Never leave your dreams behind !

Welcome to 123^rd Monday Musings !

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This is a true story of a Hollywood star !

The fun began on January 17th 1962, Jim was born to Kathleen and Percy and the youngest of 4 he grew up in a house filled with laughter and fun.

His parents often suffered from ill health and the young Jim would clown around to bring smiles to their faces and to stand out from his siblings, Rita, Pat and John. A skill he was to take to school in return for his good behavior.

The laughter however took a blow when Percy lost his safe job as an accountant when he was 52, plunging the family into dire financial straits.

This was a huge blow for the mild mannered Percy who had given up musical dreams in favor of family security.

They lost their home and when Jim was in 8th grade the family was forced to enter one of their bleakest periods, as they agreed to work as factory caretakers and cleaners, in return for secured accommodation.

This meant Jim too, who struggled with working an 8 hour evening shift with schoolwork.

Inevitably the A grade student began to fail and this showed in his behavior in the community. He decided he had no option but to leave school.

Eventually the family decided the hostility between fellow factory workers and their general unhappiness was too much to bear and they moved into a VW camper van.

Despite the cramped space the family was happier again and Percy and Jim began to explore Jim's comedic talents.

His father would help him put together stage acts and drive him to Toronto to debut at the comedy club YukYuk’s. This never took off which made him start doubting his abilities.

Things became even worse when his family started experiencing financial difficulties which made it hard for them to support his ambitions.

However Jim never quit on his dreams

They however moved into a new home and Jim went back on stage with more confidence and better polished act. He found himself opening mic nights and later became a regular paid comedian in the shows.

His star was now beginning to shine.

He moved to LA shortly after, where he would park on Mulholland Drive every night and visualize his success.

One of these nights he wrote himself a check for $10,000,000 for “Acting Services Rendered,” which he dated for Thanksgiving 1995.

Jim kept on following his dreams

Jim did side roles in many low budget Hollywood movies, then came "Earth Girls are Easy".

Despite being an unimpressive movie Jim made an impression on co-star Damon Wayans who recommended Jim to his brother for a new show "In Living Color".

This was to be his big chance. The role led to Jim’s Unnatural Act in 1991 and led to a role in Fox's Emmy nominated TV film "Doing Time on Maple Drive".

A serious role in which he played a young man with a serious drinking problem, it showcased Jim's straight acting talents but he continued with "In Living Color", sticking with comedy for the meantime. (As being comedian was his dream)

And after doing a string of side roles in many low budget Hollywood flicks, Jim shot to fame with the “Ace Ventura Series”, and the rest as they say is history.

After his success, Jim actually wrote himself a $10 million cheque. When his father passed away in 1994, he slipped the cheque into his father’s pocket in the casket before burial

I think by now you have figured out that I am talking about “Jim Carrey” the actor who deliver many successful Hollywood movies ‘The Mask’,’ Dumb and Dumber’, ‘Liar Liar’, ‘The Truman Show’ and’ Bruce Almighty’ are my all-time favorites

Moral of the story :

Never leave your dream behind !

"If you have a dream, don’t just sit there. Gather courage to believe that you can succeed and leave no stone unturned to make it a reality."

Make it a great Week !

Shailesh

The 'Chosen Ones' Choose Themselves !

Welcome to 122^nd Monday Musings !

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This is a true story of a famous author, and it's not hard to guess that  about whom I am talking !

The lady whom we know as a successful billionaire, didn’t have an easy life to reach there.  Her name is Joanne.

Joanne’s earlier life was not easy,  she had a difficult relationship with her father and they hadn’t spoken in years,

At 25, Joanne lost her mother, having seen her mother die after suffering a long time from multiple sclerosis moves to Portugal for a job and met her then future husband. but the marriage collapsed after six months.

After her divorce she moved from Portugal to Edinburgh, Scotland near her sister. The failed marriage with Portugal TV journalist Jorge Arantes caused her so much misery that she suffered clinical depression and she went as far as to contemplate suicide.

Trying to survive in Scotland, she tried her luck in a career in teaching English as a foreign language. However, in order to get the post, she needed further postgraduate certification, which required her to study full-time for one year. She matriculated herself into this course She had to rely on  benefits through the state welfare support

This is the time when she saw herself as a failure. She had a failed marriage, she had no permanent work, and she had a young daughter to take care of.

But during this rock-bottom time, she realized she still had a wonderful daughter, an old typewriter, and an idea that would become the foundation for rebuilding her life.

Joanne had interest in writing , even she wrote a story when she was 6 years old.

During her welfare support she started writing a story book.

She fought to provide for her daughter and while doing so, she completes her first book, This was produced on an old manual typewriter, and much of it was written in cafes, because she had to take her young daughter out on walks to get her to fall asleep to then give her the time for creativity.

So Joanne completed her book but still it was not end of her struggle,

She started approaching publishers, but every publisher she approached has rejected her manuscript. She didn’t give up , she almost approached 12 publishers but no result

A year later she was given the green light by Barry Cunningham from Bloomsbury, who agreed to publish the book but insisted she get a day job cause there was no money in children’s books. Also insisted to use her initials name because it was thought that young boys wouldn't read a fantasy series written by a female.

And Joanne had no middle name, so she used, her paternal grandmother's name Kathleen as her middle name.

So her name full name became Joanne Kathleen Rowling , and Initials were J.K. Rowling.

Do I need to tell you which book she wrote, It was “Harry Potter“

Rest is history !

Moral of the story :

According to Forbes, Rowling is the first author in history to earn more than $1 billion from writing book

Here’s how J.K. Rowling describes this process of dealing with the hardships of her life…

Failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy to finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one area where I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter, and a big idea. And so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
— J.K. Rowling, 2008 Harvard Commencement Address

The “Chosen Ones” Choose Themselves

We often assume that successful people got to where they are because they went to the right school or knew the right person or had the right genetics or stumbled into the right job at the right time.

It’s easier to think about success this way because then you can say that these people were lucky to have certain advantages and you weren’t, and that’s what made the difference.

And the truth is, yes, luck does play a role in life. But luck is just an opportunity. It’s just an open door. You have to decide to walk through it and to make something of it.

The people who end up looking like the “chosen ones” — the best-selling authors, the successful business owners, the elite athletes, the talented artists — are successful first and foremost because they chose themselves before they had any measure of success.

And that’s the piece of success that isn’t as easy to accept because it often means betting on yourself when you feel like a failure.

I think there are many goals in life that require this type of struggle. For J.K. Rowling, it meant choosing to be a writer when she was a poor, single mother without a job. For you, it might mean choosing yourself when…

•                   you have no connections

•                   you are inexperienced and unproven

•                   you are poor and lack resources

•                   you are out of shape and overweight

Successful people don’t wait to be tapped, chosen, appointed, or nominated. They start before they feel ready.

They tell themselves, “It doesn’t matter whether or not it’s my fault that I’m here. This is who I am and it’s my responsibility to do something about it.”

The chosen ones choose themselves !

Make it a great Week !

Shailesh