Michael Jordan

What failed

In 1978, as a fifteen-year-old sophomore, he did not make his high school's varsity roster. He was placed on junior varsity, which is the ordinary destination for a sophomore. He was around 5 feet 10 and could not yet dunk; a taller friend went up because the team needed height. He was never cut from the programme.

What happened next

He starred on the junior varsity team, grew four inches over the summer, trained hard, and made varsity as a junior. Fifteen years later, at the peak of his career, he left basketball for minor league baseball and batted .202 — a public failure he chose deliberately.

The point

A completely routine, correct decision by a coach felt like devastation, and the feeling was real anyway. The myth needs him cut because the truth does not sound dramatic enough. If a story has to be exaggerated to motivate you, it was not motivating you.