Sylvester Stallone: Are You Truly Committed To Success?

If you want to learn about being committed, you definitely have to learn from this guy, Sylvester Stallone. We all know that achieving outstanding success and living an amazing life is going to be challenging. It needs our full commitment to make our dreams come true. And most people don’t know what being committed truly mean.

So listen tot the success story of Sylvester Stallone, and you will know what it means by being truly committed…

At his peak time, Stallone was one of the big names and highly paid actors in Hollywood. You should know who this guy is and what movies he starred in right? After he made it in the acting industry, his fee from acting for a movie can command as much as $20 million per movie. And this was many years ago. Was he born a movie star? Did he got all the skills and was he talented in acting? Hardly, he was someone who seemed to have all the odds stacked up against him.

He was born in a poor family that his mother had to give birth to him outside of a school. And because of the blotched delivery by students caused him a facial nerve to be severed. That made Stallone’s face paralyzed on one side and as a result, he had to live his life with slurred speech. He even had to deal with drooping lower lip and being made fun of his name, ‘Sylvester’ (associated with the Looney Tunes cat).

Despite having all these limitations, the young Stallone had a big dream. He dreamed of wanting to be an actor and inspire millions of people through his movies. He wanted to become a star actor.

The first thing he did is to get into the acting school and then started to go for auditions. Obviously, with his wooden acting skill, his dopey looks and his slurred speech, he was rejected for every part he applied for. However, he never gave up on this. What he did to get his first part in acting was a great example of his level of commitment. After being rejected for countless times in the audition, he pulled up a chair in front of the manager’s office and sat down, refusing to leave until they gave him a chance to act.

This is how committed Stallone was about reaching his dream. Most youngster who said that they wanted to be a star, an actor or a singer should learn how Stallone made it to the top. And the main difference between Stallone and the young people who dream of becoming a star is that Stallone make it a must-achieve while it remains just a dream for most people.

After a couple of hours sitting down refusing to leave, the manager got moved and decided to give him a part to act. Even though it was just a short few minutes act as an extra, the experience gave Stallone the first breakthrough. He knew that was exactly what he wanted and his dream became even clearer.

Sadly, after that experience, Stallone never received anymore successful audition for any other acting job. At this point of time, his wife told him to be realistic and to give up on his “stupid dream” of becoming an actor. His reply was, “If I get another job, I would lose the only thing I have got going for me, my hunger. By quitting and getting a job, I would be selling out on my dream.” (Pretty amazing reply)

Stallone eventually became so broke because he was jobless and the situation became so desperate that he had to sell his dog for $50. It was said that it was the lowest point of his life as his dog was the one friend he had got left.

Finally, one day he watched a boxing match between then world heavyweight champion Muhammed Ali and Chuck Wepner. Chuck Wepner was an underdog that that everyone thought he would be defeated within the first few rounds. And what amazed everyone was the tenacity and Wepner’s determination, he lasted for the total of 15 rounds with the champion, Ali.

This was what got Stallone inspired. He watched the match on television, had the vision in his head about making a movie. He then started to write for the movie script he had in his mind for a continuous 84 hours non-stop until he finished it! Stallone got so excited because he knew that this movie script was going to be the game changer for him. He would be able to turn his life around and made his fortune. This movie was none other than the famous “Rocky”.

He went around trying to sell the script, and guess what, it was not easy. He got a lot of rejection and most people told him that the movie was just too predictable and nobody wanted to watch a movie about boxing. Again, he never gave up and continue on. And finally he got a company offered him to buy over the script and the right for $75,000, which was a lot of money for him at that time. Stallone was happy, but it was not what he wanted. He wanted to be the lead actor to fulfill his dream. He still kept to his dream even at this point!

Stallone’s condition for the sale of the script was that he wanted to be the lead actor. What happened next was that the company increased their offer to $255,000 and up to $1 million, but Stallone never moved by the money. He insisted that he wanted to be the lead actor. (Selling your dream for $1 million, what would you do?)

Eventually they came up with an agreement. The movie would be made with shoestring budget of less than $1 million and Stallone got only $35,000 for the writing and acting, plus a percentage of the profits from the movie if the movie made money. Of course, Syl immediately agreed on this deal.

When he got the money, the first thing he did was to search for the person who bought his dog. He offered the person $100 to buy back his dog. The man declined saying he is not keen to sell the dog back. Stallone increased his offer to $500, and then to $1,000. Still the man refused to sell the dog, saying that no amount of money could ever convinced him to sell the dog. With Syl’s determination and commitment, he paid the man a whopping $15,000 and also gave him a part of profit from the movie. He finally got back his dog. (This is how strong Stallone’s commitment was)

When the movie Rocky was launched, it became one of the highest grossing movie at that time with $171 million gross profit. The movie was also nominated for ten academy awards including the best actor award. Sylvester Stallone instantly shot to fame as a star actor and making huge money and success in the filming industry. Eventually he starred in other successful box office movie such as the Rocky sequels, Rambo, and recently, Expendables.

For him, the dream of becoming an actor is a MUST and he would do anything to achieve that dream. He never gave up and never quit during tough times. And finally he became the Hollywood star that most people can only admire. And he is Sylvester Stallone, one of the successful people I always look up to, and his level of commitment will always made me remembered forever in my journey to achieve my dream.