It’s Never to Late to Change Your Plan for the Future

I’m 40. This surprises me every time I look in the mirror. Inside I still feel like I’m 21, as if I have all the time in the world to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. The really bad news is this year I will be 41. Is it too late for me? Some days I feel washed up, but on others, I still feel like I can conquer the world. I looked for some comps to give me hope in the latter.

Julia Childs discovered she liked to cook in her late 30s.

The first edition of Roget’s Thesaurus was published when Peter Mark Roget was 73 years old.

Ray Kroc was 52 years old when he suggested and implemented the franchising of McDonald’s.

Anna Mary Roberson Moses, better known as Grandma Moses started painting at the age of 76 when her arthritic hands could no longer do embroidery.

Laura Ingalls Wilder published her first book at 64 years old.

O.K., so no one is becoming a famous athlete or a supermodel after the age of 35, but that was never in the cards for most of us anyway. You can find many other examples of people who gained more recognition later in life, but the above are examples of people who sort of came out of the woodwork, or started something completely new, at an older age. You see, take a class, pick up a pen or patent an idea … it is never too late.