LH: It's easier to do it when you're young. Focus is keener, desire stronger, and the mind isn't so cluttered with a lifetime of trivial (and not so trivial) information yet.

All true...and also, it's easier to remember the words of something you've written yourself. 34 years ago I wrote a long poem about an experimental survey-navigation system that I was using. I probably don't even think of it more than once every couple of years, but I can still recite it word perfect from memory.