Late Bloomers

As I hit the quarter-life crisis benchmark, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and under-successful. Orson Welles made Citizen Kane when he was 25—what have I done with my life?! But, Malcolm Gladwell comes to the rescue with this excellent New Yorker piece about how genius develops in many different ways. Citing Cezanne, Picasso, Mark Twain, Jonathan Safran Foer and others, Gladwell points out that some people create their best art later in life. Or, some don’t even start creating art until later in life. Either way, if you are feeling anxious--at any age--that time is wasting away, take these three notes to heart:

--Some creativity is experimental (as opposed to natural or conceptual) and based on years and years of trial and error. “The Cézannes of the world bloom late not as a result of some defect in character, or distraction, or lack of ambition, but because the kind of creativity that proceeds through trial and error necessarily takes a long time to come to fruition.”

--It’s not about being discovered by others until later life or not realizing your own hidden talent until later in life. Sometimes “late bloomers bloom late because they simply aren’t much good until late in their careers.”

--Sometimes it takes a good patron to guide you along. “Success is highly contingent on the efforts of others.”