They never gave up

Elvis Presley, who was told to keep on driving trucks as a career.

There are many stories of determination and perseverance in the history of mankind, and so many people matured late in life and became the success they enjoyed simply because they never gave up, instead of being turned down and pushed aside for being told they had no talent. Elvis Presley tried out at the Grand Ole Opry one day in the early 1950s, and the Promoter of the Show, after hearing him sing a song, asked him what he did for a living. Elvis told him that he was a truck driver. And the promoter responded, “Well, I suggest you keep on trucking, and forget about singing!” Thank God Elvis did not listen. The same happened to Enrico Caruso who started singing in bars, but was soon dismissed because his singing was awful. At least that was the opinion of the bar owner. Thank God again Caruso was not offended. So many other people had hidden capabilities and potentials, only to find objection, rejection, ridicule, before eventually tasting success. 

Beethoven, who was too slow with no apparent talent at first.

Franz Joseph Haydn gave up on making a musician out of a young Ludwig van Beethoven who seemed too slow with no apparent talent. Albert Einstein was 4 years old before he could speak a single word, and 7 before he could read. A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he was told he had no good ideas. Werner von Braun, the brain behind the Apollo lunar landings failed algebra in Grade 9, and was doomed for failure.  There is a lesson in such stories: different people develop at different rates, and the best motivators are always on the lookout for hidden capacities.