Hard Work Equals Success
Today I was musing over the question of "Why am I bad at math?" because I believe that if I had been a strong student in mathematics, then maybe I would have landed a programming job many eons ago. Then of course in order to find an answer to my existential question, I Googled my question and found this very well-written and insightful article "The Myth of 'I'm Bad at Math".
The basic argument of the article signifies how there are often two sides of an individual's views on intelligence, that is Incremental versus Entity. The first concept, incremental, believes that intelligence is malleable, so with a little hard work it is possible to understand a subject like math very well. Whereas, entity is basically the opposite, which is the belief that your intelligence is fixed.
Now how does this relate to the theme of my site? Well, firstly when we consider how often those of us (like myself) had come to believe that we're just not cut out for a certain field because we didn't score so well on math tests, but what we forget is that hard work and effort can definitely take us far. I began my academic career with communication and an education degree, but was always hesitant to do anything beyond this field because I believed I wasn't cut out for the hard sciences. Now, I'm doing programming, and this field didn't just come easily or fall into my lap like a feather. Instead I had to have discipline and take time and energy to really study the material. I got down and dirty and coded as much as I could, and now I can fairly say after nearly a year of effort, I am by far better than I was a year ago. I'm even diving into intermediate to advance programming topics, which would have floored me before, but I changed because I put my mind into it.
You may think that of course, hard work and repetition will get you somewhere, but that doesn't change the part about your abilities in areas like math. Well, the thing is that those takes time. And like the article says, it really is about your training. Of course those who had a well-organized and parentally-supported education would fair probably far better than us that had to learn it through trial and error, still does not excuse us from pursing our passion. Many great inventors or even great influencers did so with persistence and passion. They never gave up, and kept on hacking away.
For me I know that 1 year, 4 year, even 10 years from now I'll be definitely a different person, with a different world view. In the past I didn't put as much effort into my studies, fitness or even mental state, but now I'm studying at least 30 minutes a day on programming, going to a personal fitness trainer, and even doing yoga to focus my mind. After adopting a minimalist lifestyle I've also begun to focus on those things that are most important to me, and in turn they are things that many people forget about due to stress and materialism. I think that if everyone begins to re-evaluate their view of themselves and their environment, it will definitely change, and with every ounce of effort the outcome will be much better than if we decided to not try.
The basic argument of the article signifies how there are often two sides of an individual's views on intelligence, that is Incremental versus Entity. The first concept, incremental, believes that intelligence is malleable, so with a little hard work it is possible to understand a subject like math very well. Whereas, entity is basically the opposite, which is the belief that your intelligence is fixed.
Now how does this relate to the theme of my site? Well, firstly when we consider how often those of us (like myself) had come to believe that we're just not cut out for a certain field because we didn't score so well on math tests, but what we forget is that hard work and effort can definitely take us far. I began my academic career with communication and an education degree, but was always hesitant to do anything beyond this field because I believed I wasn't cut out for the hard sciences. Now, I'm doing programming, and this field didn't just come easily or fall into my lap like a feather. Instead I had to have discipline and take time and energy to really study the material. I got down and dirty and coded as much as I could, and now I can fairly say after nearly a year of effort, I am by far better than I was a year ago. I'm even diving into intermediate to advance programming topics, which would have floored me before, but I changed because I put my mind into it.
You may think that of course, hard work and repetition will get you somewhere, but that doesn't change the part about your abilities in areas like math. Well, the thing is that those takes time. And like the article says, it really is about your training. Of course those who had a well-organized and parentally-supported education would fair probably far better than us that had to learn it through trial and error, still does not excuse us from pursing our passion. Many great inventors or even great influencers did so with persistence and passion. They never gave up, and kept on hacking away.
For me I know that 1 year, 4 year, even 10 years from now I'll be definitely a different person, with a different world view. In the past I didn't put as much effort into my studies, fitness or even mental state, but now I'm studying at least 30 minutes a day on programming, going to a personal fitness trainer, and even doing yoga to focus my mind. After adopting a minimalist lifestyle I've also begun to focus on those things that are most important to me, and in turn they are things that many people forget about due to stress and materialism. I think that if everyone begins to re-evaluate their view of themselves and their environment, it will definitely change, and with every ounce of effort the outcome will be much better than if we decided to not try.
hard work + dedication + consistency = success
