Some of my favorite inspirational stories
Frank O’Dea’s story of triumph over adversity in business and in his personal life inspires audiences around the world. Francis grew up in Toronto and was sexually abused at age 13 which led to a serious drinking problem. Life quickly went downhill and before long he was homeless and had to beg for change in order to survive. For 6 months he lived on the streets with no clue as to what he wanted to do or how to change his life. Today, Francis O’Dea is a multi-millionaire. As he says,
One year I was broke, the next year I was a millionaire.
He changed his life by concentrating on what he wanted and began fighting back and overcoming the barriers that had been closed to him. Within a few years, he co-founded The Second Cup, and later went on to co-found Proshred Security and Samaritan Air Ambulance Services.
- Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Gretzky has been quoted as saying, “It’s kind of ironic when I broke in at 17, I was told I was too small, too slow and I wouldn’t make the NHL.” He’s now recognized as one of the greatest hockey players of all time. - George Lucas
Star Wars is one of the highest-grossing movie franchises in Hollywood. However, Star Wars almost did not make it to the big screen. George Lucas spent four years sending the script for Star Wars around to the various studios and racking up numerous rejections in the process. It wasn’t till 20th Century Fox decided to give Lucas a chance and invested $11 million to make and release the movie in 1977. Since then the original Star Wars trilogy has earned over 2.4 billion dollars. If he’d let his negative inner voice get to him, he would never have achieve having the highest grossing film ever made. - Albert Einstein
Accomplishments did not come easy even for mastermind like Enstein. He had speech difficulties as a child and was once even thought to be mentally handicapped. Einstein was considered an “unteachable” fool by his early teachers. - Michael Jordan
Was cut from his high school basketball team. Michael Jordan quote, “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” Today, Jordan is considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time, with career stats including 6,672 rebounds, 5,633 assists, and 32,292 total points, according to NBA.com. - J.K.Rowling
Went from being a jobless single mother living off unemployment benefits to one of the bestselling authors of all time. 12 major publications rejected the Harry Potter script. She was shattered but not defeated. Rowling suffered severe bouts of depression, but persevered and kept approaching other publications till she succeeded. - Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven was a German pianist and composer widely considered to be one of the greatest musical geniuses of all time, yet his personal life was marked by a struggle against deafness and abuse at early age. He was also named by his music teacher a “hopeless composer”. - Colonel Sanders
Sanders, was 65 years old when he found himself bankrupt after his restaurant business had failed. He was turned down 1,009 times by over a thousand restaurants for more than a year while he lived in his car trying to sell his chicken recipe. Today, Colonel Sanders is an iconic figure representing one of the tastiest fried chickens in the world. - Abraham Lincoln
Recognized as one of our country’s greatest presidents and known for his impressive accomplishments, including preserving the union during the Civil War and signing The Emancipation Proclamation into law to end slavery. But he is less known for his ability to overcome a significant and ever-present obstacle in his life, a clinical depression. Lincoln failed in his business in the year 1831 and after which in the year 1836, he got a major nervous breakdown. Struggling consistently for years, he again failed in 1856 during US presidential elections. - Walt Disney
Disney’s formal education ended in the eighth grade and some have suggested that his struggle in school and the many jobs Disney held was due to ADHD. He was fired from his job at a newspaper for a “lack of imagination”. Disney was also turned down by over a hundred banks when he tried to get funding and had several bankruptcies before he was able to develop Disneyland.
Know Any More Inspirational Stories?
If you wish to share any compelling stories just send it to me via my contact form. I’d love to keep adding to the list!
