[andrewmutz]

I completely agree that a marathon mindset is more powerful than a sprint mindset. In your 20s you have so much energy but you don't understand the world well yet or yourself.

Over the next two decades you will slowly lose your energy but what will replace it will be a much better understanding of the world and your self. Your time will become much more limited, but your understanding of how best to spend it will get much better.

And eventually you will find that ambition and happiness pull you in different directions. In your 20s its great to focus on ambition, but in your 40s its time to build a future focused on your happiness.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

I probably had more energy in my 40s than I did in my 20s. And in my 50s, I had more time too (kids were grown and gone).

In my 60s, yeah, energy down significantly, and time moves so fast.

[acuozzo]

> and time moves so fast

I'm not in my 60s yet, but I've struggled keeping a routine all of my life and I've discovered that I feel like my days are slipping away when I do well at it for a stretch.

Are you a regimented person?

[PaulDavisThe1st]

I would not say so. I prefer serendipity to routine, which I fear may be a mistake.

[safety1st]

Please elaborate on this idea of time moving so fast in your 60s. It is terrifying to me. I'm in my early 40s and I already feel like it is slipping away from me so quickly. I want to achieve my ambitions and I also want to enjoy life, and despite being at the peak of my competency, it just feels like there's never enough time for both.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

If I "blinked" when I was 40 (in the sense of not paying much attention to what was happening over what felt like a not particularly long period of time), maybe a week would go by.

Now, it's months. Or maybe it's an effect closer to memory "time compression". When I was 40, 6 months of memories was quite a distinct cluster of different things. Now, 6 months of memories is closer to one memory. It's not precisely like that, and certainly not all the time, but that's a handwaving general description of how I perceive things these days.

[safety1st]

Yeah, this is absolutely horrifying. I have seen this phenomenon discussed before, and I can perceive its impact in my own life. It implies that from the standpoint of perception my life may already be mostly over without me having realized it.