Never too late...

What do Vera Wang, Eddie Money, Jerry Orbach, Julia Child, Martha Stewart, Samuel L. Jackson, Grandma Moses, J.K. Rowling, Ray Kroc, Stan Lee, Harrison Ford, Michael Bloomberg, Terry Crews, John Glenn, Jeff Bezos, Colonel Sanders, Tom Clancy, Ronald Reagan, Laura Ingallis Wilder and Taikichiro Mori have in common?

If you guessed a love for sushi or a handlebar mustache, I'd seriously recommend changing your meds and calling an analyst for therapy.

All of the abovementioned individuals reinvented themselves into new careers as adults:

Vera Wang - Olympic hopeful figure skater became an editor at Vogue Magazine and then a fashion designer at the age of 40.

Eddie Money was a New York City Police Department trainee and abandoned that career to pursue music full-time at the age of 19.

Jerry Orbach transitioned from a Broadway musical actor to a television and film actor, most notably in Law and Order at the age of 47.

Julia Child moved from working with the CIA (OSS) to pursuing her passion for cooking at the age of 37.

Martha Stewart was working as a stockbroker in Wall Street and changed careers to enter the world of catering, homemaking and lifestyle entrepreneurship at the age of 35.

Samuel L. Jackson moved from working in theater to the big screen at the age of 46 when he was a lead in the epic movie Pulp Fiction and became a major Hollywood star.

Grandma Moses gave up her love for embroidery due to arthritis and picked up a paint brush for the first time "to keep busy" at the age of 78. Her works have been featured in the Smithsonian.

J.K. Rowling was a teacher and single parent that transitioned to a full-time writer at the age of 32 when she finished Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Her first book Harry Potter was released when she was 30, but she was still teaching at that time.

Ray Kroc was a traveling salesman hawking milkshake machines until he was 53 years old when he opened his first McDonald's franchise.

Stan Lee was a writer and editor for years before creating Spider-Man, the X-Men, Hulk, Thor, Iron Man and the Fantastic Four comics around the age of 40.

Harrison Ford transitioned from being a struggling carpenter to acting at the age of 33 when he was cast in Star Wars.

Michael Bloomberg changed careers TWICE - until the age of 39, he was a Wall Street investment banker and trader. From 39 until 59, he was a tech entrepreneur building a company that transformed financial data and analytics. At 59, he became the mayor of New York City!

Terry Crews was a professional NFL football player until the age of 30 when he moved to television at the age of 31 with an entertainment job on the TV show Battle Dome. Later, he became a film actor in Training Day at the age of 33.

John Glenn moved from being a world-famous astronaut and military pilot to a full time U.S. Senator at the age of 53.

Jeff Bezos was a senior VP at D.E.Shaw, a prestigious hedge fund until about the age of 30, when he saw the rapid growth of the early internet and decided to quit his job to start an online bookstore called Amazon - Amazon later went on to become one of the largest companies in the world.

Colonel Harland Sanders bounced from job to job for decades - from farmhand, streetcar conductor, insurance salesman, gas station operator, and restaurant owner to opening his first franchised Kentucky Fried Chicken at the age of 62!

Tom Clancy was an insurance salesman until the age of 35 when he published his first novel, The Hunt for Red October. Clancy had been reading about the real Cold War events involving Soviet naval defections in the early 1970, which gave him inspiration for the book. He went on to write at least 14 major military-tech novels since that time.

Ronald Reagan was a film actor from the 1930's to 1950s, acting in over 50 films. He was also the president of the Screen Actors Guild. Later, he was a television host and spokesman for General Electric. At the age of 55, he was elected Governor of California and then President of the United States of America at the age of 69.

Laura Ingallis Wilder was a farm wife, teacher and homesteader until the age of 65 when she became a best-selling novelist with her first book Little House in the Big Woods. She went on to write eight bore Little House books over the next ten years.

Taikichiro Mori was a Japanese economist, economic professor and later Dean of Yokohama City University School of Economics until the age of 55. He completely reinvented himself at the age of 55 when he pivoted away from academia and shifted his focus to real-estate development, founding the Mori Building Company. He became the richest man in the world in 1991 at the age of 87 according to Forbes Magazine.

The takeaway from the examples above is that it's never too late to make a career change or to reinvent yourself. Perhaps you're a network director who spends their days in meetings churning out technology and making data decisions but you're a people person who someday would love to run a hot dog stand on the beach somewhere. Maybe you're a recruiter who finds candidates for other companies, but you'd rather be running a gym or acting as a trainer to help people get in better shape. Maybe you've got a book inside you that's aching to be written.

All of us have dreams. All of us have abilities. Sometimes life gets in the way of heading down the path that will take us to our dream jobs. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a veterinarian. Later, I realized that I just liked animals but not sick ones. Later, I wanted to become a doctor in biofeedback because the technology fascinated me. After some time, the shine of that technology wore off for me. I thought I could learn to be a rock star but after years of lessons, I still can't sing or play guitar very well. Turns out I just love music.

The cynical among us will look at the people in the examples above and say to themselves, "Well, I didn't have their money they did. I don't have their skills. They were in the right place at the right time." To some extent, there's a bit of truth to that. But the one thing we all have is desire. And no matter how rich or naturally talented you are, the other thing we all have in common is that we have the same 1,440 minutes a day, 10,080 minutes a week, 43,200 minutes a month and 525,600 minutes in a year. What we choose to do with that precious time and the direction we take our lives is up to us.

Scared to make the change? Join the club. What if I fail? Guess what? Legendary Canadian hockey player, Wayne Gretzky is credited with the motivational saying, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."

Look at your life today and compare it your dreams and where you want to be in life. If you're heading down the wrong path, STOP. Come up with a plan for changing direction and what it's going to take to get you where you want to be. Adjust your lifestyle as needed to get you there. Because life is short and as far as I know, it's the only one we're getting here on earth.

I'm in the process of reinventing myself. I'm not too proud to say that it's not always an easy process. I'm still trying to learn that damned guitar. Still working on dropping a few pounds and getting in better shape. Still learning to write. Thinking about applying for an adjunct professor position but the idea scares me a bit.

I'm honest enough with myself to understand that I can't do it all. I've got some physical, intellectual, emotional or spiritual restrictions that make me conclude that there are some things in life that I won't be able to accomplish. But there's nothing in my life that's keeps me from trying new things, learning new skills, having new experiences and trying to make my life and the lives around me a little better.

The expression "Carpe diem" is a Latin phrase meaning "seize the day" or more literally "pluck the day," urging individuals to make the most of the present moment rather than relying on the uncertain future.

Start now!