Northwestern University professor Dashun Wang has spent the last decade attempting to understand the science of hot streaks. In a 2018 study, Wang and his team analyzed more than twenty thousand artists and scientists, finding that over 90 percent of them had a period where their work had a much greater impact. Contrary to our expectations, these magical periods weren’t related to how productive they were or even at what point in their career they were in. The young and old could experience hot streaks. On average, the hot streaks lasted 5.7 years for artists, 5.2 years for directors, and 3.7
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