Today is July 16 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “How often do you remind yourself that you are never too old to follow your dreams?”
The world is filled with people who accomplished their dreams after decades of either trying or having other careers.
At 23, Tina Fey was working at a YMCA.
At 23, Oprah was fired from her first reporting job.
At 24, Stephen King was working as a janitor and living in a trailer.
At 27, Vincent Van Gogh failed as a missionary and decided to go to art school.
At 28, J.K. Rowling was a suicidal single parent living on welfare.
At 28, Wayne Coyne (from The Flaming Lips) was a fry cook.
At 30, Harrison Ford was a carpenter.
At 30 Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo
At 30, Martha Stewart was a stockbroker.
At 37, Ang Lee was a stay-at-home-dad working odd jobs.
At 39, Julia Child released her first cookbook and got her cooking show at age 51.
At 40, Vera Wang designed her first dress.
At 40, Stan Lee released his first big comic book.
At 42, Alan Rickman gave up his graphic design career to pursue acting.
At 42, Samuel L. Jackson got his first movie role.
At 52, Morgan Freeman landed his first MAJOR movie role.
At 57, Kathryn Bigelow achieved global success when she made The Hurt Locker.
At 59, Kawasaki Shozo founded Kawasaki.
At 61, Charles Flint founded IBM.
At 62, Col. Harland Sanders founded KFC.
At 76, Grandma Moses began her painting career.
At 78, Louise Bourgeois became a famous artist.
Whatever your dreams are is, it is not too late to achieve them. Never tell yourself you’re too old to make it.
Never tell yourself you missed your chance. Never tell yourself that you aren’t good enough. If you are willing to put in the time and effort, you can start something new regardless of age.
Margot Pettijohn is another example., Margot took up Masters swimming at 46 when her two daughters were getting ready to go to college and joined the newly formed Montgomery Ancient Mariners. Before she died of lung cancer at 72 years of age, Margot would go on to win more world and national records than Michael Phelps could fathom.
As C.S. Lewis noted "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." How often do you remind yourself that you are never too old to follow your dreams?