We often have moments where big questions about life and the way the world operates cross our mind. I know, I do. But what do we really do with those questions? File them in the back of our minds--or put them on the back burner? Well, I do (most of the time!). That's why I like Malcolm Gladwell - he takes those questions and goes out looking for answers.

Writer, hipster, and intellectural, Gladwell, 42, has been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1996, but most of us didn't know about him until his bestselling book "The Tipping Point" hit the stands. It asks the simple yet probing question: What makes some ideas stick and spread like wildfire while other ideas fall flat on their face?

Last Saturday, I had a chance to go hear Gladwell speak at the New Yorker Festival. It was amazing.

Before the event, I looked up an interview with him -- I was curious to know where he gets his ideas for his books. On his website, he talks about his inspiration for his most recent book, "Blink," which asks the question: What can we learn from the thoughts that cross our minds in the blink of an eye?

Apparently, Gladwell decided to write the boook when he realized that growing out his hair, had an odd side-effect: people had begun to treat him differently.

(On a sidenote: Have you ever experienced that? I do, every time I wear Indian clothes to the supermarket. People speak slowly to me, because they assume that I don't speak English fluently.)

So, anyway, the topic of Gladwell's talk at the New Yorker Festival was "The American Obsessions with Precociousness" or simply put: What's better: learning quickly versus learning well? Or, in other words: To what extent does your success in school as a kid predict your success as an adult?

Gladwell shared some interesting examples of geniuses who were well below "precocious" material as kids:

Copernicus         Beethoven
Martin Luther      Leonardo DaVinci
Bach  Emanuel     Emanuel Kant

There's hope yet for the late-bloomers, right?

Gladwell cited several studies that prove that more folks who are not so successful early on in life do really well later on in their lives, while more folks who are precocious or have high IQs are not as successful as you might have expected later on in life.

So what's the key to success? you ask.

"A successful adult," Gladwell told us, "is a successful doer and producer of knowledge. A successful child is a successful learner and consumer of knowledge." (As you stand at the cusp of childhood and adulthood, this is a pretty good thing to keep in mind.)

Then there's the quality of optimism and pessimism. Do you see the glass half-empty or half-full?

You'll be interested in the results of this study: Apparently high school kids who take the SAT and are optimistic about their results ... do better.

Why? Because nothing predicts success more than PRACTICE. In other words, hard work.

So, what did I take away from the talk?

That it's never too late to be a successful anything -- just put your mind to it ... and go ... shoot for the stars. Be curious. Investigate. Read. Write. Practice. Work. Play.

Thanks, Malcolm - you made my day.