This question must have got you thinking several times, “why are some people successful while some are not.” YES! some have actually gotten their wealth diligently, some probably got their’s through selfish, and desperate unreasonable acts…….name it. For those that got theirs through hard work, I asked myself how they did it, then I remembered the story of these great men and women.

I got inspired to write this article which some of us might have read about. They are stories of great people that have gone through challenging times in their early lives and have become what they are today through CONSISTENCY; Others might not have come across their stories, so lets go through their biographical sketch.

WALTER ELIAS – Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901. Disney was an innovative animator and created the cartoon character Mickey Mouse. He won 22 Academy Awards during his lifetime, and was the founder of theme parks Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

How in the world was he able to achieve all this….Walt Disney was once taken to be a failure, he started very rough but that name “failure” never stuck to him.

In 1911, his family moved to Kansas City, where Disney developed a love for trains. His uncle, Mike Martin, was a train engineer. Later, Disney would work a summer job with the railroad, selling snacks and newspapers to travelers. When Disney was 16, he dropped out of school to join the Army but was rejected for being underage.

In 1919, Disney worked at the Kansas City Film Ad Company, where he made commercials based on cutout animation,  he got  fired because they said he lacked imagination and had no good ideas. Later on Disney was able to acquire his own studio.

By 1923, however, the studio had become burdened with debt, and Disney was forced to declare bankruptcy. Disney moved on to start a company which gradually became a success- after so much trials, errors, disappointments, he never gave up in what he believed in, he learn’t from his failures which turned into success for him at the end of it all.

Joanne Rowling – J.K.Rowling was Born in Yate, England, on July 31, 1965. A graduate of Exeter University. Seven years after graduating from university, Rowling saw herself as a failure. Rowling moved to Portugal in 1990 to teach English where she met and married her husband in 1992.

In 1993 her marriage ended and in poverty. She was penniless, in acute hardship and depression, during all this trial periods, she actually contemplated on committing suicide. she later on ended up signing up to live on state benefits. Rowling moved to Edinburgh with her daughter to live near her younger sister.

She struggled to support her daughter and herself on welfare while she worked on a book, which she had a picture of  while she was traveling on a train from Manchester to London in 1990. In 1995, Rowling finished her manuscript for Harry porter which was rejected by 12 major publishing houses. A year later she was finally accepted and given a £1500 advance by a publishing house in London (Bloomsbury)- the success story didn’t end there instead she flourished to greater heights.

In October 2010, Rowling was named the “Most Influential Woman in Britain” by leading magazine editors. She has supported several charities.

OPRAH WINFREY– Was born in the rural town of Kosciusko, Mississippi, on January 29, 1954. At a very young age she was sexually abused by male relatives and friends of her mother, she later on moved to Nashville to live with her father,who was a barber and businessman.

According to CNN, though Oprah’s first boss told her she was too emotional and not right for television. Winfrey’s  warm-hearted personality had taken her show from last place to first in the ratings. Even though she received lots of criticisms over the Oprah Winfrey Network’s low television ratings following its 2011 debut, Winfrey overhauled the company, took on the CEO role, and went on to help make her network a fixture on cable television.

In November 2013, Winfrey received the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. President Barack Obama gave her this award for her contributions to her country. Winfrey perceivered, she was consistent, never gave up in what she believed in, she went through the storm- She is a popular success story today!

STEPHEN KING – was born on September 21, 1947, in Portland, Maine. King is recognized as one of the most famous and successful horror writers of all time, if you have had the time to read any of his stories, you would find out what a marvelous writer he is.

His early years was not so exciting seeing all his success story now, you can’t imagine what he’s been though, starting from his graduation with a degree in English in 1970, he tried to find a position as a teacher but had no luck at first. King took a job in a laundry and continued to write stories in his spare time until late 1971. He later began working as an English educator where he supplemented his income by selling short stories to magazines.

Do you know that Stephen King was rejected 30 times before his book was published? He initially threw the manuscript into the garbage which was later retrieved by his wife who believed strongly in his passion.

He has successfully published over 50 novels and has sold over million.

It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, it’s what we do CONSISTENTLY-Tony Robbins.

If this post encouraged you, please share it using the links below so we can encourage others too!

Some of these facts where culled from Wikipedia and The Biography.com website

Photo Credit: Google Images