Why You Are Never Too Old to Set Another Goal

Clive Staples Lewis, or in short, C.S. Lewis was an Irish-born scholar and author who has published about 40 books. And this was one of his most famous sayings…

“You are never too old to set another goal, or to dream a new dream.”

That’s right, you are never too old to set another goal, or dream a new dream. And in this article, we’re going to talk about why it will never be too late to pursue what you want in your life.

If there’s something you want out of life, it doesn’t matter how young or old you are, go for it. Age is just a number.

You Don’t Have to Compare

You may have heard that Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook became a billionaire at the age of 23 after Facebook went public. He became one of the youngest and richest men in the world.

So, if you’re 33 right now, does that mean it is too late for you?

No, not at all. Because we all live in our own timeline. Hence, it is never too late or too early.

Just the other day, I came across this saying from Jay Shetty:

“You need to destroy the idea that there’s an expectation to do things by a certain age. You don’t have to be married with kids at 25. It’s okay to not have your dream job at 30 or to not have graduated by 22. There are no rules to life. Life is neither a race, nor a competition.”

The key is that you don’t have to compare yourself with others.

Great People Who Started Late

And when it comes to success, many people thought it was too late for them to do anything great. Again, it is not.

Do you know at what age Colonel Sanders started KFC? Age 65.

Sanders started a cafe on a major highway while in his 40s. But after a new highway was built, he was forced to shut his business and went broke. That was when he decided to sell his fried chicken recipe to other restaurant owners.

During those days, he had to sleep in his car. And it was said that he received 1,009 rejections before he got his first ‘yes’ for his recipe.

So, do you think it was too late to set a new goal or dream a new dream?

Read: 20 Best Success Books Everyone Should Read (Updated 2022)

As of this writing, I’m 37, and I’m still pursuing my dream of building an online career. I may not be the youngest. And I have been doing this for years. I do have some results to show, but I don’t consider myself extremely successful. And I will continue to keep grinding until I achieve the results I wanted.

I always tell myself that Jack Ma, the man who started Alibaba and one of China’s richest men, started at age 40. He was a teacher before he ventured into e-commerce and co-founded Alibaba in his apartment.

Here’s another success story. Ray Kroc was a salesman, selling milkshake machines. When he heard there was a restaurant that needed to churn out up to 40 milkshakes at a time, he wanted to visit the restaurant and see what was happening.

And so that was how Kroc discovered McDonald’s. He then bought the rights to expand McDonald’s, and the rest became history.

Thus, is it too late to set a new goal or dream a new dream? Again, the answer is clear.

Time Will Pass Anyway

If you have something you want to pursue, a goal or a dream, just go for it. Why? Because the time will pass anyway.

Imagine you’re 35, you have an idea to start a YouTube channel, but you’re afraid it might be too late for you. So, you abandoned the idea and didn’t go for it.

Now you’re at 40, 5 years have gone by and you’re still doing the same thing, re-living each year the same. And you’re stuck and not getting anywhere in life.

But if you chose to start the YouTube channel, things might be different by now. The 5 years would have passed anyway.

Therefore, no matter what kind of business you want to pursue, it doesn’t matter how old you are, you should just go for it.

Have No Regrets

In her best-selling book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, author Bronnie Ware, an Australian nurse who spent years working in palliative care, caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives, discovered the top 5 regrets of the dying and put them into a book.

These were the top 5 regrets of the dying…

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

Just look at the #1 regret from the list above.

This is why it doesn’t matter how old you are, if there’s a dream you want to materialize, just go for it.

You don’t want to live a life others expected of you, instead, you want to live a life that is true to yourself.

That was the #1 regret most people had when they are at the end of their life.

So, the lesson is simple – have the courage to pursue the life of your dream.

Read: 13 Tips How to Live Up to Your Full Potential and Live a Great Life

Start Right Now

There’s a popular Chinese proverb that says…

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.”

In other words, if you want success and growth in the future, the best time to act is now.

You see, the future you want is created now, not 20 years from now.

Read: How to Dream Big and Start Small

And things will not magically happen. You won’t wake up the next day and found that you have a million dollars in the bank. You won’t suddenly lose the additional fat and get back in shape. The book won’t write itself.

So, if you don’t act now, nothing will ever materialize.

It is true there’s no guarantee that you will succeed, but when you choose to do it, when you act, there’s a chance.

But if you don’t do anything at all, you don’t even have a chance.

Success is not easy, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible. As long as you are taking action and progressing in the right direction, you will eventually arrive.

Thus, I hope this blog post inspires you to take action.

Remember, you are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream. It is never too late unless you said so.

Learn how to set an empowering goal, read this ultimate here.