Last week’s piece left two open questions:
- How to develop a sound qualitative process?
- Why is the term “late bloomer” not derogatory?
The answers to these questions are inexplicably connected. To demonstrate, we will answer them in reverse order.
The Brain’s Two-Phase Development
It is extremely rare to hear the term “late” contextualized positively. In many cases, appropriately so; but in others, perhaps we’ve been misled. Neurological development is a common thread in many Becoming Polymathic pieces, and it appears again here to begin analyzing where we’ve been misled. It’s scientific consensus that the brain doesn’t reach full maturity until the mid-20’s and the last area to develop is the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with executive functioning and judgement. We’ll call this phase the biological stage.
Based on this logic, we shouldn’t be allowed to perform any task involving critical thinking skills until 25. Yet, we can drive at 16, vote at 18, drink at 21, and earn a college degree enabling us to enter the workforce at 22. This is a topic for another day.
Extrapolating from our mid-20’s, our brain continues to evolve. However, it’s environmental and social factors that drive it rather than biological ones. At this stage in our lives, we’re likely independent of our parents, gaining experience in our chosen career, and beginning to think about or are in the early stages of a significant relationship. It’s arguably a more challenging time than late childhood as we’re asked to develop our own structures based on an increasing amount of subjective experiences. We’ll call this phase the psychosocial stage.
Erikson’s Mid-Life Crisis
Erik Erikson is an American psychoanalyst who first coined the term “mid-life crisis”. Now a cultural norm, the phrase refers to his seventh stage of psychosocial development between the ages of 40 and 64. It is at this stage where we’ve established a family and a career and our primary objectives are to further develop our identity and establish our legacy. Said more pragmatically, we’re at the crossroads of “play it safe” or “go for it”.
It is here when the late bloomer label becomes advantageous. Another theme throughout Becoming Polymathic is the importance of timing. Let’s examine the opposite label – early bloomers. Prodigies. By this seventh stage, they’ve likely received a multitude of accolades, produced several incredible works, and have an established external identity. They’ve lived a full life in a short time. To continue living, they need to begin anew, an incredibly daunting process.
By contrast, the late bloomer has been lying in the shadows gaining experience, intelligence, and perspective. They’ve already developed a maturity enabling them to identify opportunities and fruitful or not, and therefore the opportunity they choose to act on is more likely to be a good one. This maturity is an integral part of the framework we will discuss later. They also understand the life they’ve been living will always be available to them should this opportunity not pan out.
Noteworthy Late Bloomers
Across every facet there are profound examples of successful late bloomers. Here are several interesting ones:
Henri Rousseau
A customs agent in Paris, he began painting at age 40. As he was unable to travel much given his lower-class upbringing, he painted exclusively from imagination. He did not begin painting full time until the age of 49. By the time he passed away at age 66, he was considered one of the art world’s great rebels.
Ina Garten
An affinity for Julia Child led her to leave her job analyzing nuclear policy during the late 70’s to purchase a boutique specialty foods store in the Hamptons. She ran the store for the next 18 years before selling it to work on her first cookbook, which she published in 1999 at the age of 51. Soon after, Food Network reached out to request her do a show inspired by her book, The Barefoot Contessa.
Freya Stark
A tragic accident as a teenager left her face disfigured. In hospital, she became obsessed with cartography and travel writings. When healed, she spent the remainder of her adolescent years training as a nurse. After her service in World War I, she fled from her native Italy to England where she took up flower farming at a site purchased from mobster brother-in-law. Here, she became obsessed with learning Arabic. In 1927 at 35, she made her first trip to the Middle East – Lebanon – to further her Arab studies. Over the coming decades she’d publish several autobiographical works about her Arab travels and the effects of colonialism. She received her damehood in 1982.
Giorgio Armani
After leaving the University of Milan in 1953 with his medical studies incomplete, he joined the Italian Army. Upon his return form service in 1957, he took a job as a window dresser at a prominent Milan department store. Working his way up to a sales clerk and then a menswear designer, he started his own firm with partner Sergio Galeotti in 1973. Today, his eponymous luxury brand continues to thrive independently.
Late Bloomers and Effective Qualitative Analysis
Our brain’s two-phase development is strikingly similar to the two-phase quantitative and qualitative analysis process discussed in last week’s piece. The brain’s development stage, like quantitative analysis, varies little between individuals. Therefore, if solely relying upon it, one’s decision making process is incomplete. Another similarity stems from the consequences of bad inputs – faulty data in quantitative analysis, challenging environmental factors in the brain’s developmental stage. Even a perfect qualitative analysis process cannot overcome these fundamental faults.
Framework for Effective Qualitative Analysis
We arrive at the final section of this piece where we outline a framework for effective qualitative analysis. I emphasize the word “framework”. There is not a specified order nor steps, and much of it will need to be derived from your personal experiences and sentiments. With that, the framework:
Annotate what Makes You Tick: You already know the actions, ideas, and situations which insinuate strong internal sentiments. Annotating them will inherently heighten your awareness to them.
Trust Your Insides: Your brain intake 11,000,000 pieces of information every second, but only enables you to see 40-50. What it doesn’t enable you to see it conveys through other body parts. These are your “gut” feelings. Be mindful of them, for they are alerting you to significant items.
Start with Outliers: There will be outliers in your quantitative analysis. Start by analyzing them first. The most important thing this will accomplish is alerting you to any faulty data.
Be Cruelly Objective: This piece goes for both the situation your analyzing and yourself. Remember, your end goal should always be to get it right, not conform to your original presuppositions.
Being a Late Bloomer, Not So Bad
I would classify myself as a late bloomer. I didn’t have prodigal talent. I spent exorbitant amounts of time in my early and late twenties sifting through different interests. I changed paths several times.
This year, as I close out my twenties, I sense all these changes and varying interests are aligning into something larger. In tandem with this sense is the objective knowledge I’ve made more sound decisions this year than any other. This coupling is a powerful one which, when combined with instilled discipline, affords me plenty of optimism in this new chapter of life.
Stay tuned.
Be More.
Become Polymathic.
Quote of the Week: “There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do” – Freya Stark