Years ago I tried to get my short stories published based on my Army experiences. Most of the rejection slips were preprinted “Sorry, not for us” notes.

Occasionally a kindly editor would send my manuscript back with a hand written note saying something encouraging.

Those notes kept me going but I finally realized I was going no where so I went back into journalism with no regrets.

Life is full of rejection.

My friend Rick Houcek reminded me that it’s been more than 50 years since The Beatles captured worldwide attention. Yet they almost never got off the ground?

In 1962, Dick Rowe at Decca Records in London brushed them off, saying: “Guitar groups are on the way out.”

Was he ever wrong, The Beatles are gone but guitar groups are still popular.

Jack Canfield’s and Mark Victor Hanson’s best-selling “Chicken Soup For The Soul” was rejected by 144 publishers. Jack and Mark didn’t give in. They finally found a small publisher willing to take a chance on them and look what happened,

Famous opera singer Enrico Caruso’s teacher told him he had no voice at all.

Fred Astaire, who mesmerized generations of adoring fans, was told after his first MGM screen test: “Can’t act. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.”

Walt Disney was blasted as lacking ideas.

Gritty Green Bay Packers coach, Super Bowl champ and NFL Hall of Famer Vince Lombardi was described this way by one expert: “He possesses minimal football knowledge and lacks motivation.”

The Wright Brothers were the first to successfully invent pilot-controlled flight. But they endured years of criticism and doubt from skeptics after early attempts failed.

Robert Fulton’s plan to build the 1st steam-powered boat was met with much ridicules. But the skeptics were silenced, standing dumbfounded on the riverbank, as Fulton’s boat steamed by.

What could have derailed their success? Rick asks. The negative opinions of experts if they had listened. None did. They steamrolled ahead – against the odds.

Every day, someone – a close friend or loving family member you trust – will try to dampen your enthusiasm.

Do you have an idea, a dream, a goal that you want passionately but someone is casting doubt, urging you to quit?

If so, do you listen and halt? Or ignore them and press forward?

Don’t let another person – even a loved one – control your life. Or talk you out of the one you’ve already selected. They may doubt it can be done… underplay its importance… or have no passion for it.

They don’t have the flame that burns inside you. You do. You decide.

Steve Jobs, the visionary entrepreneur and co-founder of Apple said. “Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking.

“Don’t let the noise of other’s opinion drown your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition; they somehow already know what you truly want to become.

“Everything else is secondary.”

Next: Why the media is distrusted.

Need some inspiration?

Are you dissatisfied with your life and looking for a new opportunity? Get a free copy of “Uncover Your Inner Sales Genius” at JerryBellune.net