How I reframed my approach to math at 30

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Right after I finished my Master’s at the London School of Economics (I studied media and communications), I  had the opportunity to get into what was arguably the world’s best company and employer (this was back in 2008 - before new age employers allowed no-questions-asked time off and work-from-anywhere): Procter & Gamble.

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They were excited to accept my application and everything seemed great - except: they needed everyone - no matter what position they were applying for, to pass a business math exam. It didn’t matter that I already had close to 8 years of work experience or just graduated from the LSE. I still had to pass a business math exam!

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Now, if there is one thing I dreaded at this point, it was math. 

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Of course it was nothing personal - just that I’d conditioned myself from childhood to fear it for a variety of reasons (that many of our children still face) detailed in this post. I’d convinced myself that I just didn't have the ‘math gene’. That I was ‘right-brained’. 

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I’d say things like, “I don’t think in numbers and patterns, I'm more of an abstract thinker and conceptual problem solver”. 

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And yet, here was this one business math exam between P&G and me. 

As I said, the opposite of fear is curiosity, clarity and understanding. 

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I thought to myself, instead of just fearing it, if I understood the two variables: myself and math, better, I could handle this. 

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So I locked myself in my hostel room for a week, slowly but surely getting through each business math concept: percentages, currency conversions, ratios & proportions, stuff like that - at my own pace. 

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I put in complete immersion, without any pressure or judgements. I was clear why I was doing this, and no doubt I was motivated.

But mostly, I didn’t start with the formulas. 

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I first spent time thinking and learning about why business math matters, in what situations it could be useful to me in this new job, how I could use it to make smarter business decisions, and how many times over the last 8 years working, I missed opportunities due to being ‘weak’ with numbers. 

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Only once I felt comfortable with why and the context, I began with the specific topics. 

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I’d give myself small tests after every chapter, and refocus attention on the concepts I didn't grasp, by again going over the why it matters and what is the application of that in business life, as well as with effective learning techniques such as spaced repetition and deliberate practice.

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I began applying the topics I was learning to my everyday work: while cooking (ratios and proportions), while showering (percentage more or less), or even while looking at my checking account (division and subtraction mostly!).

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And guess what? 

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By the end of the week, I had understood enough about business math concepts to comfortably pass the test.

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I was hired as Procter and Gamble's first digital marketing lead in India. 

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I had done it! And I’d done it the right way.

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It has been 13 years- and I still haven't forgotten what I learned in that one week of understanding math as a lived experience.

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I’m no mathematician, but I no longer live in fear of math, and I use it to get stuff done. For a convicted math-hater, that's quite an evolution.

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How reframing math helped later with my own kids

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Math is a natural human instinct. It should not be ‘studied’ but rather, in the early years or early stages of engaging with math (as I have been doing since I turned 30!), it should be treated as a natural lived experience.

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What do I mean by a natural human instinct? Actually, not just humans - a natural instinct of all living things. 

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An antelope being chased by a lion instinctively knows how fast it must go and how far, and at what angle it must make an arc to outrun its predator. 

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An archer who may never have studied math knows the angle and speed and velocity needed to accomplish his goal, just as a cricketer knows the angle and speed and velocity of the ball, the force needed to get it to where he needs it to go.

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In the kitchen, we instinctively know about ratios and proportions and in the office we instinctively know about how much time we have for a task and when we need to hurry and when our paycheck numbers don't add up. 

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As children, we know when I have been given only two candies and my brother has been given 10 - I know he has more and that I have less.

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All we need to do is hone our natural instinct for math towards a more structured understanding of the subject as we get older. 

For this natural evolution, we need to start  with a conceptual understanding of math and ease into procedural math. 

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Despite this awareness which has been validated by many veteran math teachers, unfortunately our kids are taught only procedural math from the start. Many who have different learning styles and preferences  never get the time and space to form strong concepts or personal connections about the meaning and place of math in their life.

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My simple realization has been that we don't need to ‘do’ math - we need math to ‘do stuff’. Math is not an end by itself- but school makes a math grade the end. 

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As parents, we can use these tips to help our children see math as a lived experience and a means to an end - one that even nature uses with regular and stunning effect.

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Also read:

Does Your Child Learn Out of Fear or Choice?

The Secret to Effective Learning is Failing Forward

All our Curated Resources About Self-directed Learning