Letter from the Director: If the Colonel can do it, Why Can’t You?

I’m no spring chicken.  In fact I’d cheerfully describe myself as something more autumn, perhaps late September with a hint of October.  I’ve seen a few things in my time, worked in both hemispheres and seen my share of success and failure.  But I’m not done yet.  There’s a whole lot of life left in this old dog. 

We founded the Academy for Distance Learning five years ago.  Since then, we’ve expanded year on year, adding new courses to our list, new tutors to our faculty and new staff to our back office.  It hasn’t made us overnight millionaires (yet!) but by all our standards the academy has been a success.  

Conventional wisdom would have said that five years ago, I should have been planning for my retirement rather than embarking on a new life changing enterprise.  Well, it’s a good thing I don’t put much stock in conventional wisdom!

This, of course, is only my own story.  I’m far from alone in the ranks of people who changed direction in their lives and experienced success for themselves.  Many of us by know are familiar with superstar Author J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame who came from nowhere to write arguably the most successful children’s fiction books ever, but did you know for example that Joseph Conrad, author of the famous English classic novel “Heart of Darkness” didn’t even speak English until he was 20?

A Few More Examples

Here’s a couple of other names you might have heard of:

Charles Darwin: A complete unknown who worked aboard ships as a botanist before his work On the Origin of Species ignited the debate that gave rise to our understanding of evolution today.  He was 50 when he wrote it.

Ronald Reagan:  Began as an actor with a line of films to his name early in the 1930’s but switched careers to politics where he became President of the United States in 1980

Colonel Sanders: With his face beaming from buckets of chicken world wide, it’s surprising to think that prior to franchising out his secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices at 65, “Colonel” Harland Sanders was a complete unknown.  12 years later he retired with a 12$ million dollar fortune having lived in poverty for much of his life supporting his family after his father died aged 6.

If I’m trying to get at anything it is this – you’re never too old to try something new.  You can send your life in another direction if you’re prepared to work at it. If you’re unhappy with what you’re doing or where you’re going in life, you owe it to yourself to try something new.  As they say, the definition of insanity is trying the same thing, the same way and wondering why nothing ever changes.

Until next month

Daryl Tempest-Mogg

Director of Vocational Studies

Academy for Distance Learning

LEAVE A REPLY

BLOG CATEGORIES

MOST POPULAR

Christmas 2024 Opening Hours

Merry Christmas, here are the ADL opening hours for Christmas 2024: Monday 23rd December – 9am to 5pm Tuesday 24th December – CLOSED Christmas eve Wednesday 25th December – CLOSED Christmas DAY Thursday 26th December – CLOSED Boxing Day Friday 27th December – CLOSED Monday 30th December – 10am -4pm Tuesday 31st December – 10am

Read More »

At ADL we focus on helping you learn! You have the opportunity to interact one to one with our tutors, so you can approach learning in whatever way and speed that best suits you. This individual service not normally found at most colleges, contributes to successful learning. You decide how you wish to receive your

Read More »

Water Gardening Site Selection

Things to Consider When Selecting Your Water Garden Location Have you ever dreamed of building a Water Garden, but just didn’t know where to start?  ADL’s online certificate course in Water Gardeng provides the necessary knowledge and skills to help you get started. The first thing is to decide on the location of your water

Read More »

ADL Success Stories – Dairy Cattle Farming with Annabella Baker

Education opens doors to success windows of opportunity and in at least one case, gates to new possibilities. Such is the case with ADL success story Annabella Baker.  Originally from Italy, but now living in the UK, Annabella faced a tragedy all too familiar to many when she lost her airline job during the Covid

Read More »

SIGNUP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

Scroll to Top

REQUEST A CALLBACK

To speak to one of our course advisors, please enter your name and phone number below and click the "Please Call Me" button. We will call you back as soon as possible!

By submitting this form, I provide my consent to ADL to contact me via email or telephone, regarding the course I selected. All information provided is protected in conformity with our Privacy Policy.

CONTACT US

required fields are marked with *

By submitting this form, I provide my consent to ADL to contact me via email or telephone, regarding the course I selected. All information provided is protected in conformity with our Privacy Policy.