Each star has a history, and in fact, the biggest names in history wouldn’t have been that great if they wouldn’t have learned from their failures.

These famous failures were ordinary people who did not inherit any wealth but rather had a life full of failures and difficulties. They saw failure simply as an opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. But the commonality among them was that they were not afraid of failures. In spite of all the difficulties, they never gave up on what they ultimately wanted to achieve in life and today, these famous failures are among the most inspiring people on earth. 

Famous Failures from History

Albert Einstein

When Einstein was young, his parents and teachers thought he was mentally handicapped. He didn't speak till he was four and didn't read till seven. His grades in school were so poor that a teacher asked him to quit, saying, “Einstein, you will never amount to anything!” He was slow and anti-social and eventually expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic school. He was the only one in his graduating class unable to get a teaching position because no professor would recommend him. One professor labeled him as the laziest dog they ever had in the university.

His earlier setbacks did not stop him from winning the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921. After all, he believed that “success is a failure in progress.” To this day, his research has influenced various aspects of life and has helped shape the world in a progressive way.

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln is the mythical, towering figure of American history, and whatever one thinks of his accomplishments, he was indeed a fascinating character. Born into poverty, Lincoln was faced with defeat throughout his life. He lost eight elections, twice failed in business and suffered a nervous breakdown. Rather than taking these signs as a motivation for surrender, he refused to stop trying his best and later on, he became one of the greatest presidents in the history of the United States of America.

A common list of the failures of Abraham Lincoln is:

1831- Lost his job

1832- Defeated in run for Illinois State Legislature

1833- Failed in business

1838- Defeated in run for Illinois House Speaker

1843- Defeated in run for nomination for U.S. Congress

1848- Lost re-nomination

1849- Rejected for land officer position

1854- Defeated in run for U.S. Senate

1856- Defeated in run for nomination for Vice President

1858- Again defeated in run for U.S. Senate

Lincoln never gave up on his dreams but rather used his failures as a stepping stone to achieving the highest office in the United State of America. One of his inspiring quotes was, “some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.”

J. K. Rowling

J. K. Rowling is the author of the Harry Potter Series, which has sold millions of copies around the world and many other books, most notably, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

She began writing about her now-famous character, the young wizard Harry Potter, and received loads of rejections from book publishers when she first sent out the manuscript. As the year progressed following her mother's death, Rowling experienced the disappointment of a broken marriage and the ensuing struggle as a single parent, trying to support herself and her daughter on welfare. Battling depression, unemployed and without money, she admits to having considered suicide.

Despite numerous setbacks, she found solace in doing what she loved most-writing. Through hard work and determination, she became the first female billionaire author.

Walt Disney

Walt Disney suffered through many fits of anger and depression through his many trials. Yet he learned from each setback, and continued to take even bigger risks which combined with the wisdom that experiencing failures can provide, led to fabulous financial rewards.

Walt Disney started his own company in 1920 at the age of 19, drawing cartoons of the creatures from his childhood. At the same time, he had so little money to pay the rent, being forced to live with friends and often going without food. He failed to sell a single cartoon.

At the age of 22, he went bankrupt after the brutal failure of a cartoon series in Kansas City. He went bankrupt several times. He also wanted to become a Hollywood actor but it never happened. He was fired by a newspaper editor who accused him to be lazy and lacking imagination and creative ideas.

Walt Disney's life and work show the value of imagination and dreaming big. But he also showed us that it's not enough to have big dreams. Hard work and persistence were the keys to overcoming the obstacles in his path, as they are for so many others who have overcome even the most seemingly insurmountable odds. One of his inspiring speech says;

“If you can dream it, you can do it. We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan is perhaps the greatest NBA player of all time. He was easily the most popular sports star and he became a household name and a hero to many young, aspiring athletes and ambitious individuals. Now recognized as a surprising winning record scorer, it was a failure that spurred Michael to strive for the best.

The story of Michael Jordan not making his high school team has been told and retold and continues to inspire with each retelling. The facts are these: In 1978, sophomore Michael Jordan tried out for the varsity basketball team at Laney High School. When the list was posted, Jordan’s name wasn’t on it. Instead, he was asked to play on the junior varsity team. 

It was a perfectly logical choice for the coaches to assign Jordan to the junior varsity team for his sophomore year. But 15-year old Jordan was devastated when the list was posted without his name. In his mind, it was the ultimate defeat, the ultimate failure. “I went to my room and I closed the door and I cried. For a while, I couldn’t stop. Even though there was no one else home at the time, I kept the door shut. It was important to me that no one hear me or see me.” Jordan was heartbroken and ready to give up the sport altogether until his mother convinced him otherwise.

After picking himself up off the floor, Jordan did what champions do. He let his failure and disappointment drive him to be better. He played on the junior varsity team, and he worked himself to the limit. “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.”

It became a pattern throughout Jordan’s life that a disappointment or setback resulted in a redoubling of effort. High school rival player Kenny Gattison, who led his team to beat Jordan’s team for the high school state championship, put it this way: “You got to understand what fuels that guy, what makes him great. For most people the pain of loss is temporary. Jordan took that loss and held on to it. It’s a part of what made him.”

Bill Gates

Before launching Microsoft, Bill Gates was a Harvard University dropout and co-owner of a failed business called Traf-O-Data, a computerized machine for processing paper tapes from traffic countries.

He learned from his mistakes and failures and went on to build what became the world's largest software company. As Bill Gates said, “it's fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.”

Henry Ford

Henry Ford is one of the most renowned entrepreneurs in history. He optimized transportation and forever changed the United States automobile industry. His innovative manufacturing process produced low-cost, reliable vehicles, while simultaneously keeping his workers well-paid and loyal.

Before his success, Ford encountered failure during the initial production of his first automobile. But it was these early failures that taught him valuable lessons and sparked his future success.

His first company, The Detroit Automotive Company was dissolved by the board of directors because Ford couldn't get his product fine-tuned enough to sell and after a year and a half of tinkering, he still had nothing to show for his work. The project was short-lived and a failure in the eyes of the industry. The second time he left because he resented the interference of his primary investor.

With a tarnished reputation and no financial backers, Ford was in a bad spot. Alexander Malcomson became his financial backer after looking for an unconventional backer who wouldn't interfere with his work. Hence the establishment of Ford Motor Company.

The article, Be Like Henry Ford: Apprentice Yourself In Failure is an interesting read in itself. The author reveals something interesting from the article. It noted that:

There are two kinds of failure. The first comes from never trying out your ideas because you are afraid, or because you are waiting for the perfect time. This kind of failure you can never learn from and such timidity will destroy you. The second kind comes from a bold and venturesome spirit. If you fail in this way, the hit that you take to your reputation is greatly outweighed by what you learn. Repeated failure will toughen your spirit and show you with absolute clarity how things must be done. 

What’s important to notice is Ford’s perseverance and ability to overcome setbacks. He learned from his mistakes(failures) and used what he learned to become successful. 

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah was born to an impoverished teenage mother and suffered from abuse at the age of 9. She ran away from home at the age of 13, only to become pregnant at 14 and lose her first child.

Despite her challenges and failures, she did not give up and with determination, she became the richest self-made woman and only black female billionaire.

Thomas Edison

Considered as one of the greatest inventors of his time, Thomas Edison's numerous innovative ideas and creations are legendary. He held more than 1,000 patents, some refinements of previous inventions but many completely new ideas.

Edison is famous not only for his outstanding success but also for his attitude toward failure. His teachers considered him to be “too stupid to learn anything.” He was named “non-productive” by the first two companies he worked for and got fired.

He failed over 1,000 times before inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times? Edison replied, “I didn't fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.

Thomas Edison's inventions have been a transforming and a regenerative agency in people's lives. Through his inventions, the world has been shaped for human progress. He is the epitome of impact and without him, the world wouldn't be what it is today.

Yesterday, I watched Sully. It is based on the real life story of Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger who lands the damaged plane on Hudson river, miraculously saving all the 155 lives on board. He is charged for not landing on LaGuardia or Teterboro and for ‘risking’ the lives of the passengers and damaging the airplane.

He says, “42 years of successful landings, and they would still judge me for those 208 seconds.”

Did you catch it, yet?

Imagine he worked 5 days a week, 1 flight every day, and exclude the Christmas holidays too.

Number of successful landings = (5/7)*42*365*(11/12) = 10,037 flights
Number of passengers landed = 150*10,037 = 15,05,625

Before he was acquitted, they blamed him for those 208 stressful seconds where his reaction time was 35 seconds, and nobody actually gave a damn about his past record of landing more than 1.5 Million people safely. Even though, after landing, all he cared for was the count of “155”.

And here you have a very very harsh lesson to learn.

You can do 99 things for someone and all they'll remember is the one thing you didn't do.

Most people forget all the good that you did, and in the end only judge you for the bad, or rather what they perceive to be bad. Nobody cares about the good intent behind your actions. All they see is the final output. Simply because it’s easy to overlook the good, and remember the bad.

After a while, most people don’t give a damn about how much you have helped them. They take you for granted, because hey, you were just performing your duty or friendship. Just one bad thing, and they are all against you.

In personal life, be helpful without expecting too much from anyone. It’ll hurt you less. And if you are compromising on your comfort for helping anyone who isn’t worth it, then it’s time to think through and make a wise choice before it’s too late.

Life was great as we were young. It seems so exciting, telling friends and families what we desire to
become when we grow up. Everything seems so beautiful and we believe we were all going to make
it in life. With time we discover that life isn't as easy as we have seen it to be a few years ago and
success seems too far from us.

In a battle one thought that one would succeed,

and when one fails...

then he's feeling depressed,

he gets angry with himself

and hears self-hatred as a voice,

his failure is all what he does care…

If the same happens with you ever,

then you must not disappoint,

even if others rudely comment to you,

you must remain confident enough,

indulge yourself and to your dreams

devote your time

as even if you lose once,

you'll surely win next time…

Trying again is an achievement for the one who at least try…

And remember,

The world won't have winners

without losers, you see...

so you may lose once

but next time,

a winner you may be...

Even if you lose,

in your heart,

you're deemed to have won

and feel like a champ.

Certainly yes! Research has shown that success may seem difficult in the beginning but if you persistently
keep trying, seeking help when the need be and being focused, with time you will achieve a high level of
success in any enterprise you may find yourself in.

Failure is always temporary. Those who never fail will never understand how great the adventure
of life is. Our most profitable lessons are learned from our failure, and not from our success isn't it?

Just because you fail once doesn't mean you are going to fail at everything. Let me give you some
famous examples - Thomas Edision at age 67, lost his factory to fire. It had very little insurance.
No longer a young man, Edison watched his lifetime effort go up in smoke and said,“There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burnt up. Thank God we can start anew.”

Dan’s parents are devastated. They lost their hard-working son. Employees moved on just after
one month of the accident. Nobody cared, except for his parents.

Olivia’s parents were devastated too. The girls decided to do something on their own to sponsor
their education. They started taking tuition for poor children like them.

Olivia was an inspiration for them and they wanted to uplift others just like Olivia uplifted them. Some months later, Olivia’s
parents came to know about the poor boy she was financially supporting. They decided to continue
helping the boy until he became successful.

So, What makes someone a failure in life?

When the entire life is spent by giving importance to materialistic things and personal gain
over important relationships.

A person who didn’t help to bring a positive change in even a single person’s life is a true failure.

What then is failing? 

Failing is giving up on your goals and settling for less. Based on this I would say that one
has not failed if she or he persists in the face of challenges. Achieving goals demands
dedication, knowledge and skills.

Are we designed to fail?

Research (as explained in the article “Failure is a key to understanding success) has
shown that we will fail, but learning from failures is crucial to changing the outcome of
an endeavour.

Failing faster and readjusting is an attitude that needs to be adopted.
Individuals who have understood that and shown determination are those who become
what they wanted to be. 

For me, I focus on what is working. The bottom line is the more you go through failure and
come back through it, the more helpful it is.