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“It’s never too late to start X” is awful advice. They always share some stupid outlier anecdote like “best-selling novelist who started writing at 75 and won Pulitzer at 80” and it’s always either a lie (oh you failed to mention she was an editor age 30-75) or a weird anomaly.
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Look at anybody doing anything well, and chances are they started long ago. Usually under 40. If not, do a double-take: they’ll often have been doing something adjacent enough to learn it easily when they switch lanes.
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Replying to
Don’t let the one schmaltzy anecdote get you ignoring the numbers game. Learning curves are real. Brain plasticity isn’t infinite. Look around: most older people _aren’t_ weird exceptions. They learn to get mediocre at sudoku past 50 maybe, not concert-grade piano.
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Various kinds of decline are real. But things you get going on before those kick in — the momentum can keep you going. So the trick is to start investing in multiple interests early, even if only at a low level of intensity/time. That, or lower your expectations for later years.
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People who are very narrow in their interests when young might be more “successful” when old, but often end up bored and lonely once their career starts to taper. People with many interests, if they don’t dissipate into failure, tend to stay occupied and active.
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And don’t underestimate minimum viable level of competence required to enjoy an activity. Adult tastes for most things tend to mature past abilities. I’m an ok artist, but not good enough to enjoy my own work (either process or output) much unless I put in more years of practice.
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Replying to @mindspillage
I mentioned that, but it’s important to note that the minimum viable level of competence to enjoy an activity can be quite high. If you’re smart your tastes can outrun your abilities too much to lower expectations that way. twitter.com/vgr/status/136…
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Replying to
This is solid advice. At the very least putzing around at hobby level would let you know you if you actually liked an interest on rubber-meets-the-road levels before dedicating your life to it.
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