There’s this myth that somehow by 30 you should have made it. Settled into your “forever” career, maybe owned property, have at least one decent chair in your home that you didn’t pick up from the side of the road (although I do think there’s some really good finds on the street!). And if you’re 40 or 50 and haven’t done that yet? Society starts throwing you that side-eye, as if you’ve missed the boat. But who decided the timetable? Who built this imaginary success conveyor belt we’re all supposed to be riding?
Let me go straight to what I think: it’s perfectly okay to be 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, or even 80 and not be “successful” in the way society defines it. You’re not late. You’re not behind. You’re just living, and that’s more than enough. Heck, I’m 37 and I haven’t “made it” yet.
Career success can happen at any age, it’s more common than you think. It just doesn’t get the same press. Success isn’t a universal template, it doesn’t look the same for everyone. One person might have a high-paying design job in a glossy London studio by 27. Another might be quietly building sculptures in their garage at 53, selling the occasional piece, not because it pays the bills, but because they love it. Both are valid. Both are rich in their own way.
The absurdity of linear progress for career success
The idea that careers should follow a straight line is not only false, it’s harmful. People start over all the time. They burn out. They pivot. They raise kids, they travel, they get sick, they heal, they learn. And yes, sometimes they take jobs they don’t love just to stay afloat. Life isn’t neat. It never was.
Some folks were handed better cards. Maybe they had a parent who paid for art school. Maybe they inherited a flat or got that gallery gig through someone they met at a high society dinner party. Connections matter, time matters, and so does money. Privilege shows up in a hundred invisible ways. But, even if you didn’t get that head start, it doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to play.
And honestly? Most people don’t have it figured out. A quick scroll through a Reddit thread and you’ll see hundreds of people in their 30s, 40s, and 50s asking the same questions: “Is it too late to change careers?”, “Did I miss my chance?”, “What if I never find my thing?” The sheer volume of those posts says something simple but powerful: you are not alone.
Introverts in a world that won’t shut up
Not all of course, but lots of people and artists are introverts, I know I am. That doesn’t mean shy, it just means your energy comes from quiet, from solitude, from depth over volume (and from writing a blog). But living in a world that celebrates the opposite, can be tricky. Loud wins. Followers equal clout. Everyone is yelling to be seen, and if you’re not shouting, it can feel like you’re invisible and can’t get up that career ladder that extroverts climb.
That doesn’t mean you’re irrelevant. It means you’re tuned to a different frequency. And the world also desperately needs that frequency. Not everyone wants to be bombarded with curated perfection and endless hype. There are people craving sincerity, slowness and quiet geniuses. They just have to know where to find it, and sometimes that starts with you quietly putting your work into the world, even if no one claps at first.
Chasing warm joy over cold metrics
So what if your art doesn’t pay your rent? So what if your novel isn’t published or your photography isn’t hanging in a gallery? If the process makes you feel alive, that’s worth something. Actually, it’s worth everything!
Let’s be very clear, success isn’t always financial. More often it is emotional, personal, deep in the core of you and what makes you tick. Success to me is sticking with your work when no one else seems to care. That’s brave. That counts.
Sure, bills have to be paid. We all know that. But there’s something to be said for living modestly, managing your money wisely, and freeing up your mind from the constant anxiety of “making it.”
Minimalism gets a bad rap because it’s been hijacked by influencers who make it look like an aesthetic. But at its core, it’s just about choosing less, less stuff, less stress, fewer expectations. When you’re not drowning in debt or comparing yourself to someone else’s curated life, there’s space to actually breathe. To create. To think. To feel. And to build your own version of career success.
Scrap the “shoulds”
Forget where you think you should be. Scrap the timeline and rip up the script. This isn’t a race nor a competition. It’s your life and your path. Your weird, beautiful, unpredictable, sometimes boring, but most of the time magical life. You don’t have to be a prodigy, you can just be. Right now. However old you are, however messy your situation is, however unclear the future seems.
Maybe your work doesn’t look like much from the outside. But inside? It’s a whole world. A sacred space. Your studio, your sketchbook, your thoughts, your mornings. That’s enough. You are enough. I might sound corny, but I think people should hear this message as society puts so much pressure on us.
Examples of late career success to remember
There are endless stories of people finding their stride later in life. Vera Wang didn’t design her first dress until 40. Grandma Moses started painting in her late 70s. David Lynch didn’t hit his stride until middle age. And those are just some examples.
There are also thousands of unnamed, unseen creatives who make slow, quiet work in the corners of their lives. The carpenter who carves incredible art spoons on Sundays for fun. The nurse who writes poems on the night shift. The father of three who paints amazing murals in the garage after everyone’s asleep. These are the people no one admire, there is no applause, no fame, yet they all do their thing in their own pace with the resources they have at that moment.
Do you know Richard Artschwager? He is a clear examples of someone who did things entirely on his own terms. He didn’t get swept up in the art world’s rhythms or market trends. In fact, for most of his early life, he made furniture. It wasn’t until his 40s that his visual art began to gain real traction. Even then, he didn’t chase the fame. He was notoriously indifferent to the spotlight. His work could sell for high figures, and yet he kept doing his own things, things that confused labels, defied categories, and refused to be easily understood. That resistance to conformity and social expectations was simply who he was. There’s a brilliant documentary about Richard Artschwager on YouTube, well worth your time if you want to understand how quietly radical a life can be.
And according to a study by the Kauffman Foundation, people aged 55 to 64 have consistently started new businesses at a higher rate than those in their twenties. That’s not a coincidence, it’s lived experience finally having its say. It’s proof that it’s never too late to build something of your own.
The truth about visibility
A lot of career success depends on visibility. And visibility is often dictated by privilege, circumstance, and pure dumb luck. You can be talented as hell and still go unnoticed. That doesn’t mean your work isn’t good. It doesn’t mean you failed. It means the system is flawed.
So what do you do? You keep going. You build your own rhythm. You make peace with obscurity, knowing that your value doesn’t come from likes or exhibitions or editorials. Your value comes from your voice, your hands and your hours. Your stubborn love for what you do.
What actually does matter
What matters is that you enjoy it. That you keep showing up. That you basically march to the beat of your own drum. That you’re still curious. That you create a life with room to make, think, take a break, and laugh. The rest is society noise.
If you can live modestly, embrace simplicity, and stop measuring your worth against some arbitrary yardstick, you’ll find something far more rewarding: peace. Maybe not every day. Maybe not all at once. But enough. Enough to keep going and to stay soft in a world that keeps telling you to be sharp. Enough to remember that life isn’t a business plan or a CV.
Career success is a process. An ongoing experiment. A canvas you never fully finish. So take your time. There is no deadline for becoming who you are.
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