Wrong. These myths have been propagated based on bad science and a healthy dose of ageism.

As scientist Albert-László Barabási demonstrates in this great TED Talk, the number one variable for success isn’t necessarily talent. It’s your willingness to try something new and keep trying.

We’re often more apt to experiment and be super-productive earlier in our careers; the more tries, the more successes…and failures. As we age, we often produce less—maybe because we’ve grown bored, perhaps because we fear failure, or maybe because other life circumstances demand our attention.

John Fenn, 70, wasn’t bored but was forced to retire by Yale University. They shut his lab down, and at that moment, he moved to Virginia Commonwealth University and opened another lab. And it is there, at age 72, that he published a paper for which, 15 years later, he won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry

So, don’t believe the narrative that says you are less likely to succeed as you age. It may just be that you’re less likely to try.

So, try, try, try again, my friend.