What Others Have Done by Age 30

I don't mean to depress you near 30-somethings but actually I've found this to be quite inspiring. Success is achievable at any age and we're all on the road to it--some just drive faster while others may have more red lights!

By the way, this is a fun website where you can enter how old you are and see what others have accomplished at your age.

By age 20:

• Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard and co-founded Microsoft.
• Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein.
• Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice, her second and most famous novel.
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning published her first volume of poetry.
• Charles Lindbergh learned to fly.

• 19th century composer Franz Schubert wrote nearly 200 songs (including two of his best songs), 3 masses, 3 symphonies, and a great deal of piano and chamber music before turning 19.
• By 18, Billy the Kid was charged with twelve murders.
• At age 15, Albert Einstein, with poor grades in geography, history and languages, dropped out of school. At age 17, he wrote an essay containing the beginnings of the special theory of relativity. In it, Einstein showed that time and motion are relative to the observer. By 30 he discovered that E = mc(squared) and the Theory of Relativity.
• American sharpshooter Annie Oakley challenged and defeated the well-known marksman Frank Butler, whom she later married. She could hit a dime in mid-air from 90 feet.
• Louis Braille, blind since age 3, improved the method of raised writing.
• Inventor Thomas Alva Edison became manager of a telegraph office.
• Ansel Adams took his first photograph with a Kodak box brownie camera, expecting to capture the beauty of Yosemite. Disappointed in the results, he persuaded the owner of a photofinishing plant to take him on as an apprentice.
• At 12, Joan of Arc heard what she believed to be celestial voices. In time she convinced the Dauphin that she had a divine mission to save France, and she eventually turned the Hundred Years' War in France's favor.

By age 25:

• College dropout Steven Jobs co-founded Apple Computer.
• By 22, Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget received his Ph.D., published 20 articles, and wrote a philosophical novel that outlined many of the issues he would explore during his career.
• Olympic runner Herbert James Elliott, ranked by many as the greatest mile runner ever, retired undefeated at 22.
• Orson Welles produced and performed his "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast, terrifying millions of people. He also got his face on the cover of Time Magazine.
• Jack Nicklaus became the youngest golfer to win the Masters.
  
• Ted Turner took over his father's billboard advertising business. He later launched CNN.
• Tracy Chapman released her first album, winning three Grammies.
• Charles Chaplin had appeared in 35 films.
• P. T. Barnum bought a "160-year-old" slave woman and began a career in show business.
• Joseph Smith founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
• Physician Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile. As he collapsed unconscious into the arms of his trainer, the loudspeaker announced, "The time was three..." The uproar of the fans drowned out the rest of the announcement.

By age 30:

• Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, revolutionizing the economies of the United States and Britain.
• Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Italy.
• Scottish-born inventor Alexander Graham Bell transmitted the first complete sentence by telephone.
• Danish novelist Hans Christian Andersen published his book of fairy tales.
• Donald Trump persuaded bankers to lend him $80 million so he could buy the Commodore Hotel.
• Bill Gates became a billionaire.
• John Wayne had already appeared in 76 movies.
• Michelangelo finished the statue of David.
• Michael Jordan won his third NBA title, led the Dream Team to the gold medal in the ’92 Olympics, already named NBA MVP three times and led the league in scoring seven times.
• Joseph led the Children of Israel out of Egypt.