Well, I am not sure of the answer.
However, when we look around the most famed people in the modern history of the world, we find that most of them had nursed their talents from their childhood days and followed it up with great passion and commitment. Here are a few legends, who have created history in their own right
- Thomas Alva Edison (Came up with his first invention at the age of 16)
- Bill Gates (Started programming at 13, - at a time, when no one did)
- Warren Buffet (Bought his first shares at the age of 11)
- Ilaiyaraaja (Started early, and by 14 years, was a performer in Musical Troupe)
- A R Rahman (Started to play instruments before the age of 11)
- Michael Jackson (Debuted with his brother, at the age of 6 )
- Viswanathan Anand (Started playing Chess at the age of 6)
- Sachin Tendulkar (Started playing cricket as a Toddler)
So, do you need to start things very early, and continue for very long (or if possible through out your life) to become a legend or a great achiever? The answer appears to be affirmative, but not everyone who started early was a great achiever later, as another list of people, who had a promising start, but could not live up to the expectations or failed miserably could easily be put up.
So, what separated the great achievers from people who also started early, but could not attain the fame that great achievers attained? The answer is Passion, Focus, and Commitment. These legends were passionate about one particular aspect, and they worked on it with sincere commitment and focus, and as time passed, they automatically excelled, in what they did, and that lead to the list of great achievers.
Most importantly, these great legends, though would have faced great disturbances, or influences or diversions, than others, in their lifetime, it was their passion and commitment, that should have helped them to cross or ignore the diversions easily.
I also believe that most of the great achievers, including the above legends were never behind money, and their prime intention was on achieving some thing else, and money followed them as an end-result of their achievements.
So, to conclude, if something is started from a very early age, and religiously practiced with passion and commitment for years, then great success is bound to happen.
Update: 2015: Recently I was reading the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, (It was published in 2008), and the essence of it is that to be successful, you should start early (in terms of age and time), put in continuous and consistent efforts (10,000+ hours) and be prepared to seize the opportunity (hopefully if it comes to you at the right time). The point here is that Gladwell drives home the point with case-studies and data, emphasizing the same points, and coincidentally the examples mentioned above in this post concur with it.
Update: 2015: Recently I was reading the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, (It was published in 2008), and the essence of it is that to be successful, you should start early (in terms of age and time), put in continuous and consistent efforts (10,000+ hours) and be prepared to seize the opportunity (hopefully if it comes to you at the right time). The point here is that Gladwell drives home the point with case-studies and data, emphasizing the same points, and coincidentally the examples mentioned above in this post concur with it.
