David Brooks on the Unique Qualities of Late Bloomers

         In this article in The Atlantic, David Brooks lists people who flourished late in their lives, among them Paul Cézanne, Charles Darwin, Julia Child, Morgan Freeman, Isak Dinesen, Morris Chang, Alfred Hitchcock, and Copernicus. Why didn’t these people (and many others) excel earlier? What traits or skills enabled them to achieve great things well past what was supposedly their prime? “It turns out that late bloomers are not simply early bloomers on a delayed timetable,” says Brooks. “Late bloomers tend to be qualitatively different, possessing a different set of abilities that are mostly invisible to, or discouraged by, our current education system.” He suggests some traits that parents and educators might watch for and encourage with kids who seem to be off to a slow start: 

• Intrinsic motivation – Late bloomers often don’t care about the kinds of extrinsic rewards built into schools and the workplace – grades, prizes, money, and other goodies designed to get people to adopt a “merit-badge mentality” and keep working on inherently unpleasant tasks, complying with other people’s methods and goals. Winston Churchill was a bad student because he needed something that his schools rarely offered. “Where my reason, imagination, or interest were not engaged,” he said, “I would not or could not learn.” 
• Early screw-ups – Brooks names several later-famous people who in their 20s and 30s were fired, got in fistfights, or couldn’t get along with colleagues. They weren’t good at following rules and adhering to the conventional rules of success, but they survived and eventually got their act together. 
• Wide-ranging curiosity – “Many late bloomers endure a brutal wandering period,” says Brooks, “as they cast about for a vocation. Julia Child made hats, worked for U.S. intelligence… and thought about trying to become a novelist before enrolling in a French cooking school at 37.” Diverse interests and years of exploration finally led to a true avocation. 
• The ability to self-teach – “Late bloomers don’t find their calling until they are too old for traditional education systems,” says Brooks, so they figure out other ways of acquiring the knowledge and skills they need. 
• An explorer’s mind – After years of false starts and mistakes, when late bloomers come into their own, they are freer of the ties and associations of early bloomers and more able to change their minds and update what they’re working on. 
• Wisdom – “After a lifetime of experimentation,” says Brooks, “some late bloomers transcend their craft or career and achieve a kind of comprehensive wisdom… the ability to see things from multiple points of view, the ability to aggregate perspectives and rest in the tensions between them.” 
• Unstoppable energy – “I’ve noticed this pattern again and again,” says Brooks describing two mentors who were driven and productive at the very end of their lives: “Slow at the start, late bloomers are still sprinting during that final lap – they do not slow down as age brings its decay. They are seeking. They are striving. They are in it with all their heart.” 

“You Might Be a Late Bloomer” by David Brooks in The Atlantic, June 26, 2024

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1047 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.