What To Do If Your Career Seems To Fail The 10-Year Challenge

I think it’s more useful to expand the definition of career accomplishments beyond the time limits that a 10-year challenge imposes or the seemingly meteoric rises glamorised by lists like Forbes’ “30 under 30.” There is an obsession with early achievement, but many examples of late bloomers who found career success later in life. Take comedian Leslie Jones, who was the oldest new cast member of Saturday Night Live at age 47. As she told The New Yorker in 2015, “I remember some nights where I was, like, ‘All right, this comedy shit just ain’t working out.’ And not just when I was 25. Like, when I was 45 … I was a less confident person back then. And damn sure not as funny.”