# That "too late" feeling **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 27, 2020, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-too-late-feeling/852647 "2020-04-27T02:50:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-too-late-feeling/852647/41 "2020-04-30T16:16:14Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > …Don’t be afraid to make mistakes in life. First of all, most of us do - you go through this crazy ride only once, and you don’t know fuck-all about what to do with it when you start. > > But you learn nothing more about yourself, what you really want, and what sort of career might work for you, by trying nothing. You do something new, and you can see what parts of the new job really made it worth coming in, and what aspects of it made you wish you could just stay in bed. Also, trying different things gets you exposed to a wider variety of jobs that other people are doing that you’re interacting with. > > Get out there. Try stuff. Fall on your face a few times, it’s OK to do that. But 28, 29 years old? You’ve got all the time in the world. You’ve got plenty of time to figure it all out, as long as you push yourself out the door and get started. > [@Mangetout](#): > > Yup, also, making mistakes is an interesting excursion all of itself, into discovery of possibilities you couldn’t have imagined or planned if you tried. Building on this… I once read a piece of advice from a successful businessman that I frequently recall as the secret to his success: “Fail Fast”. His explanation was that it was a mistake to believe that ‘successful’ people are people who don’t make mistakes. Don’t make mistakes? Laughable! Everybody makes mistakes, and you are likely to make more than most people if you are aggressively trying new things or seeking progress in your endeavors. The most successful people in the world, he explained, make lots of mistakes! They key, though, is not to get mired in those mistakes. Rather, ‘fail fast’. If something isn’t working, successful people recognize it and change - they don’t keep grinding away at some endeavor hoping the results will be different the next time, they don’t get down on themselves because something didn’t go according to plan, and they never stop considering new options or ideas. So, if you are considering something new, don’t be afraid. But, be open to the possibility that you need to adapt and change, or that something unexpected might happen, or that this might not work. The key is to remember that these things are common and don’t reflect negatively on you, nor are they impediments to your success. It didn’t work? No biggie; just keep hustlin’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-too-late-feeling/852647.md?page=2)