How to start a new life if you are 40 years old

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

At 40 it's too late to change anything. It's time to look for a dacha and stock up on yarn for knitting. Many people think so and because of it they miss out on great opportunities.

Crisis or blossoming?

The fortieth birthday is traditionally considered a difficult age, a crisis boundary. It seems that by celebrating this sad anniversary, you will instantly turn from a girl or a young man to a woman and a man. Only old age and decay, a lack of prospects and an impending retirement are ahead.

A couple of centuries ago, this age was really considered old. But who today would call Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp, who celebrated their 54th birthday, old people? And 43-year-old Angelina Jolie an old woman?

Even the World Health Organization has made adjustments to the age classification.

Young people are now considered to be between 18 and 44 years old. And 45-59 years old is the average age.

This means only one thing: 40 years is a great time, very suitable for starting a new life, implementing bold projects, changing jobs and other actions that are out of the ordinary life patterns. All you need is desire.

Experience all the benefits

For those in their 40s, there are several important benefits. As a rule, they already have an education behind them (sometimes more than one), accumulated experience and good connections. They know what they want and know what it takes to be successful. They do not expect manna from heaven to fall on them. Although such a possibility is not excluded, because everything happens in life.

They have time-tested friends, relatives and loved ones nearby. Children, most likely, have already grown out of diapers, are studying at school or university. Communication with them gives 40-year-olds an amazing opportunity to understand how two generations live at once, and draw conclusions from this.

Of course, a lot depends on the kind of baggage and attitude with which a person approached this milestone. After all, it also happens that you have spent two decades in the office as an assistant or junior manager.

Remember: it's not too late to change something

The most common phobias associated with the upcoming 40th anniversary relate to the thesis "it's too late to change something": they won't take on a new job, nothing will work out in their personal life, I won't understand new technologies, I won't fit into the team … really?

Napoleon Hill American writer

By analyzing the activities of more than twenty-five thousand people, I found that rarely did anyone achieve outstanding success under the age of forty. Most often they were already in their fifties when they picked up the necessary speed.

These words are supported by many examples:

1. It was at the age of 40 that the American Henry Ford founded the famous Ford Motor Company, which has been successfully operating to this day. By the way, he designed his revolutionary car Ford T at the age of 45.

2. American engineer, one of the inventors of the integrated circuit, Robert Noyce, founded Intel with a colleague at the age of 41.

3. Harland David Sanders, known as Colonel Sanders, was considered a failure: all his businesses were failures. At 40, he came up with the secret fried chicken recipe that made him and the fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken famous.

4. The founder of the famous chain of stores Wal-Mart, Sam Walton, laid the foundation stone for his empire at the age of 44. When he was 67 years old, Forbes magazine named Walton the richest man in America.

5. Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's, sold paper cups until he was 52, suffered from diabetes and arthritis. But, as he wrote in his memoirs, he "believed in the future."

6. The star of Pulp Fiction and The Avengers, actor Samuel L. Jackson became famous at 43 after the release of the film Tropical Fever, where he played, by the way, not the main role.

7. Kim Cattrall, the super hot Samantha from Sex and the City, has been acting since she was 15. But fame came to her when she was 41 years old and she reincarnated as one of Carrie Bradshaw's girlfriends.

8. The most charming hitman from the movie "Leon" Jean Reno woke up famous at the age of 46 (thanks to Luc Besson, who took him to the main role).

9. Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho, author of "Alchemist", became famous after 40 years, when his books began to be published in multimillion copies.

10. Julia Child wrote her first hit cookbook at age 50. And then she became a chef.

11. Christian Dior had to achieve fame for many years. He opened his own fashion house at the age of 42.

12. American Carol Gardner divorced her husband at 52 and was left without financial support. She got a bulldog and started Zelda Wisdom, a greeting card company. Today her business is valued at $ 50 million.

13. Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz co-founded Red Bull at the age of 40. Now, 30 years later, his fortune is estimated at almost 15 billion dollars.

14. Vera Wong was a figure skater and journalist until the age of 40, but then she decided to dramatically change her life and became a famous designer in the fashion industry.

15. American academician, mathematician James Harris Simons at the age of 44 left the universities where he taught and founded the private investment firm Renaissance Technologies Corporation. It is still considered the most successful hedge fund in the world.

All these people are united not by millions behind them, but by self-confidence, perseverance and healthy adventurism.

How to start a new life

• First of all, assess your strengths and weaknesses. What are you proud of, and what you can and should learn from. There are now a lot of useful, both paid and free webinars and books on the Web that help you master new directions and improve yourself.
• Determine exactly what you want. Do not sweep aside the most adventurous options, allow yourself the desired forbidden fruit. Look at the examples above: if you want, you can achieve anything. Let your motto be “I can afford it”.
• Don't think about how others will appreciate you. This is your life.
• Forget the phrase "last chance". It can spur in you the desire to change your life as quickly as possible, which is why you will get a lot of bumps. This is the perfect age for any start-up, be it a new business or yoga class.
• Use your accumulated experience. After all, you have probably already mastered a valuable skill: you learned first to think and then to do.