concept of cyclonic separation to create the world’s first bagless vacuum cleaner. Dyson went through 5126 setbacks to finally get it right. When, at the age of 36, he did, he faced a lot of resistance when no distributor in the UK wanted to take on the revolutionary product. Nobody wanted to go against the trend. nine0003

So Dyson entered the Japanese market in 1983 with a hot pink version of his vacuum cleaner. She won an industry award in Japan, and in 1986, 3 years after first introducing his invention, he was awarded his first US patent for it. However, manufacturers were still reluctant to take it over, so Dyson formed his own company in 1993 at the age of 46 to market the product.

Today Dyson has over £3bn, all because of his refusal to give up. He went through hard times of failure, sadness and regret, but he got his way. nine0003

7 biggest failures – Anatomy of Business

5288 4/14/2014 Reading time: 6 min.

Every success is preceded by failure

As philosophers and thinkers say: “Our life is a series of failures and successes. The main thing is to be able to overcome all difficulties and move forward confidently.” We very often look up to famous people – businessmen, athletes, movie stars and show business. It seems that they have achieved everything without any problems, that their life is easy, carefree and successful. As a rule, now we see only the final result, but few people think about what really led to it, what problems and failures they had to go through. nine0003

The largest failures of famous people

1. Michael Giordan I am sure that even if you are not a basketball amateur, they never watched the games, and there were never a topic for games, and there more for the NBA, then you still know the name Michael Jordan. Jordan is something of an icon of the National Basketball Association in the United States, and he has been very instrumental in making the sport popular. nine0167 Michael won the NBA championship six times, won the Slam Dunks several times, was named the most valuable player in the league. But few people know that behind such a mountain of titles and achievements is one big failure that happened to Jordan as a child.
Michael has always loved basketball, but was expelled from the team at school. Then the coach said that it was better for young Jordan to try himself in other sports, because this game is clearly not for him. Michael was very upset, and, as he later admitted, he cried for several days in his room. But faith in yourself, in your strength, did not let you give up, and now the whole world knows the legendary Michael Jordan. nine0003

2. The Beatles

The legendary Liverpool Four conquered the whole world with their hits. In the early 70s, everyone knew them, they occupied the highest places in the radio lines, their concerts were scheduled months in advance. The records were sold out in a matter of hours, and the autograph session caused a sensation among fans. Yes, we know a lot about the Beatles, their hits are still very popular, especially in modern processing. But few people know that at the beginning of their activities, just a few years before the world success, they received one refusal after another. One studio even gave an explanation for their refusal, writing that they did not like the sound of the Beatles, and they had no future in music. nine0003

3. Eminem
You can write a whole book about this history, because its history is not only interesting, it is instructive, and may become an example for many. I advise everyone to watch the film “8 Mile”, in which you can learn more about Eminem’s life, about his path, about his difficult fate. You can understand how an ordinary white kid from Detroit could break out, become a world-class star, and even in the rap genre. nine0167 Eminem dropped out of school, was addicted to drugs, lived on the street, constantly struggled to survive, and even nearly committed suicide. This famous rap artist had such a difficult fate.

4. Steve Jobs
The role of Steve Jobs in the development of the modern world is very difficult to overestimate. He was the founder and thought leader of one of the largest and most famous companies in the world. Apple products are now used by people in all corners of our planet, and developers do not cease to amaze every year with new and new gadgets. nine0003

We have written in more detail about Steve before, and those of you who read the last article will remember that at the age of 30, young Jobs was fired from the company he founded and brought to the world level. It is hard to even imagine such a thing, but the fact remains. Speaking to the graduates of Stanford University, Steve Jobs said that it was a very difficult time, and he even thought about asking for everything. But having gathered his will into a fist and all his strength together, he continued to work, and after a few years he regained his company, in parallel creating several more large and well-known corporations (including the cartoon giant Pixar)

5. Walt Disney

Probably each of you video Disney cartoons. They are colorful, interesting, lively. So, Walt Disney, the famous animator and founder of the Disney company, also faced many problems and failures in his youth. It was very difficult for him to find a job, because one day he was kicked out of a company with a very bad characteristic – “lack of imagination and lack of original ideas.” It was a spit in the soul of a young animator, and many would immediately give up. But Walt did not give up, but created his own company, where he was already the boss and could decide what and how to do without unnecessary advice. Who kicked out Disney there, what kind of company it was, now you can’t even remember, but children all over the world watch Disney cartoons. nine0003

6. Oprah Winfrey
If you’ve read our article on Oprah Winfrey from The Rules of Business: Tips for Millionaires series, you know that she is one of the most famous and highly paid presenters in the world. In the US, her TV show is very popular, millions of women and men listen to Oprah’s advice and recommendations. But one day, when it was hard to say for sure, Winfrey was fired from television, and, as her boss explained, the reason was that she was “not a type and absolutely not suitable for TV.” nine0003

7. Albert Einstein
Genius, nothing more to add. Like all geniuses, Albert was a little strange, and until the age of four he didn’t say anything at all. The doctors who examined the little one said that he was unlikely to be a smart boy. At school, Albert also did not stand out among his peers, but perhaps such secrecy helped him think more and talk less, develop thinking and fantasy, and not empty chatter. nine0003

That’s probably all I wanted to tell you. The next time you encounter difficulties, problems or failures, then remember these people, their life path, and understand that nothing is very simple, that in order to achieve high goals, you need to try very hard, overcome all kinds of life barriers.