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How I can beat somebody older than me and How I can live to be a 1000 years old

Some people are more experienced than others their own age. In fact some people are more experienced than people older than them. Examples could include young people in top management positions with subordinates who are many times older to them. This is one example. Another one is of students who have a double promotion in class. Yet another is of people who finish their Bachelors degree or PhD degrees faster than others.

All these seem to be instances of people who are beating the learning curve and so move ahead of their peers.

Let’s analyze this a little bit. What are these people doing when they ‘beat the curve’?

Answer: They are working harder and in turn understanding what is to be understood. So by putting in more effort they understand the subject matter in lesser time. This learning can be of things very structured such as mathematics or unstructured such as leading a group.

In either case the one’s ahead know things that we haven’t figured out yet.

And so, by working hard ourselves, lets say by motivating ourselves of the goal ahead and thus focusing our effort, interest and attention to the matter we can ‘move up the curve’. In fact we can probably move ahead on the curve so fast that we can out-run those people who have inspired us!

It is by the same logic that one is more of an expert at something than another, whether that be ‘becoming a CEO’ or ‘coming first in class’.

By the same token if we work very hard then by the time we are 30 we could get to where others older than us have not as yet reached. It is also by the same line of reasoning that you can grow to be a 1000 years old! And that’s probably where the Nobel laureates get to if not farther.

I wonder at times, how old must Einstein be?

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