Edition #27

Read Time: 4 Minutes

Hi All!

Here is your weekly serving of practical guidance and inspiration to ensure you live your life with purpose. Feel free to forward this along to friends and family. Enjoy!

“No, not that.”

“Hmm, maybe that?”

“Nah, maybe this instead.”

This is my internal dialogue at times, deciding what direction I want to go next.

What area do I want to explore?

What skill do I want to learn?

I’m at a crossroads right now. I’m unclear about what my next creative move is going to be.

With each passing day, I feel like I’m losing time. Like somehow it is getting late in life and I NEED TO DECIDE NOW!

Maybe it is from having a kid on the way.

Maybe it’s just due to the age I’m at (33 for those keeping score at home).

This feeling I’ve been having made me step back and question — Is there ever a point in life where it’s just too late to change? To reinvent yourself? To explore new directions?

And while inevitably I decided the answer was no, I wanted to figure out why I came to that conclusion.

These are the 3 big reasons I came up with:

1: History Tells Us No

If you look back at examples from people quote-unquote “starting late in life” in the area they are known for historically, you can pretty quickly extinguish the fact that it is ‘too late’ for you to change.

Ever heard of Ronald Reagan? What do you know him for? Unless you are a big-time 1930s and 40s movie buff you probably know him as the 40th president of the United States.

Well, what if I told you he didn’t start his official political career until he was 55?

Alright so maybe you aren’t into politics. That’s fine.

Ever heard of Vera Wang? She’s still alive so I hope she doesn’t mind me using her as a historical example but the start of her wedding dress design career began in 1990 when she was 41.

Look at history. There are countless other examples.

If you think you’re too late to a certain game let these powerhouses set you straight.

2: Wisdom Comes with Age

You have never had more experience in life than you do at this moment.

Why would the most experienced version of yourself be the one you doubt the most? Why is ‘this you’ the one that stands no chance anymore?

When you think about it this way it really makes no sense why we are so quick to write ourselves off.

Look, youth is amazing but I’ll be the first to say I was an idiot in my teens compared to what I feel like today. And hey, my 50-year-old self will probably say the same thing about my current self.

But the point is, stop viewing age — particularly ‘old age,’ whatever that is to you — as being a flat-out bad thing.

There are some great things that come with age.

The wicked combo of having more wisdom and fewer f*cks to give about what others think.

So you’ve lost the freedom of pure youth? So what!

You’ve gained the freedom to attack your next chapter wiser and more honed.

What a powerful thing!

3: It’s Evolution Not Reinvention

To others, you are this particular person, defined by the things they expect you to be.

When those things change, from the outside it looks like a complete reinvention. A total 180° from who you used to be.

But change doesn’t work like that.

Change builds in us slowly.

It is an internal confrontation between a version of ourselves we have to be willing to give up, to become a version of ourselves we don’t know yet.

This process is an evolution, not a reinvention.

This confrontation happens for a while over time, before anyone else really sees the change — the ‘finished product.’

And the truth is, none of us are ever finished products. Nor should we aim to be.

Because you see, the ONLY time you can ever be too old — The ONLY time it can ever be too late for you is if you decide that it is. If you decide that you are finished.

So keep trying things, my friends.

Keep building that mental flexibility.

Keep evolving.

Do this and it is absolutely never too late.

Words of Wisdom

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Thanks for reading! And always remember…

Slow and steady. Never Idle.

Until next week,

Austin Sargent