For Paid Subscribers: More on Embracing Mediocrity

I have a friend in her sixties who is smart and healthy. She’s in great shape physically, her mind is keen and her instincts are sharp, but as she gets older, she gets less experimental and more rigid. “Why don't you learn to play the guitar?” I asked her once when she was complaining that her life was boring. “You told me you wish you’d learned to play an instrument when you were young. Why don't you start now? It’s never too late.”

“I can’t tolerate being bad at anything at this stage in my life,” she said.

It doesn’t matter if you’re 36 or 86. If you think you’re too old to learn something new, then you’re right. You are too old.