ENDURE: January 24, 2014

What's Your Resilience Strategy?

Spoiler Summary: Resilience may be one of the most important factors that people aren't talking about

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I've come to realize lately that I want my kids to think that math is cool.  That's right.....I'm on a family mission to make math cool. As you might expect, so far it's been a bit of a challenge.  It is math after all.  I suppose any rule-based language of symbols that drives most of us nuts at one point or another, more than once prompting the question "how am I going to use this in real life?" - might not be high on most lists of cool-things, but I'm not giving up.

Of course, having answered that question more times than I've asked it, and being "outed" as a bit of a numbers geek it might be hard to believe, but I wasn't ALWAYS such a fan, but I'm a power user now.  Whether it be as a hobby - such as an understanding of sports statistics, or professionally, like understanding why the odds of injury go up at certain body positions and angles, or even on a more personal level, like understanding exactly how much it's going to cost me to send those same kids to school…...math is EVERYWHERE, but that's not the main reason why I want three future math lovers.  The real reason that I want my kids to learn math and think it's cool is because at its core, math is about using a set of thinking skills in order to get over tough challenges and ultimately about the personal reward of figuring things out for yourself.  I like it BECAUSE it is hard - it's literally about "problems" and therefore it's equally about getting to solutions......a resolution after a taxing effort......mental endurance exercise......the building blocks of resilience.

Resilience is an often underrated attribute, but the more we learn about what it takes to succeed in achieving your goals, the more we know how important it is.  To simplify the research, people who get good at overcoming challenges learn how to be doers, even in the face of adversity - to be actively engaged in the world around them and just stubborn enough (not rigid, but committed) to get across the finish line.

Of course, it's not just math - that's only one tactic. Like many kids, mine are testing sports, music, puzzles/games and more as well.  But what about most adults?  Are the people you know challenge-seekers? Are they finding ways to "solve"?  Or are they mostly just challenge identifiers who like to talk about the challenges but not necessarily do much?  

It seems like resilience is more and more rare, and some research show that as attention span has gone down, so has resilience; but don't fret! The best news is you can start anywhere, any time you choose and build your reserves, even if they're very depleted.  Put in the effort, get the results.  It's a skill that gets better at any age if you practice.  So even though most people are resolved to improve physical strength this time of year, building the resolve in itself has value.

If you need some math flash cards to get you really excited - let me know.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.