Genius in the public mind is associated with early development. To create something outstanding, you need a fresh outlook on the world and the energy inherent in the young. Author Oliver Burkeman explains how age affects success in life.
At what age is it time to stop dreaming about future success? This question occupies so many people because no one considers himself to be completely successful. A novelist dreams of getting his novels published. The publishing author wants them to become bestsellers, the bestselling author wants to win a literary prize. In addition, everyone thinks that in a few years they will become old.
Age doesn’t matter
The journal Science published the results of the study: psychologists have studied the career development of 1983 physicists since XNUMX. They tried to find out at what stage in their careers they made the most important discoveries and produced the most significant publications.
Both youth and years of experience did not play any role. It turned out that scientists produced the most significant publications at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of their careers.
Age often seems like a bigger factor in life success than it really is.
Productivity was the main success factor. If you want to publish an article that will become popular, you will not be helped by the enthusiasm of youth or the wisdom of the past years. It is more important to publish many articles.
To be fair, sometimes age does matter: in math, as in sports, the young excel. But for self-realization in business or creativity, age is not a hindrance.
Young talents and mature masters
The age at which success comes is also influenced by personality traits. Economics professor David Galenson identified two kinds of creative geniuses: conceptual and experimental.
An example of a conceptual genius is Pablo Picasso. He was a brilliant young talent. His career as a professional artist began with a masterpiece, The Funeral of Casagemas. Picasso painted this painting when he was 20. In a short time, the artist created a number of works that became great. His life illustrates the common vision of genius.
Another thing is Paul Cezanne. If you go to the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, where the best collection of his works is collected, you will see that the artist painted all these paintings at the end of his career. Works made by Cezanne after 60 are worth 15 times more than paintings painted in his youth. He was an experimental genius who achieved success through trial and error.
David Galenson in his study assigns a minor role to age. Once he conducted a survey among literary critics — he asked them to compile a list of the 11 most important poems in US literature. Then he analyzed the age at which the authors wrote them: the range was from 23 to 59 years. Some poets create the best works at the very beginning of their work, others decades later. Galenson did not find any relationship between the age of the author and the popularity of poems.
focus effect
Studies show that age in most cases does not affect success, but we still continue to worry about it. Economics Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman explains: We fall prey to the focus effect. We often think about our age, so it seems to us a more important factor in life success than it really is.
Something similar happens in romantic relationships. We worry about whether the partner should be like us or, on the contrary, opposites attract. Although this does not play a significant role in the success of the relationship. Be aware of this cognitive error and don’t fall for it. Chances are it’s not too late for you to succeed.
About the author: Oliver Burkeman is a journalist and author of The Antidote. An antidote for an unhappy life” (Eksmo, 2014).