Against All Odds: Overcoming Obstacles the Legends Way – Inspirations and Lessons

Vinny Khinda

June 4, 2020

The story of Sylvester Stallone has been told a zillion times, but on every single occasion that I have read, it has given me goosebumps. Though a tad long, but it deserves to be narrated. That he had a rough early life would be an understatement. Stallone faced misfortune even at birth. A forceps accident during his birth severed a facial nerve leaving Stallone with parts of his lip, tongue, and chin paralyzed, a condition known as Bell’s Palsy; it gave him his signature slurred speech. Growing up in a impoverished, crime-laden neighborhood, he was bullied throughout childhood and struggled at school. His parents never got along, constantly fought with each other and life at home was as good as hell.

As a young adult, Stallone veered in the direction of an acting career but faced rejection after rejection from casting directors. In desperation he even accepted a $200 gig in a soft-core porno. Not going anywhere with his dream of landing a meaningful role, he turned to screenwriting, teaching himself the process from scratch.  Gradually, things had become so grave that with hardly any food for himself, he could no longer see his beloved dog Butkus starve; he sold Butkus for $25 in front of a 7-Eleven store.

At age 28, Stallone, living in abject poverty, happened to watch a boxing match between Chuck Wepner and Muhammad Ali in which a courageous but outclassed Wepner managed to make it through to the very last round, even landing some solid punches on the way, before finally being knocked out by the great champion. Even though Wepner had not won, Stallone regarded his unbelievable effort as a symbolic victory, even if it wasn’t a technical one. At that moment, divine inspiration struck Stallone, inspiring him to write the screenplay of ‘Rocky’, the story of an underdog boxer Rocky Balboa. The words poured out of Stallone and, just three days later, his 80-page script was ready. But the story it told was never primarily about a boxer, rather it was much bigger. It was about a man’s ability to overcome the odds and to realize a dream that most people had tried to convince him was beyond his reach. It was his story.

Stallone again faced many crushing rejections when he took his script to various studios; big reason, he wanted to be cast in the role of Rocky Balboa. The embarrassed producers laughed at his confidence, a man with lower half of his face paralyzed, unable to speak a line straight, and wanting to be a star. They would buy his script, provided he dropped the idea of starring in it, he was told. But he refused to give up on his dream. Finally United Artists (UA) agreed to his terms, cutting him a check for $35,000. Guess the first thing that Stallone did after landing the deal? He stood for 3 days in front of the same 7-Eleven to buy back his canine Butkus, a testimony of his character. On the third day, the man to whom he had sold Butkus rolled in, the dog in toe. The deal was struck, albeit at an exorbitant buyback price. The new owner knew how much Stallone loved his companion and that he was desperate; Sly was charged $15,000 for his dog. Butkus eventually appeared alongside Rocky Balboa in the original Rocky.

Rocky became a smash hit, netting an 11,000 percent return on budget at box offices around the globe. It received ten Oscar nominations, winning three, including Best Movie and grossed over $200 million. It went on to spawn a full franchise of sequels, netting over $1.3 billion at box office. 

Dr. Travis Bradberry, world-renowned expert in emotional intelligence, author of bestselling books Emotional Intelligence 2.0 as well as The Seagull Manager, co-founder of TalentSmart^(R) says, “It’s truly fascinating how successful people approach problems. Where others see impenetrable barriers, they see challenges to embrace and obstacles to overcome. Their confidence in the face of hardship is driven by the ability to let go of the negativity that holds so many otherwise sensible people back.” He further quotes the University of Pennsylvania researcher Martin Seligman who explains, “Success in life is driven by one critical distinction—whether you believe that your failures are produced by personal deficits beyond your control or that they are mistakes you can fix with effort.” Coming back to his success mantras, Bradberry says, “Maintaining the success mindset isn’t easy. There are seven things, in particular, that tend to shatter it. These challenges drag people down because they appear to be barriers that cannot be overcome. Not so for successful people, as these seven challenges never hold them back.” The seven challenges that Dr. Travis Bradberry talks about are, (1) Age, (2) What Other People Think, (3) Toxic People, (4) Fear, (5) Negativity, (6) The Past or the Future, and (7) The State of the World. In a detailed narrative, he goes on to explain that our success is driven by our mindset. With discipline and focus, we can ensure that these seven obstacles never hold us back from reaching our full potential.

Age, as they say, is just a number. Successful people don’t let their age define who they are and what they are capable of. They follow their heart and allow their passion—not the body they’re living in—to be their guide. Age is also first of the seven challenges that Dr. Bradberry talks about. There cannot be a better example of someone who defied age to follow his dreams than Harland David Sanders, popularly known as ‘Colonel Sanders,’ the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). Born in 1890, Sanders lost his father when he was just six. His mother began working while he cooked for his siblings. At age 10, he began working as a farmhand, and at 13, pulled out of school. Subsequently, in order to earn two square meals a day, he took on several small-time jobs such as a blacksmith’s helper, a cleaner and a fireman at Northern Alabama Railroad. He married, had a son who passed away and his wife left him after he yet again lost his job. Falling back on his childhood experiences of cooking for his family, Sanders began experimenting and by July 1940, had finalized his ‘Secret Recipe’ for frying chicken in a pressure fryer that cooked the chicken faster than pan frying. But he was broke and at age 65, retired as a failure, dependent on his meager savings and money from social security. With a lifelong succession of disasters behind him, Sanders refused to give up; this man was made of different stuff. He borrowed some money, and began selling his chicken door-to-door, finally opening a restaurant in Shelbyville, Kentucky in 1959. He would often sleep in the back of his car, visit restaurants, offer to cook chicken, and if the owners liked it, negotiate franchise rights. Although such visits required much time, eventually potential franchisees began visiting Sanders instead. Soon many restaurant owners franchised the concept and started paying Sanders $0.04 per chicken. Sanders obtained a patent protecting his method of pressure frying chicken in 1962, and trademarked the phrase “It’s Finger Lickin’ Good” in 1963. Gradually KFC grew in popularity and became the international success it is today. At age 88, Harland David Sanders became a billionaire.

Stevie Wonder was blind. Also, Ravinder Jain, one of the greatest music composers of Hindi film industry, he gave chart-busters one after another, in over 200 movies. The story of Helen Adams Keller, the American author, political activist, and lecturer who was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree, is well known. So is of Stephen William Hawking, the English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author. Hawking reached the pinnacle of research in science inspite of being a paraplegic, result of the slow-progressing and fatal neurodegenerative disease Amylotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). But very few know that the greatest inventor of all times, Thomas Edison was almost deaf in both ears, a bout of Scarlet Fever during his youth being the culprit. Edison had no time for self-pity, rather he strongly believed that his relatively silent existence was a boon: he could become deeply involved in his work without distractions. While he was in school, his teachers said he was ‘too stupid to learn anything.’ When he started working, he was fired from his first two jobs for being ‘non-productive.’ As an inventor, Edison made 1000 unsuccessful attempts at 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; great success is built on failure, frustration, even catastrophe.”

Albert Einstein, whose name has almost become synonymous with intellect was thought to be suffering from learning disability. He did not talk until age four and was often admonished for his inability to grasp concepts as fast and as well as other students. While his exploits in the fields of physics and mathematics are now a stuff of legends, this is also a fact that after graduation, he could not manage to get a job in physics for two years and worked as assistant patent examiner. So, what was it that made him an Einstein? Discipline, hard work and his unwavering belief in himself and his abilities, when the world thought otherwise.

Somewhat on similar lines is the story of Michael Phelps, the greatest Olympian swimmer of all time who was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Syndrome (ADHD) when he was a child and remained on medication for a long time. Restlessness, impulsiveness and a very short attention span are some of the features of ADHD. But there is a positive side to the disease,  such individuals also have an incredible capacity to remain hyper-focused on an activity they are passionate about. Michael made use of this aspect with enormous success. By channeling his energy and focus, he has been able to exploit the positive side of ADHD. Micheal won 8 gold medals in just one Olympic Games, a surreal feat which would be very hard, if not impossible to match. He has 28 Olympic medals, 23 of which are gold!

Ghosts of past or poverty might hold back lesser mortals from reaching for the stars but these are mere stepping stones for those with determination and passion, as is evident from the next two examples. Alfred Nobel was born in an impoverished family and educated at a school for underprivileged children where most pupils were beaten by their teachers every day for small mistakes. He suffered ill-health for major part of his life. Overcoming tremendous personal setbacks and misfortunes, Alfred went on to invent and manufacture dynamite, gelignite, ballistite, and the blasting cap. In his last will and testament, he bequeathed over ninety percent of his enormous fortune to fund the Nobel Prizes.

Walt Disney, one of the greatest creative geniuses of the 20th century was once fired from a newspaper because he was told he lacked creativity. Born to an abusive father in 1901, Disney ran away from home and became an ambulance driver during World War I. Fond of sketching, once the war ended, he launched his own cartoon business, Laugh-O-Gram Studios in 1920, but the company soon went bankrupt. Desperate and out of money with just $40 in his pocket, he found his way to Los Angles to try his hand at acting, but again failed miserably. In despair, but not defeated, he noticed that there were no animation studios in California. Gradually, he set up a small shop, and soon found success with the creation of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Misfortune again struck as his producer short-changed him and he discovered that he no longer had any legal rights over his own creation. But instead of grieving over his loss, Disney decided to walk away and start over again. And then came the iconic Mickey Mouse which he created on a train ride to California. But even with this genius of a creation, it was not a smooth ride. Bankers rejected the concept of his famous mouse over 300 times before one said yes. The adversities did not end with the success of Mickey Mouse, Disney still faced huge challenges of keeping his head above water. Not only was he overworked, but tensions with his employer led to Disney having a nervous breakdown. To make his troubles worse, his animators went on strike at the start of World War II. He eventually ran a debt that ran upwards of $4 million. But he never ever gave up, eventually becoming one of the greatest entertainers of all times.

And lastly, lets talk about one of the greatest tech wizards to have ever walked this planet, Steve Jobs, who was once fired by the board of directors of the very company he had found, Apple. His is a story of boundless innovations, but also of his emphatic comeback from an almost irrecoverable failure. A born genius, Jobs found success very early in life when Apple became a massive empire. But at 30, he was expelled from his own company. Undaunted by the disaster, Jobs created a new company, NeXT which was eventually acquired by Apple. Once back at Apple, Jobs proved that he was marked for greatness by launching gadgets that have proved life-changing, in the process reinventing the company’s image and turning Apple into one of the greatest companies on the planet.

99% IS A BITCH; 100% IS A BREEZE

Succeed… Against All Odds!

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