In 1957, at the age of 18, I entered Kyoto University, which was known to be the most active institution in th... — Ryoji Noyori

In 1957, at the age of 18, I entered Kyoto University, which was known to be the most active institution in the research of polymer chemistry.

Author: Ryoji Noyori

Insight: What's interesting about this choice isn't just that Noyori picked a good school—it's that he picked it deliberately for a specific reason. At eighteen, most people drift into university based on grades, geography, or family pressure. But he identified exactly where the energy was, where the work that mattered was actually happening, and put himself there. That's a skill most of us never develop. There's a quiet lesson here about how your environment shapes what you become. You don't just absorb information at a university; you absorb the standards, the questions people are asking, the problems worth solving. Being surrounded by active researchers in polymer chemistry meant Noyori was constantly exposed to how real scientists think and work. That's something no textbook can teach you. It's the difference between reading about chemistry and breathing it. The practical takeaway applies beyond academia. If you want to get serious about something—writing, coding, starting a business, learning an instrument—proximity to people already doing it seriously matters more than most of us admit. You can't completely shortcut your way to excellence, but you can definitely stack the odds in your favor by putting yourself in rooms where the work you care about is already happening.