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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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Anything you ever think you might want to do sometime in your life, start at least dabbling in it the moment you think of it. However ineptly. You might learn simple things at hobby scale late in life but most interesting things take a decade or so of futzing around to get good.
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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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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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I think the key expectation is that it’s going to take 7-10 years to have a chance at an average career in something. But I definitely think one should try various different careers if they can sustain the trough financially.
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Also many people’s initial career choices are forced upon them by either by parents or environment etc. it’s worth switching if the new career plays to ones strengths or if you can catch a new career that’s just getting established and has high demand.
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