Discover how Play-Doh can inspire you to find a new purpose after 40

Nursery school teacher Kay Zufall sat reading magazine articles in search of ideas on how to do a better job running a nursery school.

With a limited budget, she needed to find new and exciting ways to entertain and educate the children in her care.

It was the 1950s, and one popular activity for kids was to build using modeling clay. Kay recognized this was messy and often difficult to use for young hands.

If only there were an alternative.

Then Kay stumbled across an article about children using wallpaper putty instead.

Wallpaper putty had been around for years, developed to help homeowners clean soot build-up on wallpaper generated from coal fires.

But by the 1950s, homes moved away from coal to cleaner oil, gas, and electricity, and vinyl wallpaper became more common and could be wiped down and cleaned with water.

And as a result, the largest wallpaper cleaner manufacturer of the 20th century, Kutol products, had hit on hard times.

There would soon be no need for wallpaper cleaner. Kutol was on the ropes.

So what do you do when your primary purpose disappears in a flash?

You change direction.

Joseph McVickers was now the new man charged with turning around the fortunes of the failing product.

And as it happens, Joseph McVickers was also the brother-in-law of none other than Kay Zufall.

After reading the article on wallpaper putty, Kay rushed to the local hardware store and bought a can. Taking it into nursery school, she let the children build their models, which she then hung on a tree.

“We have to get Joe here to show him what we’ve done,” Kay told her husband, Bob.           

Joe loved it.

Removing the solvents and adding an almond scent and colorant, Joe transformed the nontoxic wallpaper putty into something new that kids would love.

Play-Doh was born.

Being over 40 is not the end of your story.

Play-Doh has gone on to sell more than 3 billion tubs!

Kids love it.

Parents love it – until it’s spread around the house, and let’s not even get started on mixing the colors.

But Play-Doh’s story could have been so different. The original product had lost its purpose.

But that wasn’t the end of its story.

A small change in direction gave it a new lease of life.

And this is the same for all of us too.

There will be points in our lives, especially as Midsters in our 40s, where we may feel like we’ve lost who we are.

But we can all still be so much more than we are.

And we can all take small steps to make changes to rediscover our purpose and identity.

The ebbs and flows of life may leave you feeling in a rut some days.

Worn out on others.

And at its worst, on the brink sometimes.

But small positive changes can be the start of moving from the man we are to the one we want and deserve to be.

What does it take to start over in your 40s? Find out here.

Sources: Play-Doh Began As Wallpaper Cleaner!? | Where’s the Fun from? – YouTube

Paul Rudd – Movie “How do you know?.” Quote: “We are all just one small adjustment away from making our lives work.”