Rejected But Not Dejected: Oprah, Spielberg, Disney and Others

Don't let anyone, or any rejection, keep you from what you want.

-         Ashley Tisdale

In this post I will be sharing stories of people who refused to allow rejection define them, limit them or kill their dreams. They are stories of phenomenal success in the face of rejection and failure. I believe you will find them informative and inspiring.

In 1919, Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star. According to his editor, he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas."  Disney would later found the Walt Disney Productions, now known as The Walt Disney Company, a company that has become one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world.

Disney became particularly noted as a film producer and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in animation and theme park design. He and his staff created some of the world's most well-known fictional characters including Mickey Mouse, for whom Disney himself provided the original voice. Years later, The Walt Disney Company bought ABC which owned The Kansas City Star, the same outfit that fired Disney ‘for lacking imagination and good ideas’

Talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist, Oprah Winfrey, is best known for her show, The Oprah Winfrey Show. But before her rise to fame Oprah was removed from her job as a news reporter for Baltimore’s WJZ-TV. Oprah, who now runs her own TV network, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) is one of the most influential women in the world. She is said to be currently North America's only black billionaire and the greatest black philanthropist in American history.

Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen was rejected by over 140 publishers before it was finally accepted. The Chicken Soup for the Soul book series, currently has nearly 200 titles and 112 million copies in print in over 40 languages. According to USA Today, Chicken Soup for the Soul and several of the series titles were among the top 150 best-selling books of the last 15 years

American film director, screenwriter, producer, and business magnate, Steven Spielberg’s application to attend the film school at University of Southern California School of Theater, Film and Television was rejected on two different occasions but he went ahead to become one of the most popular and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. In 2006, he was named as the most powerful and influential figure in the motion picture industry by Premiere, an American and New York City-based film magazine.

He is on Time Magazine’s list of the 100 Most Important People of the Century. Life Magazine named him the most influential person of his generation and in 2009, Boston University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Regarded as the highest grossing filmmaker of all time; his films having made nearly $8 billion internationally, Spielberg was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Southern California (the same university that had rejected his application for admission) in 1994. He became a trustee of the university in 1996. This was after he had become famous.

In 1936, Japanese engineer, industrialist and founder of Honda, Soichiro Honda, sent 30,000 piston rings to Toyota, 50 were accepted for consideration out of which only three pieces passed quality control tests but this did not stop him from producing piston rings. In 1937, he founded Tokai Seiki, a company that specialised in producing piston rings. A US B-29 bomber attack destroyed Tōkai Seiki's plant in 1944 during World War II. In 1946, he founded the Honda Technical Research Institute in October and the company started with the production of a motorised bicycles.

Honda went on to turn the company into a billion-dollar multinational that produced the best-selling motorcycles in the world.

In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field. In 1967, he starred in three successful films: To Sir, with Love, In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner; making him the top box-office star of that year. Before his achievements, it is reported that a casting director had made this statement to Poitier, “Why don’t you stop wasting people’s time and go out and become a dishwasher or something?” In 1999, the American Film Institute named Poitier among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking 22nd on the list of 25.

On August 12, 2009, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States of America's highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama.

American businessman who founded the department store chain R.H. Macy and Company, Rowland Hussey Macy, Sr. had a history of failed investments and business adventures. Between 1843 and 1855 he opened four retail dry goods stores but they all failed. He also ventured into a needle-and-thread store which also went bankrupt. Lady Luck would eventually smile on him when he moved to New York where his store became known for its then-innovative policy of clearly marking prices which reduced haggling with customers and advertising his prices in the newspaper. He also employed the first in-store Santa Claus. By the time of his death in 1877, Macy's store had grown to a tangle of eleven connected buildings on New York's 13th and 14th Streets making his business to be one of the largest department store retailers in the world

The foregoing stories have shown to us what happens when we refuse to give up in the face of rejection, embarrassment or failure. You may be down but you don’t have to be out. You may be down and out but you can still bounce back stronger. So how do you deal with rejection? Realise that the fact that an individual/organisation is not interested in you doesn't mean the rest of the world is also not interested in you. It is equally important to settle it with yourself that you will not define or see yourself based on another person’s opinion of you or their attitude toward you.

YOU ARE UNIQUE!

YOU HAVE YOUR OWN CROWD THAT IS ROOTING FOR YOU!

YOUR BEST IS ON THE WAY!

"What lies behind us, and what lies before us, are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Extraordinary Life of Martha Mason Who Lived in an Iron Lung for Sixty Years

Martha Mason lived in an iron long for 60 out of the 71 years she spent on earth and she had a more fulfilling life than many ‘normal’ human beings will have. The iron lung (or a negative pressure ventilator) is a cylindrical steel drum with a central chamber where a human being can be placed. The drum has a door which allows the head and neck to remain free while the rest of the body is enclosed in an air-tight compartment. The ventilator enables a person to breathe when normal muscle control has been lost or when they find it extremely difficult to breathe.

Despite living in this immobilised state, Martha, who was born on May 31, 1937, in Lattimore and became paralysed from polio at 11, still went ahead to high school and college. She also wrote a book, Breath: Life in the Rhythm of an Iron Lung. She defied not only doctors, who had given her just a year to live but also death by going ahead to live for 60 more years of excitement. She finished high school at the top of her class and went to two colleges, where she received an associate’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in English. She was a writer for a local newspaper. She later wrote her memoirs, which she was able to finish with the aid of voice recognition software. She also spent her time hosting dinner parties, book club meetings and travelling around the world.

Martha died at the age of 71 in 2009. She had spent 60 years in the ventilator but her zest for life was never dampened. Her seemingly helpless situation was never able to prevent her from living a fulfilling life. In 2003, during an interview, she declared, “I’m happy with who I am, where I am… I wouldn’t have chosen this life, certainly. But given this life, I’ve probably had the best situation anyone could ask for.” Martha might have been physically limited but she was not mentally limited. Her movement might have been hampered, her imagination was not. Her abilities were obviously not many but her desire was huge. Hers is an unbelievable story of optimism and vivacity in the face of gloom and seeming hopelessness.

Martha’s life has again demonstrated that the way I respond to circumstances is what matters. Situations do not define me, my response does. My attitude in or to any situation is what is important. This is why I agree with John Maxwell that though attitude may not be everything, it is nevertheless the difference maker. Martha had the right perspective about her situation and she did not dwell on it. Hear her, “‘It has become such a normal thing for me – I don’t even think about it – I really never give it a lot of thought.” What an amazing person! 

It is important that you keep the right perspective in whatever situation you find yourself because, according Joel Osteen, “We all face challenges, but it's not the size of the problem that's important, it's our perception of the problem; it's how big or small we make it in our minds.”

The Power of Positive Mental Attitude: The Amazing Story of Barbie Thomas, an Armless Body Builder

Barbie Thomas is a competitive body builder and model but she is not your run off the mill body builder or model. She is armless. Yes, she has no arms and that is why her story is amazing and inspiring. In this post, you will read some interesting information about her. I present to you another shining example of determination and doggedness in our world.

1. Barbie Thomas lost her two arms at age 2 when she climbed onto a transformer and held live wires. The electric current from the wires burned her arms so severely that they had to be amputated at the shoulders.

2. The doctors were of the opinion that she would be seriously hampered in performing physical functions but her mother made a commitment to ensure that Barbie lived a good life.

3. The doctors were surprised by her recovery and she says she survived the incident because God had plans for her life.

4. While growing up, she played soccer, danced and did aerobic running.

5. She was not allowed to be negative or say she couldn’t do something. She was taught to focus on what she could do and not on what she couldn't do. This gave her a positive mental attitude.

6. She loathes being regarded as a handicapped. "You can't use the word handicapped with her or she may punch you in the face," someone remarked.

7. She uses her shoulders as arms and uses her feet to open doors, plug in her music and grab her bags, and she uses her mouth to fasten the Velcro snaps on her dance shoes.

8. Her interest in competitive body building was aroused when she read about it an athletes’ magazine. A friend encouraged her and her journey into fitness fitness competition began.

9. She began competing in 2003.

10. The sport is grueling, demanding weight training five days a week and cardio work every day.

11. Her dance routines include splits and high kicks and even the ninja kip-up, where she makes full use of her feet.

12. She received the first-ever Inspiration Award of the National Physique Committee (NPC), the largest amateur bodybuilding organisation in the United States, last year. The Committee had been so impressed with her performance.

13. Barbie has two sons, aged 13 and 17.

As I end this post, I will like you to hear what Barbie has to say concerning her story: "I realise it inspires many people, and not just those with physical challenges…Follow your dreams and keep pushing and where there is a will, there is a way. We all have our own stuff to deal with and our own limitations and handicaps. Mine are just more visible. There's always someone else out there who has it worse."

What else can I add?