Late Bloomers summary

In the mid-twentieth century, the United States began to change from an aristocracy to a meritocracy – where people could become successful based on ability, rather than money or social position. In response to this, students, parents, and employers became obsessed with test scores and college rankings.

Nowadays, it’s pretty normal for teenagers to take college preparatory tests like the SAT multiple times during their junior and senior years, just to demonstrate their academic potential to colleges. But there’s a high cost. 

At the age of 25, the author was floundering. He’d graduated from college with average grades and had few career prospects, so he took a job as a security guard.

One night, while on patrol in a truck-rental yard, he made a shocking discovery. His colleague – who was patrolling the neighborhood lumberyard – wasn’t a young guy like him, but a vicious Rottweiler barking at passersby. 

Nowadays, the traditional path of finding a job and getting married has changed. Young people are taking longer to finish school, become financially independent, and start a family. Instead, many prefer to remain unattached to romantic partners or permanent homes.

A large-scale national study conducted in the US since the late 1970s has found that today’s 25-year-olds are twice as likely as their parents’ generation to still be in school, and 50 percent are more likely to be receiving financial support from their parents.

There comes a time in life when we forget things more easily or make silly mistakes. At this age, it’s common for people to think that they’re “past their prime.” 

And yet the idea that we achieve a cognitive peak in our youth and decline slowly from then on is simply untrue. In fact, science has shown that we actually get smarter and more creative as the years go by.

When you were younger, what did you imagine your career would be like?

Perhaps you pictured traveling the world, meeting interesting people, or starting a company that would change thousands of lives.

When he was growing up, Erik Wahl was taught to get perfect grades, go to a top college, and get a job that would make him lots of money. And for a while that mentality worked.

He began his career working for an agency that booked entertainment and keynote speakers. Within a year, he became a partner in the firm.

Have you ever felt as if you can’t break away from an older, outdated version of yourself?

For example, you might have been “Katy the band nerd” in high school. But, two decades later, your friends still call you by that nickname – even though you’ve grown up, had kids, and not touched the clarinet in years.