I think one possibility is if you're one of the gifted you tend to skyrocket during the first half of your career. But if everything came easy to you from the

I think one possibility is if you're one of the gifted you tend to skyrocket during the first half of your career. But if everything came easy to you from the start you missed out on working through tough problems. You didn't develop the tenacity to push through. So by time you do start seeing the harder problems you start failing and the failures hit you harder. Without the skill to keep pushing yourself through failure you just kinda give up sooner.