I've got a dating theory, it goes some thing like, your at a fruit stand and that fruit stand isn't really getting restocked that often, as you time passes by, the good fruit is all getting snapped up, and if you dally too much into your middle age you'll end up with some kind of bruised up banged up piece of shit with all kinds of reasons for not measuring up to your own or other people standards.
That and practice makes perfect sounds like your mate is stealing a march on you there in the personal development stakes.