There are some people in history who you cannot help but respect and admire. In times of despair, having such people to look up to and provide us with a path that we may choose to follow or emulate. Some just have what it takes to make things work: Resilience, the ability to take risks, a penchant for innovation, the desire to contribute to society, and a flair to attract attention.
Listing these qualities, there is a person who comes to mind as the one we can all look up to.
Colonel Sanders!
Sanders is probably not the person you are thinking of, but he fits the bill, nonetheless. The reason I got to think of Colonel Sanders comes after seeing an article from a local business newspaper. Every year, the paper presents a list of “30 under 30” in the area that is comprised of up-and-coming stars in the business community. These men and women are all under the age of 30 and have moved up their chosen corporate ladders.
Great for them!
Seriously, it is great that young people can quickly establish themselves in their chosen career paths. To take advantage of the immediate networking opportunities provided by college and internships is something that most of us fail to do. While living in that moment we typically do not recognize the fleeting nature of those connections.
So what about the rest of us? Are our twenties the only time when the iron is hot enough to strike? If Colonel Sanders thought that way, we would have been robbed of the opportunity to enjoy an entire dinner of a mashed potato-based medley of vegetables and small chicken pieces crammed into a tiny paper bucket. Sanders dealt with so many business failures and setbacks that he didn’t even begin to sell his chicken until in his 40’s and franchise his restaurant until he was 65.
Some see that late-in-life success as a shame that he did not get to enjoy his success for long. Fair enough.
I choose to see Sanders as an inspiration for all of us who shows us that there is always time. This is more true now than ever! When looking at pictures of people in the past who were the age I am now, I must say, I look pretty darn good! I am not alone. Most people look younger, act younger, and are more “functional” at similar chronological ages than people just a few decades ago.
So why not take advantage of it? We are told that once we hit 40, we already have one foot in the grave., but nothing is further from the truth. Shaking free of the long and drawn-out rise up the corporate ladder to fight over fewer and fewer positions is something we do not desire to do based on the rate of career jumping. We are looking for something more!
Unfortunately, taking risks is met with some ridicule, especially when presented online. It is too easy for the many who take the safe route in life and never take risks to fire away behind a keyboard.
Researching people involved in career changes after 50 is eye-opening. The discussion consists of equal parts excitement and hesitation. We should be better at it, after all, we become more comfortable with who we are after the age of 50, usually after our “mid-life” crisis.
But we do not recognize this because there are no “50 over 50” articles (or few I am aware of) that celebrate success later in life. We are not finished because we are not at our “peak 20’s selves.”
The pressure to succeed out of the gate of high school or college sets us up, particularly men, to experience a sense of failure because we cannot provide for ourselves or others as expected. It is easy to give up when people around you crap on your place in life, but we have more time than we think to straighten our ships.
We all move through life at different paces depending on the circumstances we face, and we must be alright with that…like Colonel Sanders.
