Be a Late Bloomer

In the 2011 Oscar Awards, David Seidler won Best Original Screenplay for The King’s Speech. At 73 years old, it’s his first Oscar and he is the oldest in the category to ever win the award. In his acceptance speech, he mentioned that his father always said he would be a late bloomer.

David Seidler, 73, is the oldest person to win in the Best Original Screenplay category

Not the most memorable Oscar moment to others, but it was to me. I found it pretty uplifting, watching him accept his award, particularly amidst all the buzz of Zuckerberg being the youngest billionaire ever, the phenomenal success of Lady Gaga, and all the other wunderkind that have risen to great heights so early in their careers.

There’s so much pressure to accomplish a particular set of goals by a certain age. But that doesn’t always happen. Talent and hard work are two very key ingredients, but so many other factors come into play. The client suddenly shelving the project. The editor who really thinks you should go another way with your novel. Or life just taking over until you’ve completely forgotten to pick up that paintbrush again. Before we know it, so much time has passed by, we feel that we somehow got left behind.
But the thing is, it’s really not a race.

So how about we just toss that deadline off to the side and focus on just doing the work. It’s never too late — no matter how many obstacles life threw at us, no matter how many wrong turns we took along the way. The important thing is that we keep on keeping on. Don’t get discouraged by a missed deadline or a rejection letter. Even if you feel like chucking it all, just keep putting in the work and one day, it’ll pay off.  Be a late bloomer. When you get to where you want to be, it’s not even going to matter how long it took you to get there. It’s just going to feel wonderful. I’m pretty sure David Seidler will agree.

David Seidler has given more than stutterers their voice. He’s given a couple of late bloomers some hope too. Read more on David Seidler’s Oscar win here.