Let me begin this post by providing an important data point. I am 70 years old and I retired from my position as a college professor when I was 65. Many college profs retire later than this, but I decided at age 65 it was time to move on. Academia is highly competitive, but you can pretty much stay around as long as you can function if you are tenured. I believed there were many young folks of high ability trying to get a tenure-track job and it was their time to have a chance. No regrets.
This article in the Atlantic entitled “Your professional decline is coming (Much) sooner than you think” is going to receive a lot of attention. As the title suggests, the author organizes and integrates evidence to explain that productivity declines more quickly than most are willing to admit and in many professions is well underway in the 40s and 50s. The result in many people who enjoyed early career success is depression and I am guessing a sense of being a fraud.
This argument was not a surprise to me. My career was in educational psychology and I was aware of work in Cattell’s work in proposing fluid and crystallized intelligence.
Cattell defined fluid intelligence as the ability to reason, analyze, and solve novel problems – what we commonly think of as raw intellectual horsepower.
Crystallized intelligence, in contrast, is the ability to use knowledge gained in the past. Think of it as processing a vast library and understanding how to use it. [these explanations as provided by Atlantic contributor Luci Gutierrez]
When I taught this topic I used to use the example of the difference in the achievements of mathematicians and historians. I tend to think about the circumstances of my career based on other variables, but I have to admit that I published my most significant research papers early and I published books later in my career.
When it comes to careers, we all may share more with the reality of being a professional athlete than we assumed.
There is always the opportunity to blog.