Grandma Moses did not begin painting until she was in her 70s

However, I am inspired by the accomplishments of those who didn’t get their starts early in life. Jean Eugene Atget, now considered one of the world’s greatest photographers, did not begin until he was 40. Renowned American folk artist Grandma Moses did not take up her craft until she was in her 70s and, Terri Tapper, at age 50, became the oldest female certified kiteboard instructor in the USA (and possibly the world).

From the web site Museum of Conceptual Art, these are accomplishments from people of the following ages:

Age 10

• Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget published a scientific article, based on observations of an albino sparrow near his home.
• Future United States Senator Claude Pepper carved the words “Claude Pepper, United States Senator” on a tree.

Age 20

• Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard and co-founded Microsoft.
• English novelist Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, which was immediately successful.
• Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice, her second and most famous novel.
• English author Elizabeth Barrett Browning published her first volume of poetry.

Age 30

• Mark Twain published his first short story, “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog.”
• Physicist Armand H. L. Fizeau measured the speed of light.
• Donald Trump persuaded bankers to lend him $80 million so he could buy the Commodore Hotel.
• Bill Gates was the first person ever to become a billionaire by age 30.

John Glenn, at age 40, became the first American to orbit the earth

Age 40

• John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth.
• Harriet Beecher Stowe, a mother of six who occasionally wrote for magazines, published Uncle Tom’s Cabin, an antislavery novel of such force that it is generally recognized as one of the causes of the Civil War.
• Jean Eugene Atget, now considered one of the greatest photographers, took up photography.

Age 50

• Terri Tapper became the oldest female certified kiteboard instructor in the USA (and possibly the world).
• Samuel Adams directed the Boston Tea Party.
• Larry Silverman of Ballston Lake, NY, achieved his 3rd-degree black belt in karate.

Age 60

• Playwright and essayist George Bernard Shaw completed a play, “Heartbreak House,” regarded by some as his masterpiece.
• Italian sculptor, painter, playwright, draftsman and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini began designing churches.

Age 70

• Judy Brenner, who had recently run the Boston Marathon, chased a teenage shoplifter 100 feet and helped hold him until police arrived.
• Benjamin Franklin helped draft the Declaration of Independence.
• French actress Sarah Bernhardt had a leg amputated but refused to abandon the stage.

Benjamin Franklin was 70 when he helped draft the Declaration of Independence

Age 80

• Jessica Tandy became the oldest Oscar recipient for her work in Driving Miss Daisy.
• George Burns became the second oldest Oscar recipient for his work in The Sunshine Boys.
• American writer and physician Oliver Wendell Holmes published “Over the Teacups,” which displayed his characteristic vitality and wit.
• Christine Brown of Laguna Hills, California flew to China and climbed the Great Wall.

Age 90

• Chagall became the first living artist to be exhibited at the Louvre museum.
• Pablo Picasso was still producing drawings and engravings.
• Chemist Paul Walden was still giving chemistry lectures.

Age 100+

• Alice Porlock of Great Britain published her first book, Portrait of My Victorian Youth, when she was 102 years old.

Your age

Here is your assignment: Try plugging in your own age at Museum of Conceptual Art to see what other people were doing at that same age.  Then post a comment on the most remarkable one.

Probably the most notable (interesting?) accomplishment of anyone my age (63) was accomplished by Countess Rosa Branicka, a wealthy Polish noble, who performed breast cancer surgery on herself and lived to be 82.

Am I inspired? Well, uhm, maybe I should try kiteboarding.

photo credit: jepsculpture

photo credit: jessica flavin

Losing your job is more than just losing a source of income.

It often brings on a loss of self esteem, especially with men, who too often equate work with identity.  Extended periods of unemployment can bring on shame, hopelessness and depression.

An interesting study

Studies by University of Chicago economist Bruce Meyer and Harvard’s Lawrence Katz show that people are most likely to find a job just as their unemployment benefit runs out.  The length of the unemployment is irrelevant; whether two weeks or ninety-nine weeks, they find work just as the benefit expires.  Assuming the merit of this study, I conclude that many do not passionately pursue employment until they know that real hunger is really close.

But what has happened to this person in the interim?

I suspect that the shame, low self esteem and possible depression has become more and more deeply entrenched into the psyche of the individual. The longer the time frame, the greater the erosion of confidence, creativity and enthusiasm.

Challenge and Encouragement

If you are currently without work, I want to challenge and encourage you.   You may have read that Congress is currently considering extending the unemployment benefit again, but let me ask, “Do you really think it is in your best interest to rock for month after month after month?  Do you want your life on hold or would you rather be rolling?”   There are lots of jobs out there…many are seasonal and many require relocation and many don’t pay very well.  But working is therapeutic; it cleans your spirit, brings new energy into your life and often opens doors into long term and meaningful careers.

So…are you ready?

Here are only a few of the hundreds of jobs that employers are offering.  I will give a link to the web site and a brief job description from the prospective employer:

• Alaska Fishing Job: Alaska fish processing companies offer many benefits to their employees, including good wages, free lodging and meals, and often free transportation to and from Alaska if you fulfill all your contractual obligations. Jobs include working on the processing line, operating machinery, being a deckhand, quality control, or even finding a job as a government inspector or aquaculture scientist.
• Work on a Cruise Line “Shipboard employees are typically divided into departments relating to service, passenger accommodations (sometimes called “hotel administration”), entertainment jobs, general ship maintenance, engine work, and safety. Different cruise lines use variations on these categories, but for our purposes we have divided onboard job descriptions into the areas of Activity/Entertainment, Deck & Engineering, Service/Hospitality, and Personal Care.”
• “Working at a dude ranch can be one of the most incredible experiences you ever have, leaving you with memories and friends that will last your entire life.”
• Broadcasting Jobs: Learn about radio and television broadcasting career options, including on-air and post-production jobs. Audio engineering, script writing, producing, directing, and even Internet podcasting
• Green Collar Jobs: What is a green collar job? Find out! Environmental job trends, green energy jobs in the wind and solar sectors, plus environmental law and green science employment opportunities.
• Pyrotechnic Jobs: Find out how to become a licensed commercial pyrotechnician. Learn about fireworks display training, transporting hazardous materials, and more.

I could go on, but you get the idea.

I got most of these job opportunities  from the Job Monkey web site, but I have included several web sites where dozens of employers are advertising for thousands of jobs.  Take time to browse…you might just find something you had never considered.

• Job Monkey
• Cool Jobs
• Back Door Jobs
• Action Jobs
• Kareeve
• Mountain Jobs
• Seasonal Workers
• Snag a Job
• Theme Park Jobs

I want to close this out by challenging those who are unemployed to consider this time of your life as an opportunity to try something you may have never done had you continued in your previous job.  These two vignettes (told by career coach Dan Miller) make my point:

“Honey, I just got fired.”

When Nathaniel Hawthorne went home to break the news to his wife that he had been fired, her response was, “Good.  Now you can write your book.” “But what will we live on meantime?” Hawthorne asked.  ”With this,”  she replied, opening a drawer full of cash.  ”I have always known you were a man of genius, so I have been saving a little each week.  We have enough here to live for a year.”  You can probably guess the rest of the story: Hawthorne used the time to write “The Scarlet Letter,” a great American literary masterpiece.

Fortune During the Depression

When Charles B. Darrow of Germantown, Pennsylvania was unemployed during the Great Depression, he passed the time by creating a board game that provided the possibility of fame and fortune.  This game is still the best selling board game in the world.  What is it?  Monopoly.

You might not write an American masterpiece or invent a great board game, but my guess is that there is some untapped passion waiting to be expressed.

Now just might be your time.

This post was an Editor’s Choice Selection in The Carnival of Personal Finance #242 hosted by Cash Money Life

photo credit: John832

Career coach Dan Miller shares this question from one of his readers,

“I love to share my faith with others and I seem to have many natural talents, skills and abilities suited for a minister. Many people have even suggested I enter the ministry. However, I believe that no matter how suited someone may be for ministry they must be called of God in order to be a minister. Talent is nothing to God. He rather wants a fully surrendered and obedient individual. I suppose my question is how do I know whether I’m called to be a minister or just an entrepreneur with an idea I’m passionate about?” – John

I was tracking with John until I reached the sentence “Talent is nothing to God.”  While I admire John’s desire to be fully surrendered and obedient, I question his assessment of talent.  He seems to be implying that God will  plug us into areas of service where we may have no inclination, passion or skill as long as we are surrendered to Him. This rationale raises some questions:

• Why does God give us talents if He doesn’t call us to use them?

Based on the parable of the talents, Matthew 25: 14-30, God (the master who went away on a journey) clearly expected his servants to use the talents he had given them. The master not only congratulated those who used their talents; he also gave them more responsibilities. However, this same master was very displeased with the servant who hid his talent. God doesn’t make mistakes; if we have talents it is because He gave them to us and expects us to use them.

• Does God only call people into full time Ministry or does He call all of us?

Certainly we expect those in full time ministry to know that God wants them in that ministry. I am not a minister, but I don’t think it is unreasonable for me to expect my minister to have clarity that he is indeed pursuing God’s calling for his life. But how about the rest of us? Is God content for us to meander through life with little thought to what His plans are for us?  The following quotes help answer this question:

• Martin Luther, “…the works of monks and priests, however holy and arduous they may be, do not differ one whit in the sight of God from the works of the rustic laborer in the field or the woman going about her household tasks…”
• Florence Nightingale, “The first idea I can recollect when I was a child was a desire to nurse the sick. My day dreams were all of hospitals and I visited them whenever I could. I never communicated it to anyone; it would have been laughed at, but I thought God had called me to serve Him in that way.”
• Robert Louis Stevenson, “If a man love the labor of any trade, apart from any question of success or fame, then God has called him.”
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all of the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say: Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

Clearly, God does not limit His calls to those who minister in churches. We all have callings.

Exactly how does God call us?

I believe a good clue is to inventory the talents God has given us, while recognizing that talent alone does not constitute a calling. A man with a strong back might be a very talented ditch digger, but that does not mean that ditch digging is his calling. We also need passion for this work and a certainty that this talent and this passion align with God’s plans for our lives. As John said in the opening quote, we need to be surrendered and obedient.

It is not always simple.

I was an engineer before coming to Christ, a profession for which I had some God given talent but very little passion. I was, however, passionate about being a good husband, father and Sunday School teacher. Over the years I have struggled with my calling; while I enjoyed engineering I questioned at times if I should continue in a career that was not my passion.  Because I never felt a compulsion to leave, I continued until retirement, eventually figuring out that my calling was being a family man and a teacher, while my vocation was something I also did to pay bills and support my family.

For me, knowing my calling has not been a thing of absolute clarity. It might not be for you either.

Can you be called without talent?

In answer to my title question, I say “no”. God will give us talents that are not our calling, but not a calling without the talents to accomplish the calling. As in the parable of the talents, we will develop more talents as we use the ones we have, but we all start with at least one talent.

I cherish your thoughts. Do you struggle knowing what your calling is? Do your talents coincide with that calling?

photo credit: h.koppdelaney

I do not question the credibility of Mary Kay or Avon, but I challenge you to think about what you are getting into before you sign up with any direct sales company. Hopefully, these thoughts will help.

Don’t swallow all of the promises.

If anyone tells you that you can make a six figure salary by working only a few hours a week, they are lying to you. If it was true, everyone would be doing it. Great salaries take great dedication and much hard work.

Don’t believe that anyone can be a great salesperson.

With lots of training and practice, some people can develop sales skills, but very few can simply purchase a product line and suddenly become a successful sales person.

Understand how multilevel marketing (MLM) works.

Whatever the product line, the top money makers are those who succeed at recruiting others and motivating their recruits to recruit others. The real business is recruiting, training and motivating. If you think you would be good at this, consider it. But, because of the pressure to constantly be recruiting, there is a temptation to say that the business doesn’t really require any selling or much of your time. Again, this is simply not true. You might be able to make a decent income by simply selling the product but the odds are against you. According to the Direct Selling Association, the median income for a direct salesperson is $2,400 per year, with only 10% of sellers doing so as a full time job. And fewer than 1 percent of all MLM salespeople ever recapture their original investment.  Here’s a poll by another blogger on people’s experience with Multi Level Marketing.

Be Cautious

Be cautious about internet solicitations promising riches by starting your own internet sales business. If fortunes could be made magically by entering a few keystrokes, why do these companies need you?

Am I saying never to start your own business? Of course not. I am saying if something sounds too good to be true it probably is. The perfect fit for you, whether it is cleaning houses or marketing your grandmother’s cheesecake recipe, is whatever you are passionate about and good at.