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We have this idea that people under 30 are smarter, more agile and likely to innovate, Mar Zuckerberg said it himself.

Guess what, most older people will facepalm when thinking about the stuff they did and said when they were under 30...

I get better at pretty much everything I do, every year I grow older. Except maybe working out. I'm sure that will stop some day, but it sure as shit isn't 30.

I did a lot of running races in Afghanistan with mostly very young troops. It was such a thrill beating them because it was so obvious that they were physically superior to me, just as my younger self was. But I could defeat them mentally, let them lead and then crush their spirits by gaining pace when they hit the pain and boredom and self-doubt of the middle. I knew they’d give up if they turned the corner and I had already turned the next. There’s no way I’d beat them in the height of spirits at the end if I didn’t crush them in the middle.

I’m not sure there’s a direct analogy to SWE. Maybe acceptance of the necessity to do something the simple hard way rather than the complicated easy way.

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