[cJ0th]

Even though I am not keen of the arrogant tone this article carries I have to agree with its message.

I find the space rocket analogy useful: If a rocket goes into the wrong orbit it will never reach its goal.

Most people can't reach what they aspire to no matter what. By the time you are 18, probably even earlier, your potential is fixed. I am not saying you can't start programming in your 30s and become really good at it or that you can't pick up Chinese when you've retired and become fluent in it even though you haven't learnt a foreign language before. But whether or not you can do that is determined way earlier. Be it genes, the social surroundings of your childhood or the quality of the elementary school you went to.

The only way to avoid disappointment on a tremendous scale is figuring out as early as possible what you're good at and then spend most of your time honing your talent.

The funny thing is: people who are talented in a certain way succeed even when they do everything "wrong" according to the "experts" who are revered by all the people who will always suck at what they aspire to. For example, I know an established electronic music producer who constantly bought new gear that he didn't know how to operate. So he sold those items as they (surprise) didn't give him the "pro-sound" and bought some more. Now most experts probably said: "The instrument isn't the important factor. Don't buy any more gear until you've mastered what you've already got." Now, people who don't make it probably would have taken this advice to their heart and 5 years later they'd still not put out a record that somebody would buy. Instead they became some sort of experts themselves who have ridiculous discussion on minor technical details and flame wars in web forums.

People who archive something great possess the right tacit knowledge that others lack in their "ROM", i.e. the stuff you got during the time before your birth and before you leave school.