Lifestyles of the Rich and Femme-ous

You can always count on E! Entertainment Television to provide high caliber educational content. Whether it's "Dr. 90210", "The Soup", or even "Snoop Dogg's Father Hood", the shows on E! always seem to leave you with a certain hope about the future. I remember one episode of "The Girls Next Door" where the Playmates sat with Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore to discuss the most effective ways to address the negative effects of greenhouse emissions. Then they threw him into Hef's pool. Good stuff.

Okay, maybe E! is better regarded as a source of entertainment rather than inspiration, but the channel's recent coverage of a certain list of celebrities was noteworthy for any of us looking for a bit of encouragement in our pursuit of personal success.

Early last year, Forbes magazine presented its list of the Top 20 Richest Women in Entertainment. Before the ink was dry, the producers over at E! were already compiling footage of these successful women. While the net worth dollar figures reported were staggering, I was more impressed by the circumstances these women overcame in their rise to the top. Just take a look at a few snippets from the Top 5 celebrites' bios:

# 5: Celine Dion ($250 million)
Céline Marie Claudette Dion was born into a large family and poverty in Charlemagne, Quebec. Success for Dion came only when her manager (and later husband) René decided to mortgage his home to pay for her first record and several stunning pantsuits.

# 4: Madonna ($325 million)
Madonna was born Madonna Louise Ciccone and became Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone when she realized she had fewer names than Celine and then completed her Catholic confirmation. Another product of a large family, Madonna had a French-Canadian mother and an Italian-American father. Choosing sides during the olympics was a total bitch. (Like Mariah Carey.) She grew up in a modest community in Bay City, Michigan.

#3: Martha Stewart ($638 million)
Martha Stewart was born in New Jersey, but that was the end of her tough luck as a child. Her parents were middle class earners, and she completed high school in her hometown of Nutley, New Jersey before beginning a modeling career. After her husband finished studying law at Yale, she graduated from a private school as a History and Architectural History major. For Stewart, hard times (and hard time) came later in life, although she has emerged victorious.

#2: J.K. Rowling ($1,000 million)
"Harry Potter" author J. K. Rowling quickly became one of the top entertainment earners on the Forbes list. There was a time when her success seemed as unlikely as Daniel Radcliffe showing his rear end in the West End. After she had begun to write the tale of the boy wizard, she was diagnosed with clinical depression. She was unemployed when she completed her novel. Her masterpiece was rewarded with numerous rejection letters. Even the man who ultimately published Potter advised her that she probably wouldn't make much money writing children's books. (Now it's his turn to be unemployed.)

#1: Oprah Winfrey ($1,500 million)
What do you do when you're born to unmarried teenagers - a housemaid and a coal miner? Oh wait, how about after years of poverty and sexual abuse? Well, you don't quit. You don't compromise your values or your gifts. If you're Oprah, you go on to appear in movies and on television. You produce films and magazines, and you bring countless projects to life. You simply become the biggest name in the biggest industry around. Where others may have wilted under the injustice and the pressure, Oprah prevailed.

These successful women have reached the pinnacle of their profession. They are so famous, in fact, that one knows each of them by a single name. (Or two initials, but who's counting.) Yet each faced adversity, and many of them struggled early in life. They rose to overcome a variety of challenges and their determination and hard work carried them through.

While you may not aspire to make the Forbes list, you undoubtedly have personal and professional goals in your life. I know I do. Considering the lessons offered by these gritty gals, what excuses do the rest of us have? Can we be too busy to get better? Can we be too shy to ask for help? Can we convince ourselves that we should be satisfied when we know we ache for something greater in our lives?

I have a feeling that I know what these women would say. What do you say?

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to TiVo "Sunset Tan".

Related Links

Forbes list
E!
Equus

Quote of the Week

"Builders insist that success may never come without a compelling personal commitment to something you care about and would be willing to do with or without counting on wealth, fame, power, or public acceptance as an outcome."

- Jerry Porras

"My biggest nightmare is I'm driving home and get sick and go to hospital. I say: 'Please help me.' And the people say: 'Hey, you look like...' And I'm dying while they're wondering whether I'm Barbra Streisand."

- Barbra Streisand

Coaching Quickie: Lifestyles of the Rich and Femme-ous

Check back next week for results!

Last Week's Results

Coaching Quickie: Have You Met TED?
What do you do when you hit Creators Block?

(00%) Power through and something will come.
(00%) Exercise.
(40%) Seek inspiration in the ideas of others.
(20%) Coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.
(40%) All of the above.

If you missed it, you can read last week's newsletter online here.