Why do people self-destruct their thought processes?
If you've read my profile, you might remember I'm a person who loves numbers. My bachelor's degree was in applied mathematics.
When I graduated from college, the computer industry was hiring math majors as programmers (this was back in the computer stone age). So, for the next 41 years I never used the math I studied and enjoyed in college.
You may also have seen in my previous posts that, in my semi-retirement mode, I now have the privilege of serving as a math tutor at a local community college. This means I have had to go back and begin to re-learn the math I once knew, starting with algebra and statistics, then trigonometry, and finally calculus. It's a big learning curve but stuff is coming back fairly quickly.
Being a Tutor
The tricky part of being a tutor is that when students come into the math lab I have only a hint of an idea of what they might ask. There is some pattern to it but I have to be ready for anything and still be encouraging to those I work with.
What is sad (to me) is that so many students get totally frustrated with math and want to give up (I know that some of you are thinking, "I don't blame them!"). They convince themselves that they cannot do it, so they fail to approach the subject matter properly.
Thought Processes
Today I helped a student who I have helped a number of times this term. He generally grasps most of the concepts that we have discussed. There was one concept that will be coming up on his final exam, however, that he hasn't bothered to try to understand.
His comment was along the lines of, "I don't understand it at all, so I'll just skip over any of these types of problems and get them wrong. There won't be more than 1 or 2 anyway." I tried to encourage him to not think that way and spent a little time reviewing the steps in the process to solve a problem of that type.
What about Our Thought Process?
If you came into WA like me, with no real experience building websites or working with internet marketing, then there is a ton to learn. Some of what we have to learn is not simple. So, I'm thinking ...
What would our websites look like if we took the attitude of this student? Could we be successful?
All of you know the answer to these questions. It's a big "maybe" or possibly a sure "no."
Fighting through a learning curve can be difficult but holding an attitude of "I can't understand so I'll skip it" just won't cut it. That attitude will affect our success negatively.
So, don't sell yourself short. It may take time but tackle each topic. Don't skip training steps. You were smart enough to join WA. Be smart enough to believe in yourself and keep learning.
Recent Comments
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These words come to me at the right time. I am so frustrated with trying to understand which theme would be best for my vision. I've spent hours mulling through themes, watching tutorials on YouTube, yet still don't know. Can I actually do this? But you make a strong point for fighting through a difficult learning curve. So thanks for encouraging me to get my attitude back on track.
Donna - Glad this has helped you. Remind yourself that this is a long-term journey. You'll encounter points like this every once in a while. Just stay focused on the training where you are. Don't get so focused on making money that you leap ahead of your training. Take it a step at a time.
My learning process is a little different from most. I am plaged with a very high IQ and ADD. Because of that, I tend to complicate things and skip around in an attempt to understand. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I usually end up going back and through the steps many times before they become clear. We all have our methods. I had a devil of a time with math. Had several tutors and got through, but a lot of it still doesn't make sense to me. Some people were not cut out to be mathamaticians.
Well-made points. I deal with all of those every day as a tutor. Hopefully my point came across, which was believing we can accomplish something and that giving up (when one has the capability to be successful) isn't a good route.
Good advice!
The thing with learning for me, I have to be able to relate it to something. At school we were given the Pythagoras theorem to learn and I remember thinking "what is the point, what on earth does this have to do with anything." In my 40s when I studied computing, hexidecimals, binary and the like, I finally understood where maths could be useful. Not sure how its taught these days but hopefully with a much better system than when I was young!
At WA we know why we are learning and can see an end result, that makes it exciting for me. :)
Very, very sound advice, indeed, coming from a teacher, no less. Thanks for this great blog, Allyn.
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I am beginning to see some talent here. Allyn, you could easily create a free e book on say 'motivation' that you can give away on your website in exchange for e-mails. I think you will grow a huge mailing list. There is something in your writing that is much more powerful and lasting. Great job boss. I am beginning to change the way I look at most things in life.
Thank you.
Your biggest Fan
Tich
Thanks for such a nice compliment, Tich. One never knows the power of their words until they say them.
True that.