I wish that I could have a breakthrough this year, at the age of 27 my life's mission was to make it before turning 30 and times running out and I'm super anxious that I have not had much success.
Big Breakthroughs Come in Your Late 30s
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Re: Big Breakthroughs Come in Your Late 30s
#52Is it possible that studying Nobel Laureates skews these numbers? It would be extremely difficult to receive a Nobel for an achievement late in life because of the usual lag time between the achievement and the award and the fact that Nobel prizes are not awarded posthumously.
It's possible. Furthermore, the article talks about noted achievements -- the case where someone's work is recognized as particularly good.
Your best or most-creative work isn't necessarily the most-recognized.
Being better-recognized probably also correlates with having built a network of connections, understanding institutional politics, having built up social capital (favors to call in), and so on. And it wouldn't be shocking if that tends to skew stronger among older, more experienced people.
Re: Big Breakthroughs Come in Your Late 30s
#53Here's an interesting exception : The poet Rimbaud wrote all of his poetry before the age of 20 and is considered to be one of the greatest poets of all time.
Keats similarly wrote all of his extant poetry between 19 and 25. (He died at 25.)
"Last December 13th, there appeared in the newspapers the juiciest, spiciest, raciest obituary it has ever been my pleasure to read.
"It was that of a lady named Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel, who had, in her lifetime, managed to acquire as lovers practically all of the top creative men in central Europe. And, among these lovers, who were listed in the obituary, by the way, which is what made it so interesting, there were three whom she went so far as to marry: One of the leading composers of the day, Gustav Mahler, composer of "Das Lied von der Erde" and other light classics, one of the leading architects, Walter Gropius, of the "Bauhaus" school of design, and one of the leading writers, Franz Werfel, author of the "Song of Bernadette" and other masterpieces.
"It's people like that who make you realize how little you've accomplished. It is a sobering thought, for example, that when Mozart was my age, he had been dead for two years."
(Tom Lehrer)
Re: Big Breakthroughs Come in Your Late 30s
#54The timing of this submission is impeccable. My 36th birthday was yesterday. Thanks for the inspiration!
Re: Big Breakthroughs Come in Your Late 30s
#55The corollary is Cheap, Easy To Exploit Labour Is Most Readily Available In Your Twenties™. (The VC lemma being, "Labour costs are a big majority of web startup input costs")
That's assuming all labor is equivalent which seems ridiculous on the surface. I mean start-ups are hardly shoveling snow.
Young founders get more free publicity seems far more realistic to me.
Re: Big Breakthroughs Come in Your Late 30s
#56It's mostly just related to having had enough time to work on a problem.
Re: Big Breakthroughs Come in Your Late 30s
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
What about Bukowski, that was working in a post office, til 49 years old, when he dropped out to start his first novel ?!
He didn't 'drop out', he was incentivized to the tune of $100 a month for life to quit.
And that was when $100 was an equivalent of 3 ounces of gold which is about $4k today. Barrel of oil and S&P500 had roughly the same price in gold then as they do today.
Re: Big Breakthroughs Come in Your Late 30s
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you really lived in the UK you would now that lots of people complain about everything, all the time. Especially the NHS. Now, that doesn't change the point that universal health care exists in most countries, and they are better of for it.
Actually, strictly speaking I do live in France at the moment, so your bizarre implication is actually true - but I did just move here 7 days ago. Anyway, yes people do complain about the NHS in general, for all sorts of reasons, but I'd wager that most people don't complain about the fact that we have the NHS, and realise that it's actually really great compared to the situations in countries which don't have univer…
I'm a Polish guy with US passport who spent many, many years in the USA and my feeling is as follows: In the US people complain about one single thing regarding the healthcare - cost. In Poland they'll complain about long waiting lists, not enough doctors, not sufficient care, basically everything is worse than in the US - except the cost.
I for one don't think that the major objective of healthcare system is not to bankrupt people. Its main objective is to safe life. I wish more people would be worried about saving lives more than money.
Re: Big Breakthroughs Come in Your Late 30s
#59I co-founded my first startup at 19, and several more before I was 25. I've done a couple since. I'm now nearly 39. Not had the big payoff, but I'll try again sometime. To me, it feels like the biggest thing is the combination of willingness to take risks coupled with outlook on life and experience. At 19 I had no business experience, no experience at the business I went into (4 of us started an ISP), had never set u…
I created 4 reasonably successful companies in my life, and about 12 that fell flat. The first success was in high school. But the first million+ was at age 34. At first I thought the article was a little too academic, but... honestly it fits my life pattern. So... there you have it.
Re: Big Breakthroughs Come in Your Late 30s
#60Great post! I agree with this!