Sometimes a Push is What Opens the Door

Want to get notified about new posts? Join the mailing list and follow on X/Twitter.

The most mathematically gifted student I ever worked with, he was still kind of resistant to learning calculus. He liked math that felt interesting, which to him often meant familiar.

Kind of like a gifted basketball player who learned a bunch of cool moves and now loves playing at the park, showing off sometimes, having a good time, but kind of starting to stagnate, not really developing their game.

And the same thing happened with this kid. He was having a good time, but he was just kind of stuck in limbo at his current skill level.

And if you really wanna use math throughout the rest of your life, like really have a good time with it, work on mathematically interesting problems, well guess what?

Algebra skills, arithmetic skills, not enough. You gotta keep climbing higher.

That’s how you unlock more of this thing that you love. But kids, you know, they don’t always see the long game.

Anybody who’s worked with kids knows how kind of just in the moment short-sighted they can be.

But ultimately, as an adult, it’s kinda your responsibility to help kids see that long game and at least take actions that are progressing them along in that long game.

So that kid. Once his parents and I pushed him to learn calculus, he was a little resistant at first, but he ended up loving it!

And now he’s doing some serious math and engineering using ideas from this area that he originally resisted. You know, sometimes a push is what opens the door.

Further reading: Why Extrinsic Motivation Matters .

Want to get notified about new posts? Join the mailing list and follow on X/Twitter.