I'm only in my late 20s but have managed to rid myself of the pursuit/worry/desire/envy of being a great mathematician. What I worry about now is how to approach the subject with my children. Because on one hand I do not want them to not be ambitious as younglings. But I also do not want them to experience the crushing disappointment of realizing they are not talented, as that was one of the hardest bitter pills of my life.

When I read things like this I feel happy that I went to high school with some truly extraordinary people. I already grew up knowing I wasn’t that talented compared to the real talented people.

Now I’m at peace with being just a person. I don’t expect more from myself than just trying my best. I only get disappointed if my effort is lacking.

I had similar feelings of lack of talent when I was doing my higher maths/stats. Then I realized that I don't really love either; that realization prompted me to drop out and through a series of serendipitous events, I ended up learning computers. That is when I realized that I really love programming. And that ensured that I don't have any crushing disappointments with respect to the probable lack of my talent in programming; even though I am never going to be even close to being the best in the field, its fine - I just love it.

Honestly if you are a mathematician you are already at the top of humanity in terms of cognition. Saying that is not talent is quite something. But I guess I can understand if you see yourself in relation to other mathematicians.

You got a PhD in math. That alone makes you way smarter than me and the majority of the world population .

"Tie a donkey to a balcony in MIT and in 7y he has a PhD"

me too!

(I got out of the research game two years after my PhD, so it's not like there was any doubt.)

You've still got 2 years!

The Fields Medals are only awarded every four years.