Why You Have To Keep Showing Up And Never Quit

He had some learning difficulties.

He went to Glen Ridge High School in Glen Ridge, New Jersey.

The only thing that Tom was known for was wrestling.

He was a below-average wrestler

The first year he didn’t win any matches.

But by the time Tom was a junior, he was doing okay

And his coach said, “Tom, next year you’re going to have a winning record.”

Tom, was a little kid, 135 pounds.

Every summer he and his mother had the same argument.

Tom wanted to play football.

His mom said, “Tom, look at you.

You’re a little kid

If you play football, you’re going to get hurt.”

So before Tom’s senior year, he said, “Mom, it’s my last year of high school.

If I don’t play football now, I’ll never play.

So his mother relented.

And just as she predicted, after five weeks, Tom got hurt.

It was such a bad leg injury, the school doctor wouldn’t clear him for wrestling for his senior year.

This was his thing.

Tom loved wrestling.

He was devastated.

Tom was out of sports his senior year so he want out for the lead part in the school play “Guys and Dolls”.

And they’re just getting ready to open the show, and the girl who had the female lead in Guys and Dolls had a stage mom.

The Mom thought her daughter was going to be the next Barbara Streisand.

So this stage mother made sure there was a New York City theatrical agent at the opening of Guys and Dolls.

The agent showed up, and he saw the girl, and he saw nothing in the girl.

And he saw little Tom Mapother.

He said, “This kid has something going for him.”

He spoke to Tom after the show.

He gave him his card.

He said, “Look Tom, I’d like you to study in New York.

And three years later, Tom Mapother is in the movie where he is dancing in his underwear.

But his name is not Tom Mapother in the movies.

He used his middle name.

His full name was Tom Cruise Mapother.

And that’s the story of Tom Cruise.

Lights! Camera! Attack!

Tom’s been attacking the movie screens for decades and it all started because he did not quit.

He was at the right place, at the right time.

And it just goes to show you, you never know what can happen as long as you keep your toes a tapping.

Yaseen Dadabhay is a dad, former lawyer,  entrepreneur and business coach who has built two $30 million dollars businesses. He also led HR for Starbucks.