Summary

The article emphasizes that to become a superstar, one must persevere through numerous failures and rejections, as demonstrated by the experiences of many successful individuals.

Abstract

The path to superstardom is paved with failures and rejections, as illustrated by the stories of renowned figures such as Babe Ruth, Stephen King, Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Shultz, Beethoven, Van Gogh, and Dr. Seuss. These individuals achieved greatness not necessarily because of exceptional talent, but because they did not give up despite setbacks. The article suggests that talent is common, but resilience and persistence are the rare qualities that distinguish superstars from the mediocre majority. It encourages readers to embrace failures as signs of progress and to keep taking the next step, even when it's tempting to quit. The author, Shaunta Grimes, offers her own strategies for maintaining commitment to one's goals.

Opinions

Superstars are not just born; they are made through resilience and persistence in the face of failure.
Talent alone is not sufficient for success; many talented individuals never reach their potential because they do not persist through challenges.
Failure and rejection are inevitable on the road to success, and should be seen as indicators of being on the right path.
The willingness to continue despite repeated failures is what sets successful people apart from the rest.
Success often requires a mindset shift, where one learns to welcome and learn from failures rather than avoiding them.
There is a vast untapped reserve of talent in the world, with many people not pursuing their potential due to various deterrents such as age, financial constraints, or discouragement.
The article suggests that perseverance is a key factor in achieving success, possibly even more important than innate ability or external opportunities.

Most people settle for mediocre. Here’s how to be a superstar.

Just in case you don’t want to be most people.

If you look at the flip side of pretty much any super success story, you’ll see one thing: A whole pile of failure. Maybe even more failures than successes.

Maybe the opposite of being a superstar is abject failure. But just as few people are complete failures as are total superstars. Most of us are somewhere in the middle.

Most of us are mediocre.

And that’s okay. It really is. Mediocre makes the world go ‘round, after all.

But in case you want to be a superstar, I want you to think about something.

You have to go through Mediocre to become a Superstar.

Babe Ruth had the more homeruns — and more strike outs — than any other baseball player.

Stephen King had far more rejections on his famous spike than he’s had published books. And he’s prolific. That’s a lot of rejection.

Thomas Edison failed 1000 times before successfully inventing the light bulb.

Abraham Lincoln failed to be elected to the legislature, Congress, the Senate, and the vice-presidency. Also as the commissioner of the General Land Office. His failures caused him to write this to a friend: “I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on the earth.”

Charles Shultz‘s high school yearbook committee wouldn’t print his comics and Walt Disney (who was fired from a newspaper for lacking imagination) wouldn’t give him a job.

Beethoven’s teacher called him “hopeless as a composer.” Van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime. Dr. Seuss’s first book was rejected 27 times.

Is that enough? Because I really could go on.

Listen to this very carefully: Every single person who has found success before you on the path you’ve chosen found success because of one thing. They were in the minority.

Not because they were so much luckier or more talented than everyone on Earth. They were in the minority because they didn’t quit. Any of them could have stopped at mediocre. They could have been okay at what they do.

If they’d aimed for mediocrity, like nearly all of us do, they would have been a handful of the billions who were going for the same thing they were — as much as they could get without having to put up with too much failure or rejection.

When it got hard or scary or the rejection and failure just started to hurt too much, they could have stuck where they were. On the talented edge of mediocre, but not superstars.

The people listed above were/are all talented. There is no doubt about that. But it’s not like talent is a rare commodity. There are talented people everywhere. There’s even more talent that no one ever even attempts to develop.

Talent is cheap. It’s resilience and persistence that come dear.

If Stephen King hadn’t persevered through the rejection, someone else would have. If Thomas Edison hadn’t made it through 1000 failed light bulb experiments, someone else would have. We’d have other musicians. Other sports stars. Other heroes.

Because for every superstar, there are a hundred equally talented people who just didn’t keep going. And probably a thousand who never even get started — because someone told them that art school/playing the guitar/poetry is a waste of time. Or because they decided they’re too old now, since they weren’t teenage phenoms. Or because they can’t afford an Ivy League education, so there’s no use studying science/math/engineering.

You get to be a superstar by sticking until you get there. You get there by figuring out how to live with the failures and the rejections. How to welcome them even. How to see them as a sign that you are on the right path.

I love this quote from Seth Godin.

“If I fail more than you, I win.”

I’m adding that to my short list of life mottos.

So here’s what to do, if you don’t want to settle for mediocre.

When you think about quitting, ask yourself one question first: what would the next step be? Then take that one step before you quit.

Then do it again.

And again.

Etc.

Here’s my secret weapon for sticking with whatever your thing is.

Shaunta Grimes is a writer and teacher. She lives in Reno with her husband, three superstar kids, and a yellow rescue dog named Maybelline Scout. She’s on Twitter @shauntagrimes and is the author of Viral Nation and Rebel Nation and the upcoming novel The Astonishing Maybe. She is the original Ninja Writer.