I'm a web developer. In my 20's I used to love picking things up just for the of it. These days I'm more of a fan of JIT learning. Push the edges of my map as I go. I'm still constantly learning, but it's more iterative. Building on conquered territory and shifting the borders as needed (always outward, but the focus on which parts of the border to push changes.) Previously I was more like a crazed monkey and never holding any ground. I still feel the importance of occasionally sneaking outside my borders and going deep into enemy territory, but those are constrained efforts. Invade, gather booty, sift for intelligence value and then decide if it's worth a more serious invasion.
Maybe figure out an actual destination and then devise a plan to get there. Deep diving into math and physics just for the sake of learning etc seems to be cargo-culting. Lawyers also sound smart until you realize they write like they do intentionally to keep people from figuring them out.
> I follow a bunch of folks on the internet and idolize them for their multifaceted personalities - be it math, programming/problem solving, physics, music etc. And these people had a natural flair for math/physics which was nurtured by their environment which made them participate in IOI/ACPC etc.
Sounds like they are good story-tellers along with whatever else they do. Have you tried putting anything out for others to consume? If you want to be like these people, then it would be good to start with writing / shipping things. If you have been doing that already, then post some links. ;)
Maybe figure out an actual destination and then devise a plan to get there. Deep diving into math and physics just for the sake of learning etc seems to be cargo-culting. Lawyers also sound smart until you realize they write like they do intentionally to keep people from figuring them out.
> I follow a bunch of folks on the internet and idolize them for their multifaceted personalities - be it math, programming/problem solving, physics, music etc. And these people had a natural flair for math/physics which was nurtured by their environment which made them participate in IOI/ACPC etc.
Sounds like they are good story-tellers along with whatever else they do. Have you tried putting anything out for others to consume? If you want to be like these people, then it would be good to start with writing / shipping things. If you have been doing that already, then post some links. ;)