Biz Features

It Gets Better – Another Way of Looking at Your Life Crisis [Infographic]

by . March 21st, 2014

If you’re like me or the other contributors to YouTheEntrepreneur, you’ve probably had a quarter or middle life crisis.  It’s not pretty, but it’s hardly the end.

While youth and stamina have their perks, there are opportunities for success at any age. If my grandparents are any indication, older folks can be extremely sneaky and capable so long as they’re healthy.

We previously featured Anna Vital’s infographics on this site. I love them because they’re never longer than they have to be, and are packed with substance where others lack it. If you feel like you’re going nowhere, take a look at this:

it gets better

Source

Other People Who Found Success Later In Life:

  • Colonel Sanders – started KFC when he was 65, from his social security checks.
  • Tim and Nina Zagat – former corporate lawyers; started Zagat surveys at ages 51 and 49, respectively.
  • Takichiro Mori – former academic, started real estate investments at 55 and eventually became the twice-reigning richest man in the world.
  • Robin Thicke – no one knew who he was until he released Blurred Lines at 36. It was his 6th album.
  • Jack Cover – started Taser Inc. at 50. He was kind of a switch-hitter, having been a contractor for the Apollo Space Program before then
  • Oprah Winfrey – had an inauspicious start as a talk show host at 32. Things got way better for her much further off in the future.
  • Ronald Reagan – had limited success as a B-movie actor and president of the Screen Actors Guild. First government position as governor at 55.
  • Frank McCourt  – teacher who only took up writing at 65. Went on to write the culturally significant Angela’s Ashes.
  • Peter Roget – invented the thesaurus at 73
  • Gene Hackman – at 26 voted least likely to succeed in his acting class, had to wait until he was 37 for his first ever role. He got an Academy Award nomination the same year.

Our American readers may know Darrell Hammond his impressions of Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Dick Cheney on Saturday Night Live from 1995-2009.  He’s been on the most SNL episodes than any other cast member- ever. What many don’t know is that he moved to New York at 32 with the goal of making it in SNL.

He failed his first two auditions. When he finally made it in, he was a month away from his 40th birthday. That’s almost 8 years of toiling in obscurity before he reached his goal. Perhaps it’s best to end this with his take on finally reaching what he set out to do:

…life is a marathon, not a sprint. Just because you don’t make it by the time you’re 25 doesn’t mean you’re not going to make it when you’re 29 or 39… I never really thought I was going to make it, but I’d become this crazy, coiled up human who was determined to try to make it. You have to just keep plugging away.”

 

Additional Reading:

Mentalfloss – 10 People Who Switched Careers-After 50… and Thrived

Forbes.com – Switching Careers After 40: Three Success Stories

Get Busy Living – Its Never Too Late For Success Even In Your 40s

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Arthur Piccio manages YouTheEntrepreneur and has managed content for major players in the online printing industry. He was previously BizSugar's contributor of the week. His work has appeared multiple times on The New York Times' You're the Boss Small Business Blog. He enjoys guitar maintenance and reading up on history and psychology in his spare time.