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Falling short of meeting your goals and dreams? Start thinking of them as quests.

A little switch in perspective can change your life.

via Canva/Photos

A woman on a quest.

Have you set out lofty goals only to come up short? You deeply cared about the goal, made a plan to achieve it, but somehow felt short along the way. Does it feel like it’s now harder to re-attempt the goal because you couldn’t make it work the first time?

If you feel frustrated that you haven’t been able to achieve your aspirations, the key to achieving them may be in reframing how you think of them. If you dream big, your goal isn’t simple with a starting point and a target outcome. It’s something more dramatic, dynamic, and fulfilling: it’s a quest. When setting out to achieve a goal, many quit when things get frustrating, but when you’re on a quest, that’s when things start getting interesting.

How to turn your goals into quests

David Cain, creator of Raptitude, a blog dedicated to getting better at being human, perfectly described the difference between a goal and a quest in a 2024 post.

“A quest is an adventure, and you expect it to be one. You expect a quest to take you into a new and unfamiliar landscape. You expect there to be puzzles, surprises, perils, and curious encounters. A bridge you counted on will be out. You’ll meet an interesting stranger on the path. You’ll hear wolves howling at night. This is all part of the fun. The goal mentality frames this stuff as setbacks, problems, pains—stuff in the way of the goal,” Cain writes.

Having a quest, instead of a goal, also comes with the promise that you will experience a significant positive personal change by the end of the journey. In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker learns to embrace faith over technology to defeat the Galactic Empire. At the end of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy and her companions realize that they already had what they thought they lacked. What will you learn about yourself on your quest?

“A quest is personally transformative—the endeavor itself shapes who you are, and what you’re capable of. It’s not only the reward that does this, it’s your inevitable encounters with the unfamiliar, and the new capabilities you gain as you handle these encounters,” Cain writes. “You don’t just get the novel started, you become a writer. You don’t just declutter the house, you get your house in order.”

How to handle barriers on the way to achieving a goal

Another way to understand the “map” of your quest is through this cool visual tool, the infographic, The Emotional Journey of Creating Anything Great, which shows how every good idea eventually leads to a place where it seems unachievable, before you push through the challenging parts and reach the finish line.

— (@)

Ultimately, a quest is all about embracing change to achieve your goal and become a better person. Baked into the idea of the quest is the understanding that you have to change; therefore, recognizing that there will be pitfalls on the road is all part of the deal. This understanding could give you the extra spike in resilience that you need to slay any dragons, climb a misty mountain, or send that one email to ask a publisher to put your book on the shelves.

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goal setting

Pop Culture

After 18 years and thousands of rejections, aspiring actor reveals what keeps him going

“If the door hasn’t opened yet, it’s not because I’m unworthy."

@Prasad/Youtube

An actor talks about remaining hopeful even after rejection.

We all face failure and rejection in our lives, but few face it as frequently as actors. So in some ways, few are as well equipped to give impactful advice for maintaining resilience in the face of obstacles. Perhaps that goes especially for the actors who have yet to make that “big break,” and somehow still find the strength to go after their dreams day in and day out.

Forty-year-old Himanshu Prasad is one of those actors. In a recent video posted to Youtube (that's honestly equal parts moving and a little bit unhinged) Prasad shared the exorbitant number of jobs across multiple casting sites that he has submitted or auditioned for over the past 18 years or pursuing an acting career.

acting, failure, rejection, resilience, inspirational, motivation, inspirational videos, actors access A still from Prasad's acting reel www.imdb.com

The total so far? 61,481 submissions. 4,014 auditions. And nadda. A few independent projects here and there—which is certainly nothing to scoff at, but still nothing that’s moved the needle.

And yet, Prasad remains unfazed.

“If the door hasn’t opened yet, it is not because I’m unworthy. It's because the room isn’t ready,” he says in the clip, adding “this is what it costs to believe when no one else does, to show up when no one is calling, to be forgotten, and still not quit, to be invisible, and still fight like you matter.”

And just what keeps him going? Not the hope of fame, but the idea of “pleasing God” by doing what he loves. You don’t have to be religious to appreciate the simplicity of that—to know that what you are doing is the "right" thing because it lights you up, and knowing that the world needs people who are lit up.

“Success isn’t a red carpet,” he told Upworthy. Rather, it’s continuing your craft in the absence of praise. To me, success means becoming the kind of person who keeps going when no one’s watching, hiring, or applauding. It is to have created impact in the lives of millions, one heart at a time. And one day, I still believe one role, one door, could change everything.”

- YouTube www.youtube.com

That's why you'll still find him training every day with a work ethic similar to that of some of his idols: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. As Prasad told Upworthy, he described these two as "renaissance men from different worlds” who “showed unusual and unreasonable grit.”

In a society that tells us that me must have external validation to *gestures wildly* exist, it can be easy for any of us to forget our inherent worthiness or value. That goes for those of us pursuing grand ambitions, or not. But the more we can anchor ourselves in purpose, passion, or even curiosity, the easier it is to remain optimistic. Not just about our careers, but about our lives in general.

On that note, Prasad has a bit of advice for anyone facing a few setbacks:

"Rejection is not the opposite of success, it’s the training ground for it. Every 'no' is a rep in the gym of your character. If it breaks you, it wasn’t yours. If it builds you, you’re getting closer. Don’t wait for approval to become who you are.You don’t need the world to say 'yes' before you start acting like you belong. The real question isn’t how many times you’re rejected: It’s how many times you’re willing to rise without applause.Keep going. There’s always light at the end of the tunnel. One day, it’s going to be your day."

Maybe we won’t all create videos like Prasad, but here’s something to be said about finding our own individual ways to declare ourselves worthy, even if the doors don’t seem to be opening up.

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inspiring

When my boss fired me, I said "Yup, that makes sense," and gathered up my things to go.

He didn’t mince words and neither did I — we wished each other well and that was that. I had been eating tortilla chips at my desk before he called me into his office, and the thing I remember most was my face flushing at how loud the bag crinkled as my coworkers watched me pack my things.

My firing didn’t come as a surprise to anyone. My team and I had struggled for months, and it was obviously due to my inexperience and subsequent unhappiness working in an environment fraught with stress. In fact, I’d already interviewed for a few different positions and was planning to leave the company soon.

Taken in that context, the dismissal itself shouldn’t have been much of a blow. If anything, this is a blessing! I told myself as I took the elevator to the ground floor, thinking of the severance pay and unemployment benefits that I would receive. I feel liberated. And then I stepped out onto the street in the Financial District of New York and immediately, uncontrollably, started to cry.

This isn’t a thinkpiece on millennials, but I’d be remiss if I failed to acknowledge that I am one.

I like selfies and Instagram and I have at some point in my life received a participation ribbon for something. More importantly, like most of my (white, middle-class) peers, I was raised to believe that there was nothing I couldn’t accomplish if I worked for it. You may know that this is not true. I, until recently, did not.

I’ve never felt entitled to success, but I misguidedly learned that my work was. I got just about everything I worked for in college — good grades, competitive internships, a job offer before graduation — but only because I was busting my ass to get them. I had a resume out the door, as did many of my bright and successful peers. Many of us seemed to land the trifecta of expectations (Job! Benefits! Apartment!) pretty quickly. It seemed like all of those you-can-do-it-isms were true. And then a whole bunch of us got fired.

If you’re planning on raising a kid, I highly recommend not letting them get to 22 without experiencing at least one real, crushing failure in their life.

It knocks you for a loop. I interpreted my firing as a sign of some immense personal flaw, something of which to be deeply ashamed, a mark of my incapability as a worker and as a person.

The reality was much less dramatic: I just wasn’t the right person for the job. I’d been hired to replace a woman with an MBA and 10 years of job-specific experience at a fast-paced corporate marketing agency. I, on the other hand, was a liberal arts undergrad and aspiring writer whose foremost strength lay in using my personality to make up for what I lacked in managerial skill. I thought I could do any job if I tried hard enough. But there are just some jobs for which you need more than a good work ethic, and I learned that the hard way.

Looking back, I wish someone had taught me how instructive failure could be in figuring out where I was headed. Rather than fear-mongering me about the job market, I wish someone had told me that periods of unemployment are to be expected, no matter how hard-working you may be. I wish I’d known that, if done right, joblessness can be something that I use to my advantage.

Being unemployed taught me how to function as an individual instead of an employee or a student for the first time in my life.

I got to see what a week might look like without a boss or professor’s expectations shaping my schedule. I gave myself the flexibility to work during hours that I felt productive and to take breaks when I hit a slump. And most importantly, I proved to myself that I had planned well enough to live comfortably for a period of time on a deficit budget, which meant that I didn’t need to pressure myself into taking a job that made me unhappy for fear of being unable to pay the bills.

The whole experience gave me confidence in my own capability, allowed me the opportunity to recalibrate my early career with a clear perspective, and helped me redefine success in the context of my own happiness instead of someone else’s.

What I ended up learning while I was unemployed is that I'm not cut out for office life, and that there are other options.

I liked living on my own schedule so much that I decided to find a job that would let me keep doing just that, which is why I'm now a full-time freelance writer and marketing consultant. I manage my own workflow and determine my own location, which is why I’m currently writing this from the southern coast of Spain. If I work 40 hours for 50 weeks like a regular employee, I’ll actually make more money this year than I was making at my old job. But the best thing about my work is I also get to toggle my hours up or down according to whether I need more money or more time to live my life.

All that came from being granted a period in which I had absolute freedom to explore what I really wanted and was capable of. But I never would have leapt into the abyss of full-time self-employment if I hadn’t been pushed.

So that’s the answer, friends: If at first you don’t succeed, try again. Or try something else. Or take some time for yourself. Falling short of success is a part of life at every stage, even the times when you feel young and fresh and promising. So you failed — get up. In most cases, the likelihood is that you have everything you need to pull through it just fine. And once you do, you’ll be that much stronger for it in the end. I certainly am.

This story was originally published on Medium in 2016 and is reprinted here with permission.

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John David Pahoyo, a top diver from the Philippines, approached the diving board, bounced twice, and sprung himself into the air.

It was the 2015 Southeast Asian Games, a perfect place for Pahoyo to display his diving prowess alongside other top athletes from his region.

In midair, Pahoyo leaned back, tucked his legs, and began a high-speed twisting backflip.

And then this happened:

SGAG/Facebook

You don't have to be an Olympic judge to know divers aren't supposed to enter the water feetfirst.

Pahoyo's teammate, John Elmerson Fabriga, hadn't done much better in his dive that day either, landing flat on his back:

SGAG/Facebook

Umm, ouch?

After the 2015 Southeast Asian Games, the pair's dives went viral, for all the wrong reasons.

SGAG/Facebook

ESPN called them "the two worst high dives you will ever see."

One video of the hilariously awful performance on Facebook got over 2.5 million views.

During the 2016 Olympics games in Rio, Pahoyo and Fabriga still can't seem to escape the (mostly good-natured) ribbing.

— (@)

But if you think Pahoyo and Fabriga are hiding under a rock somewhere until this all blows over, you'd be mistaken.

OK, we all agree that these dives are hilarious. But at a certain point, the mockery has to be devastating for these guys, right?

Wrong.

They're actually being great sports about the whole thing.

SGAG/Facebook

Shortly after the initial performance in 2015, Pahoyo posted about it on Facebook. He knew his dives didn't go super well.

He wrote:

"This was the first time I felt this great intense pressure. Hooo, one event is over. One more to go. I failed one dive and the rest of my dives were sh***ier than what i did during the training. But at least it was a nice experience. Great crowd, great people. I can actually tell myself that i overcame the extraordinary"

Later, in response to a video of his performance, he commented:

"I even laughed at myself after i did this dive hehe. but after all this was not the first time i failed a dive, and i was not the first one who did so. And I am still proud because not all of us has the privilege to represent our own country to such a big sporting event like this. And by the way can i ask all of you if you can still smile after getting embarrassed in front of thousands of people? hehe just asking, right?"

And you know what? He's totally right.

There's no shame in failing when you try your best. And the fact that these two men can laugh at themselves in the face of an embarrassment that, let's face it, would crush most of us...

Well, I don't think it's going too far to say that, while they might not be championship athletes, they are still tremendous role models.

Oh, and while the internet was just catching on to Pahoyo's and Fabriga's "epic fails," the two were busy training for their next event.

Agustin Fuentes, Ph.D., wrote for Psychology Today, "Failing at something acts to demonstrate limitations, to force us to rethink or reevaluate how we do things, and to learn how to do them better. It adds a road block, ups the ante, and makes us use our brain, cooperate, and get creative with the world."

Two days and a few extra practices later, the duo from the Philippines competed in a synchronized diving event at the same games.

This time, they nailed it.

(OK, so it still wasn't good enough for a medal, but it was definitely an improvement they could be proud of.)

JD Pahoyo/Facebook

These two may not have made it to Rio this year, but it looks like they got the last laugh after all.

From Your Site Articles

Donald Trump has an Adopt-a-Highway. I walked down it. Here's what I found.

If there's one thing we know about Donald Trump, it's that he likes to put his name on things.

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images.

Trump Tower, Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Vodka, Trump Shuttle. Trump Steaks, Trump University — the Trump portfolio is vast and varied indeed.

Whose casino is this again? Photo by Jewel Samad/Getty Images.

But even under the harsh, unforgiving spotlight of a presidential campaign, one Trump brand has mostly flown under the radar: Trump Highway.

Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

Apparently, Donald Trump was so taken with the the two-mile stretch of the southbound side of Manhattan's Henry Hudson Parkway that runs past Trump Place Apartments that he up and adopted it.

Which means it's basically one of his children now.

And if there's another thing that's manifestly true about The Donald, it's that he loves his children (sometimes, perhaps, a little too much).

What happens when a man whose name is synonymous with "class" decides to stamp his name on a short stretch of previously unassuming parkway?

With his reputation and brand on the line, how could it not be glitzy? How could it not be beautiful? How could it not be the cleanest, shiniest, classiest road in America?

I decided to see for myself.

What a lovely place for a stroll. Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

It's not particularly walkable, but hey, it's not too far from where I live, so I figured what the heck. I'll dodge a few Miatas to take a look.

What I found was a great highway. The best highway. The winningest highway. Exactly the sort of pristine, well-manicured thoroughfare you'd expect from a man dedicated to providing the world's most elegant driving experience.

A beaut! Photo via iStock.

Just kidding. I found a shitload of trash.

Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

Roughly 75 pieces, after walking only about one-tenth of the length of it.

These are the top 23. The best pieces of trash. The classiest pieces of trash.

1. A sock in a tree.

Trump highway features only the most luxurious socks in only the branchiest trees. Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

2. Half of a credit card.

Cash only, baby. Ring-a-ding-ding. Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

3. A bag from Tory Burch.

The best shopping bags. The emptiest bags. The most sideways bags! Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

4. A hubcap.

Whoever said a hubcap is best when attached to your car was an idiot. On Trump Highway, we fill them with leaves and sticks and bury them in a dirt pile for several weeks. Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

5. Bangladeshi chicken crackers.

Folks, when Trump is president, there will be no more of these savory poultry snacks entering the U.S. until we find out what's going on. Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

6. A Visa gift card sleeve.

Trump's empty gift card wrappers have won dozens of awards, including the Pulitzer Prize. Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

7. A cigar wrapper.

Cigars, boys. Cigars! Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

8. Another cigar wrapper.

Cigars for everyone! Come and get 'em! Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

9. Another cigar wrapper.

An excessive amount of cigars! Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

10. A box of candy-coated peanuts.

Every driver on Trump Highway is treated to America's absolute favorite candy, according to all the polls. Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

11. A bottle of Mike's Hard Pink Lemonade.

Circumvent open container laws by drinking your wine coolers with the cap still on! Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

12. A blue car freshener.

On Trump Highway, your car will be freshened with only the most natural scents. Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

13. An empty bottle of Jose Cuervo.

Choose from our selection of premium ... wait, how did this get over the wall? Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

14. A crushed can of Red Bull.

Free Red Bull with the purchase of two or more Trump Vodka shots. Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

15. A sneaker.

Our tennis courts are #1 in the known universe, including heaven. Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

16. A latex glove with a cigarette butt sticking out of it.

Should you crash through the median, simply pick up the gold courtesy phone and our award-winning medical staff will come to your aid. Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

17. A sheet of Hebrew School homework.

Trump Highway has a great relationship with the Jews. Who doesn't love a bagel with strawberry cream cheese? Classic. Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

18. An old, muddy T-shirt that says "Cramming for Exams."

Each mile driven earns a free credit at Trump U. You may never graduate, but the SWAG is on point. Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

19. A fold-out ad for a furniture store.

You'll be provided with deals! All the deals! Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

20. A portable car ashtray.

We'll even help you quit smoking. Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

21. A single serving of yogurt!

Our continental breakfast is prepared by world-renowned chefs Jacques Pépin, Nobu Matsuhisa, and Jesus! Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

22. An empty box of Trojan Magnum condoms.

No matter how tiny your hands are. Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

23. A Coke with a straw still in it.

Leave your Cokes. Come back and drink 'em later. A+ security here on Trump Highway. Photo by Jon Comulada/Upworthy.

Now, I don't expect the guy to be out there every day picking up used napkins and empty condom boxes with his bare hands.

As much as I'd like to see that — oh boy howdy would I like to see that — Trump is in his 70s and, well, kind of busy these days.

Trash left at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania. Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images.

While the string of roadside garbage certainly doesn't make him or his organization look great, the amount of trash I found isn't necessarily any different or worse than what you'd find on the side of any other urban highway anywhere in America. It's most likely serviced by an outside contractor, per New York City Department of Transportation guidelines.

And honestly, not maintaining his Adopt-a-Highway all that well is, like, probably the 578th most offensive thing about the man (for more on this, see Trump's nonsensical attacks on Mexicans, bigoted fear of Muslims, misogyny, surprisingly aggressive and frequently anti-Semitic white nationalist supporters, and also basically every quality that exists).

Why do 23 pieces of garbage matter this election year? Because Trump insists that his name is synonymous with quality.

Much gold. Very swank. Photo by Timothy A. Clary/Getty Images.

It's a name he claims is responsible for a substantial percentage of his net worth — $3 billion, to be precise. It's a name that allows him to declare himself a runaway success at business. He professes to be able to do for the country what he's done for the products that bear his name.

It's the reason he wants us to let him run the United States of America.

And he went and stamped it on an Adopt-a-Highway that is, like, pretty filthy.

In this way, Trump Highway actually fits right in with the rest of the Trump business model. Like Trump Steaks, which are reportedly terrible, Trump Shuttle, which failed, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts, which went bankrupt, or Trump University, which is under investigation for scamming students.

Individually, each one is a blip. But added together, they make you think...

Is Donald Trump really the results-driven, cut-no-corners, spare-no-expense, ultra-competent manager that he claims to be?

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images.

Or does he just play one on TV?

Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images.

From Your Site Articles

J Lo's iconic Versace dress inspires sneakers - Upworthy ›

Maybe the road to success is paved with mistakes.

You can’t achieve perfection. You can’t even fool the rest of the world into thinking you have.

Instead, getting somewhere — getting anywhere — in life is about going through a process of experimenting, making mistakes, learning, and improving.

If you try to get around that process, the only thing that happens is you become completely wound up in yourself and you fail to improve your work, your product, or your creative skills.

I’ve learned over the last 15 years that success in life isn’t best measured by what you achieve. It’s measured by what you overcome. For me, that has meant overcoming the sheer weight of my own mistakes.

If you pretend that you don’t make mistakes, you lose the chance to do remarkable things.

Instead, you’ll spend your time doing safe things. So celebrate your mistakes. Don’t glorify them — but look at them as chips that can be cashed in for future success.

All photos via Redd Angelo, used with permission.

Here are six mistakes I think you almost have to make to be successful and fulfilled in life:

1. Trust the wrong people.

When you’re starting out, you want to be a trusting person. Start out optimistic, open-minded, and free. Don’t be too quick to judge because you’ll be basing that judgment on zero data.

By trusting everyone, you’re going to end up trusting the wrong people. This just happens, because the world is full of crappy types who want to screw you over and take everything you’ve got.

This is going to teach you who is actually worth trusting in the future. It will give you the information you need to make informed and valuable choices around who is worth trusting and who is not worth your time. Trust the wrong people because it’s one of the only ways to end up trusting the right ones.

2. Screw up your finances.

Everyone should make at least one bad financial decision. This is something I truly believe. There’s just something about that moment of realization, when it hits you that you’ve made a truly terrible mistake with your money, that can sober you up for life.

My mistake? Debt. $10,000 worth of credit card debt, racked up funding software development. That’s something you can’t just shrug off or think away with positive thoughts. That’s something that wakes you up sweating and panicking.

I’m on my way out of that. Well on my way. It’s a mistake I can’t see myself making again, and it’s a mistake I know I’ve learned from.

3. Choose a bad career path.

I love it when people tell me they started out on a career, founded a company, designed something, and then quit when they realized it wasn’t for them. How brave is that? To be able to admit that you walked the wrong path and take the time to switch?

I think one of the only ways to know what you really want to do is to try a whole bunch of things and learn what it feels like when you’re doing the right one. That gives you the knowledge you need to make a better choice.

Choosing a bad career path sucks, and it can feel like a huge setback. I’ve done it enough times to know that when you’re right in the middle of it, you will feel like a failure. Don’t look on it as a waste of time. Trust me, it’s not.

4. Make selfish decisions.

When you’re young, you’re selfish. This isn’t an indictment of millennials — I am one. The fact is, we are taught empathy throughout our formative years, but it’s not a skill that can be learned in the abstract. Empathy is something that can only be picked up with hands-on experience.

And that means you’re going to make selfish decisions. Maybe you’ll screw over the co-founder of your start-up. Choose money over your family. Break up with a person who trusted you, in the worst possible way. I’ve done all of that.

Seeing the impact of those selfish choices breaks you. In little ways, in big ways. It changes the way you see other people. If you’re lucky, it stops you from being able to pretend that everyone else in the world is a non-player-character in a game.

5. Take the easy way out.

It’s so hard not to do this. It’s so hard not to take the easy way out when you know how much simpler it will make your life. And when you haven’t been burned, it’s hard to see a reason why you shouldn’t try to shift the blame or do a half-assed job.

But do it once, and you should learn something: Taking the easy way out will often come back to bite you. You will likely regret it. Quality will suffer, your reputation will suffer, and your own experience of it may even be terrible.

“Don’t do anything by half. If you love someone, love them with all your soul. When you go to work, work your ass off. When you hate someone, hate them until it hurts.” — Henry Rollins

6. Work too hard.

I see this from would-be start-up founders and artists and writers every day. They talk about hustling 18 hours a day. They tell you they’ve worked every weekend, every night. They buy into the fallacy that letting your work rule every waking moment is the only way to be successful.

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

“It’s all part of the hustle.”

“You can start up or rest. You can’t do both.”

This is all a complete fabrication. It’s been propagated by the insane work schedules of a small percentage of billionaire founders and visionary creatives who were able to function on a fraction of sleep every night.

They are the exception. You are the rule. If you choose to work too hard once and you burn out, that’s an awesome opportunity to learn. But you have to learn from it. You have to learn that trying to maintain that level of skewed work-life balance is rarely going to work for you.

One of the guiding forces in my life has been my ability to screw up completely, get back on my feet, and keep on swinging.

Did I shut down a creative services agency because I had zero idea of how to run a business? Absolutely. Did I get completely ripped off by a former business partner and end up massively in debt? I won’t deny it.

Did I drop out of law school and fail to accomplish anything more meaningful than binge-watching TV for seven months? That checks out.

But the unifying theme behind every mistake I’ve made is that no matter how long it took, I learned something. I took something home. I gained valuable information about myself, my challenges, and my path.

So screw up once in a while. Hell, screw up every day! And take something from those mistakes, because in my book, messing up is a quicker road to success and satisfaction than being perfect every day of the week.

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Frugal woman shares the one critical question she asks herself before making any purchase - Upworthy ›

We've all been there.

You get fired days after starting a great new job. That promotion you're pulling for goes to someone else. You’re turned down for a job even after acing the interview.

Rejection comes in many forms, so the list goes on and on.

When you’re still reeling from the sting of rejection, it’s hard to see any kind of positive outcome. Instead, it’s easier to let yourself get pulled into a whirlpool of negativity, doubt, and self-criticism.

But it’s important to realize that rejection happens to everyone, especially those who eventually succeed.

Want some examples?

Here are seven inspiring quotes from successful people that will help you bounce back from rejection:

1. "I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat." — Sylvester Stallone

GIF from "Rocky."

In the mid 1970s, Sylvester Stallone was a broke and unemployed actor. With a mere 100 bucks in the bank, he sat down to write the now classic film "Rocky."

When it became a success, his fortunes changed overnight. In the bleakest of circumstances, he had the drive to keep going rather than give in to defeat.

2. "Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life." — J.K. Rowling

Photo by Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images.

By now, we all know that J.K. Rowling once lived on welfare as a single mother in Scotland. At her lowest point, she sat down to pen the "Harry Potter" series. The manuscript was rejected several times before getting published but went on to become a blockbuster success.

3. "I've failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." — Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan is an undeniable basketball legend. But as a young, up-and-coming high school athlete, he didn't initially make the cut for the varsity basketball team. He used this early rejection as motivation to become the iconic athlete we know today.

4. "Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength." — Arnold Schwarzenegger

Photo by Lennart Preiss/Getty Images.

Arnold Schwarzenegger pushed past his early struggles as a poor Austrian immigrant to become an accomplished movie star, body builder, and, yes, politician.

5. "Rejection is the greatest aphrodisiac." — Madonna

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Madonna was once a struggling musician living in New York City when her early songs were rejected by Millennium Records. But she forged ahead and two years later released her debut album, which has since been certified five-times platinum.

6. "By the time I was fourteen, the nail in my wall would no longer support the weight of the rejection slips impaled upon it. I replaced the nail with a spike and went on writing." — Stephen King

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As a young writer, Stephen King faced constant rejection. His manuscript for "Carrie" was famously rejected dozens of times. But he kept writing to eventually become one of the best-selling fiction authors of all time.

7. "Failure is another stepping stone to greatness." — Oprah

GIF from The Oprah Winfrey Network.

Before Oprah became the queen of daytime, she worked as an evening news anchor in Baltimore. But her bosses were unhappy with her on-air performance, and she was she was fired. She soon found another job as the host of a daytime television show, and the rest is history.

Each of these now mega-successful people managed to come back from the extreme lows of rejection.

Their stories show that even though rejection happens to us all, it’s often just a natural stepping stone to success.

Now go out there and use their quotes as motivation for your own success story!

GIF from "The Waterboy."