I know people who have written best-selling books, started their own companies, had plays produced on Broadway, reached executive ranks of large corporations, and run not-for-profits that support important causes. Those are just a few examples of people doing extraordinary things in the little sampling of humanity that I know personally. There are many more extraordinary people doing extraordinary things that I’ve only read about or heard about, and countless others who I don’t know about at all.
When I compare myself to the extraordinary accomplishments of others, particularly those who are my age or younger, it’s easy to feel like I haven’t been doing much with my life. Then I had a realization: It’s not too late to be extraordinary.
Unless you are the most prodigious of prodigies there will always be someone who has done more extraordinary things by the time they were your age than you have. But there are also examples of people who have done their first extraordinary thing later in life. Those are my new role models.
I will not beat myself up for what I haven’t done. I will save my energy for what I will do.
I suggest you do the same.
As long as we are alive we can keep dreaming that we will someday achieve our extraordinary thing. Every day we are alive there is an opportunity to do something extraordinary.
Perhaps today will be the day.
RELATED POSTS:
- Unattainable goals
- Work-life balance is an over-simplification
- Not engineers or executives: The other women in tech
Get notified of new posts by email. Type your email address in the box and click the “create subscription” button. My list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.
You can also find Kim Z. Dale on Twitter and Google+ and like Listing Beyond Forty on Facebook.
Kim Z. Dale 