Proverb: You can’t teach an old dog new tricks
That’s what they say, you know? You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
But I think it’s not that you can’t teach them, it’s that they don’t want – or are too stubborn – to learn.
As we grow older, we tend to become set in our ways and very resistant to change in any way, shape or form.
Have you ever noticed that most of the unicorns or ground-breaking and disruptive technologies seem to be created or headed by young people?
There’s a reason for that.
When we’re young, we believe we can change the world.
We think, no, believe that we will be able to make the world a better place.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that we have the energy to do it too.
Older folks tend to like things the way they are, and I suppose that’s from where the proverb you can’t teach an old dog new tricks originates.
It appears to me that changing the world involves many, many nights of burning the candle at both ends.
As I get older, I’ve noticed that getting up at the crack of dawn, or even earlier, is not a problem.
Staying alert after 10:00 pm, however, is quite challenging, which may be another factor why you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
The early bird may get the worm, but the new computer code is mostly written at night while you’re jacked up on Red Bull and fueled by delivery pizza.
If that truly is the case, then I’ll gladly enjoy the sunrise and leave the new tricks to the younger crowd.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least a 6th-grade education (age 11).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 81.
The higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100, the easier the passage is to read.