We share the following anecdotes in the spirit
of inspiration and motivation we all need from time to time. Please enjoy
each and pass them on to others in that same spirit.
Ruth
Bader Ginsburg was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her mother took a very
active interest in her education, introducing her to the library at a
very young age. She never lost her love of reading — a very valuable
lesson for today's youth.
She was genuinely interested in politics at a young age as she ran for
student government at James Madison High School — and lost. Little did
she know at the time of her loss that many years later this high
school's law program would dedicate a courtroom in her honor.
Ginsburg's older sister died when she was very young. Her mother
struggled with cancer throughout Ginsburg's high school years and died
the day before graduation. At that point, she dedicated her life to make
her mother proud of her.
She married Martin D. Ginsburg, later a law professor at Georgetown
University Law Center and an internationally prominent tax lawyer. She
went on to receive her B.A. from Cornell University in 1954 and enrolled
at Harvard Law School. When Martin took a job in New York City she
transferred to Columbia Law School and became the first person ever to
be on both the Harvard and Columbia law reviews. She earned her LL.B.
degree at Columbia, tied for first in her class. After her graduation
from the Columbia Law School, not one major law firm in New York City
offered her a job — because she was a woman! This was less than 50 years
ago!
In 1959, Ginsburg became a law clerk to Judge Edmund L. Palmieri of the
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. From
1961 to 1963, she was a research associate and then associate director
of the Columbia Law School Project on International Procedure. She was a
Professor of Law at Rutgers University School of Law (Newark) from 1963
to 1972, and at Columbia Law School from 1972 to 1980, where she became
the first tenured woman and co-authored the first law school case book
on sex discrimination. In 1977, she became a fellow at the Center for
Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. As the
chief litigator of the ACLU's women's rights project, she argued several
cases in front of the Supreme Court and attained a reputation as a
skilled oral advocate. Ginsburg was appointed a Judge of the United
States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by
President Carter in 1980. President Clinton nominated her as an
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1993, making her the second
female justice in the Court's history.
Johnny
Cash, "The Man In Black," was born in poverty in Arkansas and was
working in the cotton fields with his family by age 5. His family's
personal struggles during the Depression shaped him as a person and
inspired many of his future hit songs. He sang with his family and
wrote songs throughout his childhood. He joined the Air Force
and served as a radio operator in Germany where he formed his first
band. Upon his return to the U.S., he sold appliances door-to-door as he
studied to be a radio announcer. He also played back-up guitar for many
artists at the famed Sun Recording studios during this time. Several Sun
recording stars recognized Johnny's singing potential and brought him to
the attention of Sam Phillips who launched his first recording in 1955.
Johnny went on to write over 1,000 songs, sold more than 50 million
albums, and received multiple Country Music Awards and ten Grammys. He
was inducted into the Nashville Songwriter's Hall of Fame, the Country
Music Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Rockabilly
Hall of Fame. In 1996, Cash received Kennedy Center Honors in
Washington, D.C. From those Arkansas cotton fields, he forged a career
that spanned five decades.
Sigmund
Freud, the "Father of Psychoanalysis," sold only 600 copies of his first
book The Interpretation of Dreams. After eight years, his initial
effort netted him a mere $250 in royalties. Early in his career, the
Austrian neurologist opened a private practice specializing in nervous
brain disorders. He smoked cigars from age 24, resulting in having his
jaw removed due to a malignancy. He later contracted cancer of the mouth
and underwent 30 operations to treat the disease. For several years, he
wore a painful prosthesis to seal off his mouth from his nasal cavity.
He experimented with hypnotism but was admittedly very poor at it. He
gave up the practice and converted to putting his patients on a couch
and encouraging them to say whatever came into their minds, a practice
termed free association. His persistence paid off, and he became one of
the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. His widely read book,
The Interpretation of Dreams, is considered the gospel of
psychoanalysis.
Sylvester
Stallone was born in New York City in 1946. Sly was thrown out of
fourteen schools in eleven years. At fifteen, his classmates voted him
the one "most likely to end up in the electric chair." After struggling
to graduate from high school, Stallone attended the University of Miami
for three years. He came within a few credit hours of graduation, before
he decided to drop out and pursue an acting career. His professors
discouraged him from pursuing a career in acting. His trademark sneer,
double lazy eyes, and slurred speech — the result of paralysis in the
left side of his face caused by birth complications — was certainly not
an asset at that time.
Sly was turned down for bit part after bit for
years. He finally managed to land a few contracts as an "extra" — seen
on the movie screen for only a minute or two in several films. One
night, Stallone attended the Ali-Chuck Wepner fight, and the idea of
Rocky was born. That night, Stallone went home, and in three days he had
written the script for the movie that would change his life forever.
Rocky. Sly wrote the script with the intention of playing the lead role
himself. It was rejected time and time again because no one could
visualize Sly in the role of a film star. Sly could have sold the script
alone several times and pocketed a good deal of cash. He felt no one
could play the role of Rocky as well as he could. Finally, the quality
of the script and the potential for success convinced a studio to gamble
on a great script and a so-so actor. The rest is history.
Rocky was
nominated for ten Academy Awards in all, including two for Stallone
himself, for Best Actor and for Best Original Screenplay. In addition to
winning Best Picture, Rocky won for Best Director and Best Film Editing.
Rocky cost about $1.1 million to make and grossed about $225
million worldwide. The movie has made the steps of the Philadelphia
Museum of Art a Philadelphia tourist attraction. The Rocky series
successfully grew to six box-office blockbusters. His military
character, "Rambo," generated four triumphant films, and Sly was
instrumental in writing, directing, producing or acting in a total of 26
major films since 1975. Thus far he has avoided the "electric chair.
Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker
and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a firm
specializing in custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting
services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as
change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting,
leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries,
including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and
manufacturing. He can be reached at 800-886-2MAX or by visiting
http://www.AchieveMax.com.
Publication
Date: Winter 2007
If you are interested in motivation and inspiration, you might also enjoy ...
