Some days I think I’m doing okay in my life. I may not have a set career or a ton of money or anything along those lines, but I’m not doing too badly.
Then, I find things like this: Things Other People Accomplished When They Were Your Age…
At age 30:
Mark Twain published his first short story, “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog.”
Danish novelist Hans Christian Andersen published his book of fairy tales.
Nat Turner led a slave rebellion.
U.S. mariner Moses Rogers made the first ocean steamboat voyage.
Donald Trump persuaded bankers to lend him \$80 million so he could buy the Commodore Hotel.
Samuel Morse’s assistant, Alfred Lewis Vail, devised Morse code.
Physicist Armand H. L. Fizeau measured the speed of light.
Dr. Narinder Kapany invented fiber optics and designed a glass gastroscope which can be snaked down the throat for a detailed view of the stomach.
Hank Williams overdosed on drugs and alcohol.
Bill Gates was the first person ever to become a billionaire by age 30.
Earl Vickers started the Dollar Project, in which dollar bills were rubber-stamped as being lost, with a reward offered for their safe return.
(via MeFi)
Stop right there!
You say your glass is half empty!
I say it’s half full.
Cornel Sanders started KFC when he was 60.
Einstein was a clerk at the patent office! A clerk!
Pablo Picasso was so poor as a young man he had to paint peoples kitchens to earn money.
I could go on and on but you get my point. There are just as many stories of people started at 50 or 60 or 70.
Don’t measure your life against anyone else’s. We all have our own paths to follow.
Don’t look at their path, look at yours.
Do not confuse financial success or being published as a goal. These are false roads to happiness.
There are thousands of millionaires that commit suicide every year because they are depressed.
Seek happiness, not fame or fortune.
If you get up every morning and you enjoy life. You are a success.
I started my photography business at 45. And I’m just beginning to understand success. Not because the dollars are rolling in (they will) but because I am happy, truly happy.
George Burns once said “The key to longevity to do, what you love to do, for a living”
What to YOU love to do?
Go do it.
Planning without action… That’s just dreaming.
Good advice Tom! Now, I even feel good about myself. Yeah!
I could just refer you back to my post on feeling like an underacheiver, related to ADD, but instead I’ll just say this.
The quickest way to drive yourself crazy is to start comparing yourself to other people.
Personally, I prefer to think existentially.
The cup is always full. Half is air that’s easily replaced with fresh coffee.
And remember, there is no spoon. ;-)
i found that very depressing, then I read Tim’s post.
I think Tim needs to start a site celebrating “underachievers” like Einstein.