To quote Neal: “Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right circumstances he could be the baddest motherfucker in the world. If I moved to a martial-arts monastery in China and studied real hard for ten years. If my family was wiped out by Colombian drug dealers and I swore myself to revenge. If I got a fatal disease, had one year to live, and devoted it to wiping out street crime. If I just dropped out and devoted my life to being bad.”<p>What do you when you are 40+ and filled with regret of roads not taken?<p>It seems if you have developed your calling&#x2F;skill to a sufficient level by 40+ like Stephenson already did at 30 , then you can dedicate yourself to polishing that skill.<p>However, I am acutely aware that at 40+ I am not going to be mastering anything NEW any more. Maybe improve a little bit on something I already know but that is about it.<p>Trivial example: I started learning German along with my daughter at the same time, she is so far ahead of me it is not even funny, even though she spends less time than me on practice.<p>Slightly more complicated example: in programming I am coasting on the basics I learned at ages 15-17, I am not acquiring any new unconscious mastery in programming.<p>Depressing example: I spent a year on 750words in daily practice and my skill level did not improve.<p>I am just not convinced that my 20s spent gaming&#x2F;consuming was the right one for me when the other road of deliberate practice in something useful like programming or science was just as valid and ultimately more satisfying.<p>Does it really get better at 50+ ?