- [Narrator] Achieving your dreams can be an incredibly difficult feat. But the difference between
success and failure is choosing not to give up. Success could be a lot
closer than you think, and these incredible stories
prove that choosing to quit, or not, can totally change
the course of your life. So, let's dive in, and see
what these stories can teach us about the road to success. (playful music) - Amazing! - [Narrator] Number 10: Well, well, well. In 2016, a small village in India was afflicted with a severe drought. The local wells had dried out, and things were getting pretty dire. After the wife of Bapurao Tajne, a poor laborer from the village, was denied water by the
owner of the only nearby well that still had some, Tajne
vowed that his family would never have to ask
anyone for water again. He was going to dig his own well. So, with some newly acquired tools and a huge amount of willpower he chose a spot and began digging. Tajne had no training in well-digging, and this made him the subject of ridicule from his fellow villagers. But Tajne could not be stopped. He believed in himself,
and he rose early each day, digging for four hours
before leaving for work, then putting in two more
hours of back-breaking labor when he returned home. For 40 consecutive days,
he dug further and further into the earth, alone, until
he finally struck water. Now, he provides hydration
to the people of his village, including the naysayers. I like to think he's as
petty about it as I'd be. Oh, thirsty are we? Hmm, sure would be useful if
someone dug a well around here. Oh wait, I did! (chuckles) Shame you didn't believe in me, isn't it? Number nine: Ali Ma Ma. Jack Ma is a little more well
known than Bapurao Tajne. Since founding e-commerce
giant Alibaba in 1999, Ma has become a giant in the
tech and trade industries. With an estimated net
worth of $36.2 billion, Ma has created an empire
of epic proportions, due to his strong vision and understanding of the Internet's business potential. But life wasn't always so
triumphant for Jack Ma. After graduating from university in 1988, Ma faced extreme difficulties even getting minimum-wage work. He applied to 30 jobs in
Hangzhou, the city he grew up in, and was rejected by every single one. He applied to KFC, which
had recently opened in town. 24 people applied, 23 were
hired, and he was not among them. He tried to start a career in the police. Five candidates, four
were hired, he was not. But Ma says that all these
failures only helped him in the long run, as he grew
resilient and determined. And, to say the very least, it paid off. Getting used to failure isn't easy, but every successful person
must learn how to fail before they can learn to succeed. Number eight: Jim Carrey. Watching his famously elastic face contort to one of his many iconic characters, you might not think that
there was a troubled past behind Jim Carrey's wild eyes. In recent years Jim has been
more open about the troubles in his life, and has
noticeably changed his approach to performance following this. At his height, however,
Carrey never snapped out of his crazily-energetic public persona, and it would have been easy to
assume that it was a product of a happy and carefree life. The truth will make you re-think your understanding of Jim Carrey. You see, Jim's childhood was tough. After his father lost his job, the family fell on hard times, and Jim had to work long
shifts in a factory, aged 10, just to make ends meet. Part of the reason Jim was able to present such a constantly energetic
version of himself was that he'd been crafting
the persona since he was 15. Jim left school to pursue
comedy at the age of 16, and faced a great deal of
heckling and penniless living on his way to success. According to Jim, after he moved to LA to seriously pursue his comedy career, he would visit wealthy neighborhoods and visualize his future self,
living there among the stars. For years he struggled to break through and had a series of complete
failures along the way. Whilst this might sound like
some tip from a self-help guru who's just swindled you out
of a few thousand dollars, Jim wrote himself a check for $10 million, dated about four years ahead,
for Thanksgiving of 1995. Just before that time, Jim's
prophecy had come true, as he learned he'd earn that
amount for Dumb and Dumber. He buried the now-valid
check in his father's casket. It's a bittersweet image, and
shows how an undying passion for your work, willingness
to put in the time, and constant determination
can go a very long way. Now I'm just going to sit here and visualize a billion dollars
whilst drinking my beer. Oh, is that not how this works? Number seven: Chris Hill-Scott. Sometimes, people do give up. It happens. But the story of Chris Hill-Scott
is enough to turn anyone away from the idea of giving
up on a good opportunity. Chris was one of the co-founders of a company called SwiftKey, a pioneer of the predictive
text and auto correct algorithms that seem to rescue
and infuriate us daily. No, I didn't mean to type duck, Siri. Seriously, how many times? Chris made the difficult
decision that the long, unrewarding hours necessary
in developing a small company were not worth the stress. He left SwiftKey in hopes
of something better. Unfortunately for Chris, SwiftKey
was purchased by Microsoft in 2016 for $250 million, with each co-founder receiving
around $50 million each. Chris received nothing. Sometimes, it pays to stick things out, even if things are difficult. Number six: Stephen King. Another famous instance
of soul-crushing struggle on the way to greatness is
Stephen King's slow rise to fame. Though his famous life has not been easy, tainted with bouts of drug
and alcohol addiction, some of the greatest
difficulties of King's life came on the road to fame. King's childhood was tough. When he was an infant, his
father abandoned his family, leaving his mother to
raise her children alone. And as a child, King
saw one of his friends get killed by a train. For years in his adult life, King worked tirelessly to
make a living as a writer, all while he and his
wife lived in a trailer, working multiple jobs to make ends meet. Eventually, he sold his
first novel, Carrie, in 1973, which would be adapted into
a hugely successful movie two years later. King's perseverance allowed
him eventual success, in spite of a tough and unfortunate life. I just kind of wish he wasn't so damn good at scaring the life out of me. Pennywise the clown? No thanks. What was that? Number five: Ronald Wayne. Quite possibly the worst
example of quitting too soon, Ronald Wayne's story will
have you facepalming so hard, you'll fall off your seat. In 1976, Wayne helped to establish a computer hardware company in California. While initially optimistic
about the venture, Wayne quickly grew concerned
about the potential financial losses he foresaw
the company headed into, and within a mere 12 days, sold off his 10% share for
$800 and left the company. No problem, right? While Wayne asserts that he
doesn't regret this decision, and it was the right choice at the time, the name of the company might leave you with a different opinion. You see, that company was Apple. And worst of all, that 10% share would now be worth billions. Approximately $80 billion
at the start of 2019, making him the third
richest person in the world. In an interview, Wayne
said he has no regrets, but I can't say I believe him. Maybe he should have kept biting that particular piece
of fruit a while longer. Number four: J.K. Rowling. For someone responsible for
the bestselling book series of all time, which has since developed into an absolute mammoth money machine, spanning video games, theme
parks, and, of course, multiple movie franchises, it
seems crazy that J.K Rowling refers to herself, circa
1995, as a failure. But the road to wealth and recognition was incredibly difficult for Rowling. After her mother's
death during the writing of her first Harry Potter book, something she would
struggle with repeatedly. Matters were only made worse
following a difficult divorce, leaving Rowling to raise
her daughter alone. Through the tough times,
unable to find work, and surviving off unemployment benefits, Rowling found relief in her writing. She worked extremely hard,
pushing herself forward as best she could go, even going as
far as manually typing out each copy of her 90,000 word debut novel, The Philosopher's Stone, as she could not afford
a computer or a printer. After countless rejections,
her manuscript ended up on the desk of Bloomsbury
Publishing's editor, whose 8-year-old daughter
convinced him to publish it. Against all the odds, J.K. Rowling remains one of the greatest examples of success in the face of adversity,
and never giving up. Number three: Walt Disney. A controversial figure in his own right, Walt Disney is another great example of a person facing
hardships but persevering, and, in this case, building an empire. When Walt decided he was going
to be an artist at age 17, he was met with fierce
discouragement from his family, who wanted him to join
the family business. But a life making jelly was
not what Walt had in mind. Walt worked, at various points
in his early adult life, in an advertising company and a newspaper. He was fired from the newspaper,
with his boss telling him he "lacked imagination
and had no good ideas." Not to be easily discouraged, Walt opened his own animation business, Laugh-O-Gram Studios, but this
quickly fell into bankruptcy. With the odds stacked firmly against him, and in the face of painful setbacks, he took his iconic
characters to Hollywood, and eventually, Disney
grew into the immortal, all-pervasive giant we know today. While Walt may not have been making jelly, the naysayers would certainly
be eating their words. Number two: Oprah Winfrey. One of modern entertainment's saddest and yet most heart-warming
tales of perseverance is that of Oprah. Throughout her childhood,
Oprah suffered terrible abuse at the hands of her family members. To make matters worse, Oprah
gave birth at 14 years old and, tragically, the child
passed away in infancy. In spite of these heart-breaking events, Oprah was determined to
succeed, and she did. She graduated high school
with flying colors, received a full college scholarship, and soon became the first
black female news anchor before the age of 20. Though she faced more
difficulties along the way, like gender discrimination
and even sexual harassment at her news station, she
continued to progress into an American icon. Her $2.6 billion net worth is
nothing to sniff at, either. With the grandeur Oprah commands now, few people stop to
appreciate the difficulties she had to overcome. It goes to show no matter
how downtrodden life has you feeling, you can
always rise from the ashes stronger than before. And number one: Struck Gold. From the great heights of Oprah, let's return to the smaller scale, for a couple of golden tales. In June 1858, a group of
miners in Victoria, Australia decided to take a well-deserved break. All except one fellow. He kept working, driven on
by a desire for the riches buried in the rock. When his colleagues returned, they found him unconscious on the floor. After some investigation,
they saw the cause: a nugget of gold ore, 18
inches long, there in the rock. And believe it or not,
they all fainted, too. Believe it or not, this isn't
the only story of its kind. In Napoleon Hill's classic self-help book, Think and Grow Rich, he
recounts the tale of a man, caught up in the gold rush of the 19th century American frontier. In hopes of riches, a
prospector pumped his savings into mining equipment and
set out to make his fortune. He quickly struck gold, and
made himself a fair profit. But he had no knowledge of mining, and soon, his fortune ran out. The mine's gold had been exhausted. He sold his machinery to a junk trader and made his way back home,
broke and disappointed. The junk seller, it happens,
was a pretty smart fellow. He had an engineer investigate
the now-empty mine, and what he found was unbelievable. The engineer explained that, due to the previous
owner's lack of knowledge and experience, he hadn't
realized that not only was there a lot more gold nearby, but it was a mere three
feet from where the last guy had stopped digging. Needless to say, the junk trader never had to trade junk again. These gold-plated tales
serve as timeless lessons that the easy way out, quitting too soon, at the fear of wasted
effort, time or money, can come at a price of its own. It's not always easy, but following something difficult
through and not giving up, will lead to something good, even if it means changing your perspective on what your measures of success are. I'd love to hear your stories of success in the face of difficulty,
or times you've missed out on a goldmine by an inch. All stories welcome in the comments below. And as always, thanks for watching.
