Never too old to try something new

Of all the beliefs that people have that limit them, the one I hear most often is “I am too old to do that now.”  The one that really surprises me is “I’m too old to learn anything.” You can learn something new at any age. If you are truly motivated to do something, you can do it no matter what your age is. Happiness comes from doing what you love to do no matter what your age. Read this list of 10 famous people who achieved success in later years.

1. Comedian George Burns turned actor and won his first Oscar at age 80 for his supporting role in The Sunshine Boys.  Stage Actress Jessica Tandy won her first Oscar at age 80 for her lead role in the movie Driving Miss Daisy.
2. Trained as a school teacher Golda Meir was a retired  political activist when at 71 she became prime minister of Israel.
3. At age 94, playwright George Bernard Shaw broke his leg when he fell out of a tree he was trimming in his backyard. (Found this fact on the web several years ago.  Checking now I see that he did in fact fall out of the tree but unfortunately, he died a few days later from injuries he sustained in the fall.) Guess he didn’t think he was too old to prune his tree though.  Maybe you can be too old to do some things! ?
4. Painter Grandma Moses ran a farm with her husband and didn’t start painting until she was 80 years old.  She completed more than 1,500 paintings after that; 25 percent were produced when she was past 100!
5. Michelangelo well known as a sculptor and artist, was 71 when he became the architect for the Saint Peter’s Basilica.
6. Physician and humanitarian Albert Schweitzer set up a small hospital in Africa and was still performing operations at that African hospital at 89.
7. Otto Thaning at 73 became the oldest person ever to swim the English Channel and Pat Gallant-Charette was the oldest woman at 66.
8. S. I. Hayakawa retired as president of San Francisco State University at 70, and then was elected to the U.S. Senate.
9. Casey Stengel retired as manager of the New York Yankees at 70 but was called out of retirement to manage the New York Mets when he was 71.
10. Harland Sanders founded the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise at age 62.  At 74 when he sold the franchise there were 600 outlets nationwide. He remained as a salaried KFC employee and traveled over 200,000 miles as their brand ambassador. He remained active until one month before he died at age 90.

We’ll have more and more records set like this because people are not retiring at an early age anymore and people are living longer.  It’s never too late!

What have you wanted to do but felt you were too old to do it?  Maybe others have told you you were too old too.  Does this list inspire you to think about it more deeply?  Perhaps it would help to think about it out loud with a coach.  I’d love to hear your idea.  I can be reached at 781-598-0388.