Being rich and famous is one way to measure success in a concrete way. After all, a person with wealth and fame evokes, attracts, and, more often than not, acquires tremendous influence and power. Donald Trump became president of the United States based on that conceptual and empirical truth. Maybe Trump just needed to add some maverick kind of attitude and leadership in his overall persona to secure his dream to become the most powerful man on the planet. But becoming a household name is mostly just a by-product of achieving enough wealth to sustain one person for a hundred lifetimes. Or one hundred people for a hundred lifetimes - if we’re talking Elon Musk. But what does it take to become so rich you can buy the most ridiculously expensive designer clothes anywhere in the world as if you’re buying bags of potato chips in a 7-Eleven store? Or those gummy bears in the old supermarket across town. Does it take just pure hard work and discipline? How much of a factor is attitude, temperament, perseverance, and luck? It all becomes opinion. ​

Regardless of how, there have been successful men and women in our history who fit into the typical profile of an individual who eventually found high level success (and have accumulated mind-boggling wealth) because that’s what society in general has expected them to achieve. Being better equipped in their more conventional, abundant and straightened path in life gave them much better chances at catching success compared to others. However, there is a group of highly successful people that stand out from the rest of the bunch - like a group of wild African lions that have gathered together while surrounded by a hundred trained tigers. These people have defied the naysayers, the odds, rolled the dreaded dice, walked the tightrope, played with fire, spread their wings, soared, crashed, burned, survived, and rose from the ashes like a phoenix emanating a fiery blast of overwhelming and awe-inspiring energy, before rising and drawing inspiration from a renewed life-giving force that transcends cultures and generations. ​

They’re the unlikely success stories we read by chance in newspapers (or the internet) that give hope to anyone eager to reach the limits of the sky. To look back, one man, a geek, dropped out of college, and years later became the co-founding chairman and CEO of one of the world’s most successful and biggest multinational corporations over the last thirty years. His name is Bill Gates. His company’s name may be called Microsoft, but there’s nothing soft (it’s all hard work and hard-earned) about his work ethic, business approach, and how he strategically earned his place in history as one of the consistently wealthiest men in the world. In fact, he’s known as the richest man alive for a long time. But the best thing about Gates is his philanthropic spirit and end goal to share a good chunk of his riches to help the world become a better place. He wants to donate the majority of his wealth to charities – which he has already started doing for many years now. Philanthropy has become part of his core. Thanks to Microsoft becoming a trillion-dollar company - one of among five in the world - and a leading global brand. ​

Another man, coming from the same field as Gates, was “fired” from his job by the same company he founded. But thru his unbridled desire to realize his company’s mission-and-vision ideals and be ahead of his competition, he came back and took over the helm of one of the world’s most prolific, influential and successful technology companies at the turn of the new century. He was Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc. With Apple’s ground breaking iPod and iPhone series, it became the first company worldwide to be valued at more than $3 trillion in the stock market. Jobs was an adopted child (and had only one sibling, a sister – she, too, was adopted) and was raised in a middle-class family. Jobs was certainly not born rich.

To further emphasize how the most remarkable success stories go, there are two celebrities that most exemplify the unlikely or improbable rags-to-riches story that we all would love to hear: Hollywood action icon, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Filipino boxing legend, Manny Pacquiao. To those unaware, Arnold grew up poor in Austria after the Second World War, with a strict father who was chief of the police and a former military officer. It didn’t help that his father was not fond of him and favored Arnold’s older brother (and only sibling), Meinhard, who died in a car crash at the age of twenty-five. Thru dogged determination, Arnold found his liberation thru bodybuilding as he joined competitions after competitions and eventually became a world champion (when he was barely an adult) after dominating most of his opponents from every part of the world. 

He won the Mr. Universe four times, and the most prestigious bodybuilding title, the Mr. Olympia, seven times, that ended in 1980 after his retirement from the sport. Arnold couldn’t wait to leave his native country to find greener pastures in the United States (where he next wanted to dominate the bodybuilding world). He arrived in America in 1968 at the age of 21, with only a few hundred dollars to his name. Around this time and over the next decade, Arnold predicted that he would conquer bodybuilding after he arrived in the U.S., become the biggest movie star in the world, and also, believe it or not, become Governor of California. All his predictions became a reality: Arnold has now been widely considered as the Michael Jordan of bodybuilding; bodybuilding’s greatest icon. He became the biggest action star/movie star in the world in the early ‘90s. And eventually became the Governor of California in 2003 - he most likely would have been POTUS if only he was born in the USA, and not Austria. Over the years, he achieved all those against all odds – starting off as a poor immigrant with freak-show muscles bulging all over his body (even his face looks like it’s been carved out of marble), an unpronounceable name, and a tongue with an accent as thick as his biceps, and that can barely speak in English. In twentieth century-Hollywood, that kind of profile description spells definite failure. But not for Arnold. Furthermore, people don’t know that Arnold was also and still is a successful entrepreneur. If Arnold is not your definition of success, then I don't know what is. It has once been said that Arnold Schwarzenegger is arguably the most successful human being on the planet. I, for one, don’t want to argue against that. Arnold’s life, at least, is one of the greatest immigrant success stories ever documented and ever realized by any man. From a few hundred dollars to a $400 million net worth, plus, worldwide fame as an actor – how is that for success?

​On the other side of the world, there was a young boy, in the Philippines - even poorer than Arnold Schwarzenegger was - who became arguably the greatest boxer that ever lived. His name is Manny Pacquiao. He’s the only boxer in the entire history of the sport who is an eight-division world champion. From that technical standpoint, Pacquiao can surely be argued as the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) in boxing. Pacquiao, in his youth, sold fish and cigarettes to help support his mother and their family. Like Arnold, Manny relied on sports to find salvation and deliverance from a seriously uncomfortable life. The sport of boxing paved the way for Manny to ultimately become a sports icon in his country - as well as a global sports celebrity - that even famous men like Sylvester Stallone and Keanu Reeves have asked for his autograph and a few photos with him. Manny Pacquiao’s life – from being a cigarette vendor to having multiple mansions (from Forbes Park to Beverly Hills), and a peak net worth of at least $250-300 million – is, without a doubt, a true unconventional and rare success story.

Two billionaires and two multimillionaires – Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Manny Pacquiao. What is the common denominator among them in their road to success and rise to prominence? If I can only pick two words (two nouns) that best describe the traits that they all share: It’s willpower and confidence. Anyone with willpower and confidence will go a long way in life. Add a dose of luck and maybe a supernatural twist of fate then you might live a life that would make Arnold proud. But their stories are not without failures and tragedy. There were insulting words, detractors, disbelievers, critics, haters, scandals, failed marriages, and downhill struggles that they’ve experienced and that they’d always have in their individual lives. But overall, they triumphed against a rather harsh world full of greed and hatred. Hence, their stories need to be told and be a cause for inspiration, or at least provide an important life lesson. The four of them, in my small world, are the poster boys for the unlikely success stories that will always inspire. And yet, in the grand scheme of things; in our miniscule existence in the infinite vastness of the universe, of time and space, success is actually meaningless. But, hey, that’s no longer their story to tell. Maybe, if you fail to be successful, they’ll just show you the money.