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Comment by benkwokcy | Hacker News Reader

You don't have to catch up. It doesn't matter how good you are, only if you are enjoying it.

This is true in a sense, but the motivation a hobby gives you can depend on your performance. It often feels like there's a skill level where you hit critical mass and feel more rewarded than frustrated.

Kids learn fast and are less afraid to fail, so they can start new things more easily.

> This is true in a sense, but the motivation a hobby gives you can depend on your performance. It often feels like there's a skill level where you hit critical mass and feel more rewarded than frustrated.

That also depends on your mindset and expectations. I've read a journal of master painter who, after roughly 40 years of doing art, still often felt frustrated and defeated after spending a day at the easel (even though 99% of people who paint would kill to be able to produce a painting he worked on).

Also, Polish poet Barańczak once said: "you know what they call a guy who enjoys writing? A hack".

The upside of hitting that critical mass is negligible to the downside of not hitting that critical mass.

Even when I get rewarded in things that I took up on my own, I feel that the rewards are quite measly compared to just having a normal healthy mental and physical existence. And these are interests that I took up on my own, I wonder how bad it would be for someone pushed by their parents.

But then again, I guess if someone grows up not having anything they're good at, they might blame their parents for not pushing them. Parenting must be very difficult.

At the same time, I understand it. There are some things simply out of reach, music you literally cannot play because those wires weren't built when you were younger.

Exactly... at the elite level activities nowadays are simply out of reach to individuals who were not wholly absorbed in it from a young age.

Federer - 8. Nadal/Djokovic - 4. S. Williams - 3. L. Hamilton - 8. M. Schumacher - 6. Verstappen - 4. Phelps - 7. Messi - 4. C. Ronaldo - 7. M. Carlsen - 5. Lebron - 9. S. Curry - 6

Some people are just lucky to be good at the things they love doing. The others have to be content with getting paid for the things that they're good at to pay for the things that they love doing.

Andre Agassi wrote an autobiography, in it he explains that his father groomed him for tennis greatness by building a tennis court in their backyard, and by sending him to tennis boarding school. Agassi also said that he had always hated tennis during his career.

Jimi Hendrix - 15.

FIFY: music you literally cannot play because you don't have as much time to practice compared to you were younger.

The wires you speak of come from time, practice, effort and habit - i.e the original meaning of the term kung fu.

This is it. There are periods in life when the time for practice is more likely to be freely available. As an adult there are other responsibilities to be negotiated.

I’ve made life choices that now result in having uninterrupted blocks of time for learning to play an instrument in my thirties. I’m surprised at how quickly some things become completely effortless when you have time to practice every day.

Be that as it may, children have a higher degree of neuroplasticity than adults. You would have probably learned even faster as a child.

On the flip side, you're also less likely to be serious wanting to play an instrument, especially classical piano.

I started classical piano in primary school all the way up until I turned 17. I thought I played ok... but I started lessons again about 6 months ago (I'm turning 40 this weekend) and now that I actually want to play rather than be forced to play from tiger parents, I can honestly say that I'm learning 100 times faster than when I was a kid.

Also, now that I'm actually practicing multiple times a week rather than 30 minutes before my lesson (like when I did when I was a kid), my sight reading is blowing my mind. I could only wish to read like I do today than when I did in my teens.

Exactly. I now have an alarm that goes off every day after dinner, where I force myself (no matter how dead tired I am) to sit at the piano and play at least an hour.

But like going to the gym, the hard part is getting there. Once I'm playing, I look down at my watch and it's been over 2 hours!

I’m exactly the same. Sometimes I think, ok, just ten minutes, and before I know it I made a ton of progress and spent an hour enjoying the process.

This is true, I am very much enjoying it and not benchmarking my ability against others.

My main frustration is around finding people to play with.

People my age seem to have been playing since they were kids and have high skill expectations.

Amateurs looking for people to play with seem much younger, and in it for the fun of hanging out as much as playing.

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