If you think you can do something, you probably can. If you think you can’t, you won’t even try.

As a veteran teacher, I can’t count the times I heard students say “I’m not good at ……” Many times, it was that I'm not good at math, or science, or technology. Unfortunately, not being good at these things can greatly negatively impact your financial future and your pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.  Without some important skills, you can end up in a boring, low paying manual labor job….or even worse.

I have said the same thing about my ability to sing and dunk a basketball, but I think the ramifications of lack of confidence in my abilities is not as profound.

When I hear such statements, I always repeat what they say and add the word “yet” to the end of the statement. I tell them that they are still alive, so there is hope. I sometimes tell them about my previous disdain for math. I was good at it but hated having to find answers to math problems that seemed to be totally irrelevant to anything in life that would actually help me.  Examples: Find X. My response was if you want to find it, then you do it.  I have no reason to find it. Factor this 3rd degree polynomial. When will I ever need to do this outside of math class?  Give me one real-world example where my ability to find the answer will get me a cup of coffee.

It is easy to teach a motivated student, but nearly impossible to teach the unmotivated.  We try to do this with the cudgel of getting a bad grade, but it really does not work well with most students.  What really works is to be able to put the skill into a context that the student sees how the skill set will benefit them. 

I found my love for mathematics when I learned I could predict real world behavior of objects in physics and engineering.  I could make things with predictable results that actually worked. The other thing that works is business.  Understanding math and algorithms can convince investors and businesspeople to give you money or make money in general. 

That’s how I ended up being a physics teacher and engineer. I later became an entrepreneur and use math to do business research and economic predictions.

Finding the right motivations is the key to teaching someone how to overcome their “I’m not good at” attitude that limits their success in life. 

If you find yourself in the position that you didn’t learn things in school that are now limiting you, hit me up.  If you are alive, it isn’t too late.  Same thing goes if you are currently in school.  Even better because you have more time to fix these limiting mindsets.