It's a very optimistic view, and may be true in some limited domains and individuals but generally speaking groundbreaking creativity (as opposed to the natural creativity within us all which declines gradually but doesn't necessarily completely disappear as we age) is a property of the young, though it may vary from field to field.
e.g. pop music, maths, poetry, physics, etc; you're done by 30. Writers/composers maybe another 10 years or so.
I say that not to be negative, but to urge any young readers who feel they have a talent to not be complacent and assume they will be an exception, or that its related to family/financial/work commitments when you see the decline in your heroes and you will just avoid all that.
Even if that was true (I don't think it is) there is no point in reminding people that time is running out.
I was the most productive in music and painting during my 20s but I lived with the constant angst that I was running out of time and needed to get results as soon as possible. This was totally counterproductive. I understand now to produce better art you need to be totally focused in the process, and not the end result, or even worse, the consequences of the end result (fame, criticism, etc).
As a mathematician-turned-programmer-later-turned-writer, writing after 40 seems to be fairly productive. The quality decline seems to start at about 60-65 years of age, and might be avoidable if you can keep your brain healthy. Every single writer or journalist I know whose output started to decline exhibited signs of creeping dementia.
Mathematics is a young people game, though. Very rare to push out significant results after forty.
The tendency for creativity to happen when you are young has little to do with being young, and far more to do with being fairly new to an area of work. Creativity peaks after a few years of practice, in almost every field, because when you start out you do not know enough to be creative... and after some number of years, you get set in your own personal ways of practicing your work/art. There is a peak between those two points when you know enough to be competent, but aren't yet set in your personal ways and styles. Yes, many people hit that peak when they are young. But they also hit that peak when they are older, and try something new.
you get set in your own personal ways of practicing your work/art
I always see my creativity taper off when I stop paying close attention and I stop practicing the fundamentals. I think #1 gets harder because our downtime for reflection is often saturated by the busyness and distractions of life, and #2 gets harder because of physical aging in general.
Either way, the brain is creative in the same way the heart is for circulating blood. Continue shoveling in raw materials to the furnace of the mind and it will continue to faithfully churn out novel concepts.
This isn’t particularly interesting as a counterpoint, as there’s a known lag between creativity and recognition. To take the easiest example, Einstein published his awarded idea at 26, but he wasn’t awarded until 42.
e.g. pop music, maths, poetry, physics, etc; you're done by 30. Writers/composers maybe another 10 years or so.
I say that not to be negative, but to urge any young readers who feel they have a talent to not be complacent and assume they will be an exception, or that its related to family/financial/work commitments when you see the decline in your heroes and you will just avoid all that.
Use it before you lose it!