You’re never too old to learn

Have you ever thought that it was just too late for you to start learning X or Y? I know I have. Many times. And I am not even in my thirties yet!

We see on a daily basis people who are great at what interests us. When we like a certain topic, we will look for it on the internet and find out that there are an innumerable amount of skilled people at that particular thing. This tends to demotivate us despite the fact that some of those people may have started at a later age than we are.

When it comes to languages, despite being at the highest level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, I see on a weekly basis dozens and dozens of people more skilled at it than me. I used to think that the reason was certainly the length of study, that they had studied it for more years than me. But that isn’t always the case. One of my acquaintances started Japanese only 5 years ago (about half the time I’ve put in it) and is better than I am. Did I give up on improving after meeting him? Of course not! That’s all the more reasons to keep on getting better!

So, when should you start learning? The Nike slogan is a good answer: Just Do It!

But more importantly: Keep doing it, tweak your learning to fit where you are in the curve and never give up.