Seven famous setbacks: why you shouldn’t give up

These situations could have given some of the world’s most famous people reason to give up, but they didn’t. Test your pub-quiz knowledge and guess who faced these harsh realities at a young age… (Answers at the bottom of the page if you haven’t discovered them already.)

1. After failing to land a role she nearly gave up on acting when a director called her too ugly.

2. He was rejected from the USA film school three times.

3. His first book was turned down by 27 different publishers.

4. At the age of 30 he was left depressed and devastated after being fired from the company he founded.

5. His music teacher said “as a composer, he is hopeless”.

6. She was demoted from a job as a news anchor because she wasn’t deemed fit for television.

7. Rejected by a recording studio that said “we don’t like their sound – they have no future in show business”.

Answers below…



1. Meryl Streep 2. Stephen Spielberg 3. Dr Suess 4. Steve Jobs 5. Beethoven 6. Oprah Winfrey 7. The Beatles

The moral of the story is don’t give up; perseverance is a common trait in successful people.

Katie is Inspiring’s marketing assistant and a recent addition to our team. A dancer/health and fitness enthusiast, she tweets @KatesApps and blogs here.

Image 1 via Wikipedia.
Image 2 via flickr.
Image 3 via flickr.
Image 4 via flickr.
Image 5 via Wikipedia.
Image 6 via mamamia.
Image 7 via bbc.