Life Lessons
How I Got Good At Maths
Maths is widely known as a tough subject, and I was not one of those smart kids that got it straight away. I was terrible at maths. It was my worst subject in school until I was fifteen, and I hated it until I was fourteen.
Maths and I certainly have a love-hate relationship. Not only because it is extremely hard, but also it has made my life harder at times.
I remember not caring about maths until I was about twelve years of age. I had finally decided that I wanted to be an engineer and got the shock of my life when I learned I had to get better at maths.
My whole schooling career pointed me in one direction, and that was English and the arts. I was creative at heart, and my natural ability showed me that. However, I was always told creatives make no money, so I forced myself to become something I was not.
Upon doing so, I was left in detrimental situations. I remember being told that my constant failings in maths could lead me to failure in life. Every maths teacher I had made it clear that maths was an important subject. And without it, you would end up in the dumps.
It also was not great because I was quite an intelligent student. In all my other classes, I was doing well and was in the top class for most of them. Although I was not the best behaved, my other subject teachers could not deny I was a top student.
But maths was the subject that humbled my big-headed mindset. I was in one of the lowest classes, and my parents would constantly be reminded how bad I was. My mum offered me tuition, and I was still struggling. It was here I realised that no one is going to improve my maths grade but me.
As I pushed myself to become better, mathematics taught me core lessons that I still use today. These lessons are part of the reason for my success in many other areas of life. And partially why I am seeing early success on this platform.
So here are three lessons that maths has taught me that you can hopefully apply to your life.
Life Requires us to Take Risk
Whilst applying for university, it was essential for me to complete mathematics at a high level. I needed to achieve a high grade to get onto the engineering course. At the time, my maths teacher was doubtful that I would achieve the level of competence needed.
I remember being held back after class and having a serious talk with him. He advised that I drop the subject and pick something else.
He let me know that he did not think I would get the required grades needed to get on my course. I sat there completely torn by the news and spent the rest of that week contemplating dropping the subject.
I spoke to a few teachers for advice, and my economics teacher helped a lot. He let me know that I was a better economist than he was at my age. And if he dropped economics, he would not be where he was today.
So, he encouraged me to put my mind to it and see where things end up. It was a risk, but one he told me was worth it.
It was here I learned that life sometimes requires us to take risks. Unfortunately, not everything we want in life comes to us with ease. We must make sacrifices and be willing to take risks when we need to.
At the time, the risk was huge. I was failing higher level maths badly and had to resit one of my exams because I did terribly. The risk seemed too much to bear and illogical to take, but my desire to do engineering at university surpassed the fear of failure.
To take risks in life, our desire to achieve what we want must surpass the risk itself. Taking risks can be mentally tough, but you will do it when you have a great desire.
As time went on, the risk I took began to pay off. It was a risk based on my efforts and ability to improve at mathematics. Knowing that I risked my future for mathematics added to the pressure I needed to improve.
So, I also learned that taking risks can also bring about the best in us. It can make us more productive and keep us on our toes to complete things we would have not otherwise.
We must choose the risks we take wisely in life. But those risk can make us stronger and help us to perform better. And that is if those risks accommodate our goals and represent our desire for something.
I Began to Appreciate Difficulty
As highlighted before, English was one of my best subjects. I remember participating in spelling bees at school and winning them. There was nothing in English that I ever really found difficult.
Even when it came to things like persuasive writing that seemed hard for the class, I could pick it up. In my early years, I was always on the highest reading level as well.
I learned to read at an early age because my mum could not afford many toys for me. So I began going through my Grandma’s bookshelf and started matching the words with their sounds.
Through adapting to my adversity as a child, I found joy in writing and was good at the subject. So, I spent much of my time detesting anything that offered any challenge.
I kept this attitude until the age of about thirteen years of age. I hated difficulty because I already had enough at home. Being from a poor background and a single-parent household was enough difficulty in my life.
However, mathematics was something I needed to do. I did not appreciate difficult times because many of my hardships were not my fault. I did not choose to be poor or live in a broken home. However, mathematics was self-inflicted pain. I did not have to do it, but I wanted to, and I learned a lot from it.
It would sometimes take me weeks to get a concept and many failed questions to get it right. But there was no turning back. The hardship of maths had to be conquered.
Through the difficulty, I learned a lot about myself along the way. The first thing I found was that I was not bad at maths at all. All I needed to do was break things down into clear steps and repeat them over and over again.
I started developing other small methods to deal with tough topics and started improving. The difficulty also gave me the ability to develop resilience and build on my ability to manage pressure. It was through this I developed many of the good characteristics I have today.
Once I completed maths, I grew an appreciation for it. Difficulty helps us to grow and become better than the person we were before. I was able to see that as my results continued to improve with time. There were some bad times in my journey through difficulty.
I remember going through a season of improvement and then failing an exam. My teacher was surprised because he could see I was doing well. But those hard times reminded me I was still in the growing process, and I should expect growing pains.
Through beginning to appreciate the difficulty and the growth that comes with it, I got better at maths. I embraced the challenges and took them on as best as I could. Like a muscle, I started growing under the pressure and eventually, maths became one of my strongest subjects.
Persistence
The one quality that maths taught me was persistence. That is the ability to keep going despite difficulty and regardless of the outcome.
There were many times throughout my journey when the outcomes were terrible, and I kept going. And I think this quality is something everyone should possess.
Sometimes, our outcomes do not align with what we want. I remember revising for weeks and still getting questions wrong. It was painful, but I knew I was doing the right thing, so I kept going. Even as a writer, repeatedly writing every day despite low views or rejections must be done.
Doing the right thing without any reward makes the reward better when it finally comes. And many people stop doing difficult things because they lack persistence. The only reason why I got good at maths is that I ignored the fails on my papers and kept going.
Regardless of the results and what others told me, I knew I could do it, so I did. When we are persistent, we can make the seemingly impossible possible. And that is the reward of sticking with things that appear to not be going well initially.
So, if you take nothing from this article, take this. We must be persistent to achieve anything we seek in life.
Closing Thoughts
Upon completing maths, I achieved a high grade. I remember the maths teacher who had his doubts coming to find me on results day to congratulate me and apologise for doubting me. He let me know that I proved him wrong, and he enjoys being proven wrong because he learns something.
When we say we can not do something, we should try to prove ourselves wrong. Many of us can do anything if we put our minds to it. In other words, if we remain persistent, we can achieve anything.
So, try your best to become persistent in whatever you endeavour to do. And I can guarantee that you will achieve the things you thought were impossible.