It’s Never Too Late for [INSERT YOUR DREAM HERE]

There's this thing that I want to do... it's something I've wanted to do for as long as I can remember, but I always put it off.  If successful, this thing could parlay nicely into a career that I would adore.  Though I've had this dream for years and years (since childhood in all honesty), I tend to drag my feet when it comes to actually taking that first scary step.  Lately I've really been battling with myself - trying to decide how to get started and when? 

I watched the movie 'Julie and Julia' last week, and it inspired me to do something (in addition to just thinking about doing something- which I do a lot).  I was inspired not because I want to be a food blogger or cook French food (I don't); but because the movie reminded me that Julia Child started the career she's world renowned for - later in life.  This was a nice reminder for me, because sometimes I get bogged down in the "well, I've come this far and not done it - why bother?" mindset.  I need to shake that for good.

So, I was thinking about Julia when I remembered Laura Ingalls Wilder also was a 'late bloomer'... and that made me do a few Wikipedia searches to see what other inspirational stories I could find.  Now, I'm only 37, so I am not yet in their ballpark, but I still find this type of success story to be very motivating. 

Here are some examples of 'later life' success which I found via that on-line search:

• Julia Child didn’t begin to collaborate on her first cookbook until she was in her 40s, and hosted her first television show at 51.
• Laura Ingalls Wilder was 63 when she started writing what would later become the first in the “Little House” series.
• Henry Ford introduced the Model T automobile when he was 45 years old. At the age of 60, he created the first car assembly line.
• Tim Zagat of the restaurant guide fame, was 44 years old when he started the Zagat Restaurant Guide.
• Grandma Moses wouldn't create the paintings that would make her famous until she was 76 years old.
• Colonial Sanders was 65 when he started the first Kentucky Fried Chicken.
• Raymond Chandler was 51 when his first novel “The Big Sleep” was published.
• Ben Franklin was 46 years old when he experimented with electricity using his kite. At 47, he won the Copley Award (an early version of the Nobel Prize). Also while in his 40s, he invented bifocals, the catheter, and the Franklin Stove. He was elected to the Continental Congress at age 69. At 70 he signed the Declaration of Independence, making him the oldest signer. When he was 77 years old, he negotiated the Treaty of Paris, which put an end to the Revolutionary War. At 81, he signed the U.S. Constitution.
• Sir Alexander Fleming - a British doctor and scientist specializing in the study of bacteria, was 47 when he discovered penicillin.
• The average age of the men who have served as President of the United States is 54 years and 11 months. The youngest was Teddy Roosevelt, age 42, the oldest, Ronald Regan, who became President 16 days before his 70th birthday.

I found the above image - as well as a lot of goal setting ideas here.

I'm setting some goals today.  I'm starting with baby steps.  I know that attaining any goal means hard work and episodes of failure, but what do I have to lose?  I'll never forgive myself if I don't at least TRY. 

Wish me luck.  :)

Some motivational quotes (also found via an internet search) which I liked:

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” –Walt Disney

“Don’t wait until everything is just right.  It will never be perfect.  There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions.  So what.  Get started now.  With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.” – Mark Victor Hansen

“Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” - Thomas Alva Edison

“Perseverance is a great element of success. If you knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow