April 14, 2011
It's Never Too Late to Create

I sometimes run into people who tell me that their best creative days are behind them -- that they could have accomplished great things if only they had started sooner and that they are "too old" to take on a big, hairy project.

Really?

Think again.

If you have any doubt, click on the link below to get a whiff of what some extraordinary people accomplished late in life.

You may not be a Michelangelo or Stradivarius, but so what? You can still accomplish miracles. All you need to do is begin (and let go of the bogus thought that "it's too late.")

It's not.

1. Grandma Moses started painting when she was 64.

2. Michelangelo designed the dome in St. Peter's Basilica between the ages of 72-88.

3. Stradivarius fashioned his two most famous violins when he was in his early 90's.

4. Mary Baker Eddy established the Christian Science Monitor when she was 87.

5. Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Guggenheim Museum when he was 91.

6. Mahatma Ghandi successfully completed negotiations for Britain to grant India's independence at the age of 77.

7. Golda Meir serviced as Prime Minister of Israel from the ages of 70-76.

8. Peter Drucker wrote "Management Changes for Turbulent Times" when he was 89.

9. P.T. Barnum joined forces with his arch rival, James Baily, when he was 71.

10. Nelson Mandela was inaugerated as the President of South Africa at the age of 75.

11. Noah Webster published "An America Dictionary of the English Language" at the age of 70.

12. Giuseppe Verdi composed his operatic masterpiece, Falstaff, at the age of 80.

13. Pablo Picasso produced a remarkable sereis of 347 etchings at the age of 86.

All examples excerpted from The Creative Age by Gene Cohen. Great book.

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Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at April 14, 2011 10:53 PM

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