Donald Trump (American Business Magnate, television personality and author. Owner of The Trump Organization): His father was a real-estate tycoon and developer.
Steve Jobs (American business magnate and inventor. co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc.) : Pretty much a normal family background.
Bill Gates (American business magnate, philanthropist, author and chairman of Microsoft): From upper middle class family, where his father was a prominent lawyer, his mother served on the board of directors for First Interstate BancSystem and the United Way.
Warren Buffet (American investor, industrialist and philanthropist. Primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway): His father was a politician and businessman.
Oprah Winfrey (American television host, actress, producer, and philanthropist): Was born in rural poverty, her parents were never married.
Out of the 5 that I named, 3 of them were born into upper middle class (or higher) families.
Did you know that although Warren Buffet's father was a politician and a businessman, he himself took his own initiative to do door-to-door in his neighborhood? He delivered newspapers, sold chewing gums or weekly magazines. While still in school, he and his friend spent some money to purchase used pinball machines and place them at barbershops. He started purchasing shares at a young age of 11!
Everyone likes to read the story of success, get inspired by it for a moment (if you happen to fall into the "Yes! I am inspired!" category), and then go back to moaning about your poor life.
How many of us have ever said "Yes! I'm inspired! I'm gonna do something about it!" and have done it? A lot of us only got to the first stage, which is to be inspired. Not that it's not a good thing, but for how long are you going to stay that way?
It takes a lot of courage to take the first step, but once you're done with the first step, the rest of it will be easy, even if you're moving very slowly.
These people I've mentioned, I have great respect for. Once I used to look up to them and say, "Wow! I wish I had that kind of money!" but today, I look up to them because they WORK for that kind of money, with the desire to succeed.
Dear readers, know that everything else will come to you if you seek it. Be it money, success, knowledge, even spouses! Imagine that you're just sitting down on your chair and you're thinking (just purely thinking) about lunch. Do you think lunch will just magically appear on your desk?
The answer is, of course, NO!
All these people, even if they were born into a rich and / or well-off family, they still continue to work. Do you think the Trump Corporation succeeded overnight? Do you think Oprah Winfrey became popular world-wide overnight?
Hard work and perseverance got these people to where they are right now.
When they die, they will be remembered as extraordinary and they will leave a legacy behind.
I'm not asking all of you to be filthy rich and popular. But just BE extraordinary. Don't lie on your deathbed and regret for being ordinary your whole life, for when that happens, it is far too late to do anything about it.
Don't be afraid to chase your dreams, because life is too short to hold anything back. Desire for things and work towards it. The word impossible should not exist in your mind for the brain is limitless.
With this, I leave you with this hit song from the year 2005 by Gorillaz, titled Dare.
It's dare
You've got to press it on you
You just think it
That's what you do baby
Hold it down dare
Jump with them all and move it
Jump back and forth
And feel like you were dare yourself
To work it out
Never did no harm
never did no harm
It's dare
