As the old saying goes, if you fail once then give up on all of your dreams and move back in with your parents for their free Foxtel. Or something along those lines, my memory’s hazy at best.
While some of us who experience failure may want to mooch off our parents and become emotionally invested in raising sea monkeys, not everyone ventures down the road of self-pity – some even use their failure to their advantage.
If you’re feeling down in the dumps or your life just isn’t going exactly according to plan (side note: no one’s life goes according to plan so throw that mindset straight into the sewer), peruse these now-successful humans who struggled to catch a break earlier in life.
MARTHA STEWART
My god, if being Martha Stewart‘s friend isn’t your main goal in life then you need to go on a three-week vacation to sit in a small room and ponder why you are the way you are.
Not only is everyone’s favourite cook a certified badass (not many 77-year-old TV chefs can tout a criminal record), Stewart’s unquestionably successful and humble to boot.
However, she didn’t necessarily start out as a rich, beloved culinary wizard. Stewart had a string of unsuccessful modelling stints and dipped her toe in the stockbroker industry before eventually realising she was dope enough to be the business-savvy gal she is now.
TIFFANY HADDISH
If you haven’t seen Girls Trip yet then you might not understand the hype around Tiffany Haddish, but let me just tell you that it’s more than deserved – Haddish is an absolute firecracker.
Despite having a pretty consistent career and slowly working her way up the ladder, there was a time when Haddish was living in her car while she made her rounds on the comedy circuit, trying to catch that ‘big break’.
With a little help from ol’ mate Kevin Hart, Haddish eventually got a role in Hart’s sitcom Real Househusbands of Hollywood. Five-or-so years later and both Hart and Haddish are co-starring in a blockbuster of their own, Night School.
ANG LEE
Renowned director Ang Lee started out as a stay-at-home dad (tbh I’m personally impressed by any parent in general, having to be in control of someone else seems far too daunting to consider right now), and after getting shot down in acting school for not ‘knowing English well enough’, Lee got his major break as a director.
If you reckon you haven’t heard of Lee before, a) get ya head outta the sand, and b) ever heard of Brokeback Mountain or Life of Pi? Exactly.
J.K. ROWLING
What did we do to deserve J.K. Rowling? Diddly-squat.
Without being too biased, Rowling has created the best fictional universe for anyone who’s a lover of magic or simply a decent bloody read/watch.
Before the Harry Potter era however, Rowling was living on welfare as she struggled to pitch her book about a scarred wizard to all of the major publications, who subsequently shut her down one by one. It wasn’t until an independent publication picked Harry Potter up that Rowling’s success was realised and now she’s richer than the Queen – that’s ‘uge.
OPRAH WINFREY
Yes, even the almighty Oprah faced a roadblock or two during her career. I know it’s hard to picture given that it’s easy to assume Oprah was born shouting, “YOU get a car!” but here we are.
When Oprah was first starting out, she was fired as an evening news reporter because some TV bigwig (and one assumes full-time asshole) told her she wasn’t fit for television. Can you even imagine firing Oprah? The nerve.
Jokes on that dude though, I don’t need to remind you where Oprah’s at in her career and life in general – the woman’s killing it.
JAY-Z
Alright so Jay-Z recently rented out the actual, real-life Louvre to film a music video with wife Beyoncé, so you already know that the dude’s beyond crushing it.
If you could take a Scrooge-esque stroll down memory lane though, you’d see Jay-Z selling his mixtape out of the boot of his car as he struggled to garner any interest from the general public whatsoever. Honestly, you’d have to be pretty bloody strong-minded to keep on trucking after your first piece of personal art failed to make an impact of any sort. Major props, Jay-Z.
If you need any more inspiration to keep on gunning for it (whatever it is will vary from person-to-person), you can watch Night School on DVD, Blu Ray or Digital now. It’s legit about getting a second chance at pursuing your goals after screwing up the first go around so really, what’ve ya got to lose?
