Human Performance and Age

A recent analytical review focused on apex human achievement—the most successful and skilled performers in various fields—by looking at the origin of people with extraordinary talent and skill to determine when and how such talent and skill arose.

This review looked at published research related to science, music, chess, and sports, and found that there are two consistent patterns in people who perform at peak levels in these fields.

First is that people who achieve peak performance while young tend to do so rapidly, accumulating knowledge, skill, and accolades in very short order. But they also only tend to master one thing.

And second, those who achieve mastery later in life, as adults, usually get there more slowly, and typically by accumulating mastery or near-mastery in many different subjects and fields.