Whiz kids, start up founder in their 20s, and star athletes signing mega contracts usually get a lot of attention. Undeniably, it’s cool to hear stories of companies being started in dorm rooms, a child chess prodigy beating an older grand master, or a 20 something basketball player becoming a mega-millionaire. These stories get media headlines, and you can see why. But something important to keep in mind is that they aren’t an accurate representation of when peak success generally happens in life. Research would suggest that, for most people, it happens “later” in life. A few examples:
Jeff Bezos - Amazon.com Founder: Started the company in 1994 at age 30. It almost went under after the dot.com crash of the early 2000s (when he was 38 y/o). Amazon didn’t really hit its dominant stride until Jeff was in his 40s and 50s.
Stan Lee - Marvel Comics Creator: Despite his best efforts, he didn’t catch any kind of break until he was nearly 40, when The Fantastic Four was published. He was in his 80s and 90s when his movies really started to take off in Hollywood.
Julia Child - One of the first well known celebrity chefs and one of the first women to host her own cooking show on television didn’t have public success until she published her first cook book at the age of 50.
Samuel L. Jackson - Took interest in acting in his early 20s, but didn’t have significant success until his role in Pulp Fiction at age 46. Now he is one of the highest-grossing actors of all time!
Why is this important for me? We are all impatient, and everyone wants wild success to happen quickly and easily, just like they see on TV. The truth is those are freaksihly rare events and it almost never happens that way. That shouldn’t discourage you, because it's just how the the universe works most of the time. Success is built over time. Keep at it, your skills will continue to build, and you will become an absolute weapon one day. Enjoy the process; striving for purpose is what life is all about.
And, when you fail.. ALWAYS fail forward. Even though you can’t see it now, those failures are building momentum for you.
Resources of Impact:
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