Tweet

It’s Too Late…

Have you ever had any of these thoughts?

• It’s too late for me to learn a new skill.
• It’s too late for our business to take advantage of this opportunity.
• It’s too late for me to start using social media for my business.
• It’s too late to change careers.
• It’s too late to start a business.
• It’s too late to… (fill in the blank).

Well, I hope that the stories I am about to tell you might finally end that line of thinking, once and for all.

And they might even show you that even though this line of thinking can feel so right, you’ve never been more wrong in your life.

The Surprising Discovery That Was Right Beneath Their Noses

It was a discovery that no one would’ve believed was possible.

It was 2012 and a group of biologists had just made a shocking discovery. They had just discovered a new species of leopard frog.

But the new species of frog wasn’t the most surprising part. It was the location they discovered it in.

It wasn’t discovered in some exotic jungle in some far away country.

It wasn’t discovered in some remote desert in some desolate location.

It was discovered in New York. New York City to be exact.

Yes, you heard that right.

A new species of leopard frog that was unknown to biologists until 2012 was found hanging out in New York City.

How is that even possible? Good question.

The reason it was never noticed before is because it had been mistaken for years as belonging to a species of leopard frog that was already well-known.

The Biologist That Said More Than He Meant to Say

In response to this amazing discovery, a biology professor at the University of California at Los Angeles unintentionally made a statement that has much deeper ramifications than he meant it to have.

Who was this professor and what did he say?

Brad Shaffer said, “For a new species to go unrecognised in this area is amazing. This shows that even in the largest city in the US, there are still new and important species waiting to be discovered.”

Did you catch the deeper ramifications in his statement? If you didn’t, that’s ok.

Keep reading and it will become very clear in a powerful way.

Lincoln Steffens was a New York reporter who lived from the mid 1800’s to the early 1900’s.

He wrote a series of articles in McClure’s. The series was called Tweed Days in St. Louis. These articles that would later be published as a book called The Shame of the Cities.

He went on to become a lecturer and political philosopher and eventually became a leading figure among the writers that President Theodore Roosevelt called Muckrakers.

When he was in college, he accidentally came to the conclusion that I am trying to get you to see and that this biologist accidentally implied.

He came across this revelation when he was in history class and it was later confirmed in an unexpected way.

First, let me tell you about the revelation he had in his history class…

History Class and the Unexpected Revelation 

We could say that the revelation was the result of the collision of an accident and curiosity, when a boring professor gave an assignment.

But it wasn’t the assignment itself that led to the revelation. It was what the professor added in passing.

He mentioned some books for students who wanted to do more research.

Steffens decided to do just that and go deeper. And his research led him to a surprising discovery.

He found that the history books didn’t agree on the exact facts of this particular event. And so he went back to the professor, who gave him more books to use for research.

He came to this conclusion: “The historians did not know! History was not a science, but a field for research, a field for me, for any young man, to explore, to make discoveries in and write a scientific report about.”

And his deep study of history led him to this discovery that changed how he saw history itself…

“What I had was a quickening sense that I was learning a method of studying history and that every chapter of it, from the beginning of the world to the end, is crying out to be rewritten.”

He realized that this revelation, if it was true, was mind altering and even life altering.

What he didn’t expect was for this revelation to confirmed in such an unexpected way…

The Banker’s Surprising View of Failure 

Years later, after this revelation in history class, he was in San Francisco. He was there doing investigative journalism.

One day, Steffens was leaving the prosecution office with a man named Rudolph Spreckels, who was the banker and backer of the investigation that he was a part of.

They jumped into Spreckels’ car, in a hurry to get to their next destination. But they soon found out that they wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon. Why?

The chauffeur was trying to repair something, but he was having troubles. 

You’d think that a situation like that would anger a rich and powerful man like Spreckels, wouldn’t you? That’s why his actual response surprised Steffens.

And even though he didn’t know it in that moment, the banker was about to confirm the revelation that he came across while in history class years ago.

What was the banker’s strange response? Instead of getting angry, Spreckels smiled.

He looked closely at the defective part the chauffeur was working on and then turned to Steffens and said these words…

“Always, when I see something badly done or not done at all, I see an opportunity to make a fortune. I never kick at bad work by my class; there’s lots of it and we suffer from it. But our failures and neglects are chances for the young fellows coming along and looking for work.” 

Nothing Is Done

Do you see it now? Do you really think it’s “too late?”

If an unknown species of frog can be found in New York City then, as the biologist said, there are still “new and important (things) waiting to be discovered.” 

If history isn’t even set in stone, but is “crying out to be rewritten,” then it can’t be too late for you.

If every problem, failure, and area of neglect in this world is presenting us with opportunities, then can it ever be “too late” for anyone?

That’s the conclusion I’ve been trying to get you to see! The belief that is “too late” is a lie!

And that’s the conclusion that Steffens finally came to too.

If I haven’t said it in a powerful enough way up to this point, then maybe Steffens can help me out.

After he heard that confirmation of his original revelation from Spreckels, he finally came to this conclusion…

“Nothing is done. Everything in the world remains to be done or done over. The greatest picture is not yet painted, the greatest play isn’t written, the greatest poem is unsung. There isn’t in all the world a perfect railroad, nor a good government, nor a sound law. Physics, mathematics, and especially the most advanced and exact of the sciences are being fundamentally revised. . . Psychology, economics, and sociology are awaiting a Darwin, whose work in turn is awaiting an Einstein.”
– Lincoln Steffens

A Reality Check

I realize that in some areas of life and for some of us there are things that really are “too late.” That’s a reality I would never deny.

But I think that people use the “it’s too late” claim much more often than is actually the case. So I wrote this post to inspire you to not let that excuse be your default setting.

If you don’t let it be, you’ll be surprised at how many discoveries there still are for you to make, how opportunities there still are for you to seize, and how much of history there still is for you to rewrite.

And when that happens, you’ll come to realize…

It’s only too late for those who believe it is and never begin.

 

Image by brian.gratwicke