You Might Be a Late Bloomer

What drove the man through all those decades of setbacks and obscurity? One biographer attributed it to his “ inquiétude ”—his drive, restlessness, anxiety. He just kept pushing himself to get better.

During these early periods, late bloomers try and then quit so many jobs that the people around them might conclude that they lack resilience. But these are exactly the years when the late bloomers are developing what psychologists call “diversive curiosity”—the ability to wander into a broad range of interests in a manner that seems to have no rhy... See more

I once asked a group of students on their final day at their prestigious university what book had changed their life over the previous four years. A long, awkward silence followed. Finally a student said, “You have to understand, we don’t read like that. We only sample enough of each book to get through class.” These students were hurrying to be go... See more