Achieving on Your Own Timeline

So many of us think that life is over if we don’t achieve our goals by a certain point in time. Usually, the date we set is arbitrary and comes much too soon. We think that if we haven’t realized our dreams by 25 that we never will but that is a foolish and destructive way to think.

Most of us are barely even aware of who we are at 25, much less what we want. Many of us will enter into our 30’s with still only a vague notion, still trying to figure it out. Don’t let the narratives you see and hear on social media trick you into believing that this is not the case. In fact, some of the greatest achievements of mankind have been accomplished by late bloomers. People who were well past the point in life when they were supposed to be successful according to society’s standards.

Popular examples are people like Ford and Edison, both of whom did not achieve success until after 40 and represent the quintessential rags to riches story. 

Some of my favorites in this category are people like Toni Morrison, Sharon Jones, Charles Bradley, and Charles Bukowski. Lesser-known figures to be sure, but all of them possessed the same strength of will that told them to keep going, defy the odds, and define success on their own terms. 

You won’t have it all figured out, and you don’t have to succumb to the notion that you are supposed to. You’re not. You won’t ever arrive at a point where everything is forever perfectly aligned. Maybe you’ll experience it from time to time, but only for a moment. And you’ll find that life is mostly about just having the courage to try, regardless of whether you succeed or not. And even when you do succeed, the greater achievement is having the willingness to, if necessary, start all over again.