Everything is figure-out-able

Math and girls. Image: Woodleywonderworks

When I was 15, I couldn’t do maths.  It was utter gobbledygook.  I sat there every lesson and wrote notes diligently, but nothing connected, however hard I seemed to try.

The moment of truth was my mock ‘O’ grade, the January before we took the real ones.  I knew that I’d done badly, but when my teacher handed back my paper, I couldn’t believe how badly.  I’d not so much failed as crashed.

My teacher (a kindly man with a bald head, a walrus moustache and a degree in maths) told me that some people simply couldn’t do maths, and I was clearly one of them.

I was devastated, angry with myself and my stupid mathless head. And I was angry that he thought I couldn’t do it.

Anyway, shortly after I went to a bookshop and I came across a slim book in white with blue lettering. It was called “How To Pass ‘O’ Grade Maths.”

I felt the blood thundering in my ears, and I bought it.

I spent weeks working my way through that damned book. It took ages to make sense, but I just plugged away week after week.  Things gradually got clearer. It never got easy.

Flip forward to the results: I got an A in my ‘O’ grade maths, and no one could believe it.  I’d like to say it started a lifelong love affair with maths, but it would be truer to say that it started a lifelong love affair with self-help books.  Indeed, I can chart my life through those books: maths, Italian, statistics, management, gardening, baby care, genetics, HTML. Dog training.

Here’s my solid belief: I can learn to do absolutely anything, as long as someone wrote a good book about it.

Of course, some things are much harder to learn than others. Management is harder than Italian, it turns out.  Theory is a lot easier than practice.  Maths is still hard, but I have rock solid proof that if I work hard and I get great explanations (and I’m motivated enough!), I can make sense of pretty much anything.

My next ‘learnable thing’ is putting more of my business online.

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be reworking this particular outpost.  I want to inspire people to create a great online presence for themselves or their organisations.  There will be new services and a rather wonderful DIY kit, coming out next week, which will show you how to make over your own website.  I hope you’ll join me for the trip.