I caught up with an old friend the other day and she
expressed a concern that many others have shared with me recently. Now in their
late 20s, some of my friends fear they’ve missed the boat on doing something
spectacular. Lena Dunham and those damn 30 Under 30 lists make it easy to feel
like really talented game-changers are on a path from birth.
But while chatting with my friend I remembered Wassily
Kandinsky. I don’t know much about art, but frequently accompany my mom on her museum
adventures when I’m in NYC. A couple of years ago we saw a Kandinsky exhibit at
the Guggenheim. I vaguely recall the masterpieces I saw, but I do remember learning
about the painter’s late start – with little exposure to painting and the art
world, Wassily left his prestigious post as a professor of law and economics to
attend art school at the age of 30. This made me feel good when I first heard
it and made my friend feel better when I shared it, so I thought I’d do a
little digging to learn of others who didn’t find their genius until later on
in life. I found an incredible discussion on Quora and lots of other gems in my
research. Here are the highlights – a fun list spanning many centuries and
pursuits:
- Martha Stewart: Stewart was a stockbroker before restoring an old farmhouse at the age of 35 triggered her real passion.
- The Zagats: Both Tim and Nina Zagat were attorneys before turning their notes on NYC restaurants into a cherished resource in their early 40s.
- Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Little House author didn’t start writing until 44.
- Peter Roget: At 61, Roget stopped practicing medicine and began creating the thesaurus 8 years later.
- Harland Sanders: The Colonel started cooking chicken out of a gas station at the age of 40.
- Bram Stoker: The author didn’t start writing until the age of 43 and wrote Dracula at 50.
- Vivienne Westwood: The famous designer was a schoolteacher until the age of 30. She had her first runway show at 40.
Some basic themes emerge here – they all succeeded through trial and
error (they kept experimenting and pushing forward without a specific end goal
in mind) and weren’t self conscious in their pursuits.
Take that Taylor Swift!
