You would think that the son of Gloria Vanderbilt could do anything if he really wanted to. But at 24 years-old, and with no formal journalistic education to speak of, Anderson Cooper wanted to be a war correspondent but couldn’t land a job.
This month we’re reading Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival by Anderson Cooper. In the early pages of his story, we learn of Cooper’s steadfast perseverance. He didn’t let a journalism degree (or lack thereof) stand between him and his dreams; instead, he dove head first into his passion and traveled to war-torn lands with nothing more than a fake press pass and a home video camera. It was through this giant leap of faith and unwavering persistence that Cooper finally landed his first job as a foreign correspondent a year later. And as we know, he built a mega successful career from there.
The roadblocks that Cooper faced early on are similar to those that so many of us face. Whether you got a degree in the “wrong” field or can’t seem to land a job in your dream profession, Cooper’s early struggles remind us that persistence, mixed with creative thinking, can help you seize a game-changing opportunity.
In life, sometimes you have to start at the bottom in order to get what you really want, but, as Cooper’s success demonstrates, from small beginnings come great things.
Conversation starter: Did you ever have to start at the bottom in order to pursue your dream job?
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Read along! This month we’re reading Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival by Anderson Cooper.
