This is silly, benchmarking against normal is the only reprieve I get from worrying that I'm 24 and knowing that I am thus too old to have done a lot of things that I feel I should have by now, like publish a fiction book or two, found a successful startup, publish a couple of academic articles of the transformative kind to computer science and so on. At least publish any academic articles at all.
I mean, do you know that Turing was just 24 when he published the Turing Machine paper? And a mathematician whose name I can't remember right now, practically revolutionized set theory at ~22.
There's a bunch of other examples like that.
Hell, I have friends my age who've published more than one academic paper. Some of them highly acclaimed (enough so to present them at MIT)
Comparing to normal every once in a while is definitely the only way to keep one's sanity and allow oneself to get some sleep now and anon. OP has no idea what they're talking about.
I'm just shy of 31 and I have to say when I look back 23-24 was the peak of feeling like I was "too old" to accomplish anything meaningful.
I think one of the hardest things for me to see at 24 was just how non-linear and strange life is, and likewise how truly meaningless it is to try to establish a useful system of measurement and comparison between individuals.
For what life advice from a stranger on HN is worth: Get out of the game of comparing yourself to others as fast as you can. Focus on what you think is interesting, and also take a few moments now and again to really appreciate the wonder that is life. Aside from being happier, you'll most likely accomplish more if you don't spend energy casting yourself in the shadows of others.
Oh I know, I keep getting penalized from everyone for "not caring what anyone thinks and wants to compare me to"[1]
But, y'know, sometimes you still want some perspective on how you're doing :)
[1] for instance my mum and grandparents keep throwing people my age who are "starting real adult lives already" at my face, whereas I'm just playing around with freelancing instead of looking for a job job
Ugh. "playing around with freelancing instead of looking for a job". I hate what society has become in regards to jobs. I find it so backwards that so many people believe what everyone should do is go find some boring huge company to slave away at until the majority of your life is over.
It's never too late to learn new things. It may be difficult when you are older but many mathematicians were late-lerners [1]. It's more important to be honestly interested in what you are doing. You should be pursuing your own goals not someone's else. That will bring you satisfaction and motivation for working and innovating in your field.
I mean, do you know that Turing was just 24 when he published the Turing Machine paper? And a mathematician whose name I can't remember right now, practically revolutionized set theory at ~22.
There's a bunch of other examples like that.
Hell, I have friends my age who've published more than one academic paper. Some of them highly acclaimed (enough so to present them at MIT)
Comparing to normal every once in a while is definitely the only way to keep one's sanity and allow oneself to get some sleep now and anon. OP has no idea what they're talking about.