You've asked the question. You've heard someone ask it. You know The Question. 

When am I ever going to use this?

It's a rite of passage that all teenagers ask The Question in their high school math classes. We've all asked it. Maybe it was in Algebra, or maybe it was in Trigonometry, but I know you asked it. I did. 

It was March 2014 and I had pretty much oozed into my chair at work. Hadn't worked out much if at all. Whatever New Year's resolutions I had set for improving fitness had faded away a couple months earlier.

So I decided to climb Mount Everest.

One of the wellness guys in my office said that the simple act of taking the stairs was a great way to get your heart rate up and improve fitness. But there was a problem. Starting up a habit like taking the stairs - to the 10th floor - wasn't just going to happen like a big bang.

Nope, I wasn't internally motivated to do it just because it was healthy. Maybe you can relate.

I needed to shape a goal that was fun and memorable and even inspiring. Technically speaking, I needed to quantify my goal. That's the "M" in S.M.A.R.T. goal setting. I needed to make my stair-stepping goal Measurable.

When you have to measure something what do you turn to? A ruler, of course. So I grabbed my ruler and measured one step in the stairwell. After a few calculations I figured I would need to climb 49,764 stairs to say I climbed Mount Everest.

OK, the equivalent of Mount Everest... without the snow... and without deadly freezing temperatures. The point is this: I found something that motivated me, and who cares if it's silly.

On Dec 31, 2014 I reached the summit - the locked door of the 13th-floor roof access inside an endless stairwell, echoing my gasps for air. But I did it.

When I was a boy my father would carry me out of bed at 5:30am, drop me in the car, and start in on our 12 hour drive home from vacation in Massachusetts. I would wake up around 7:00 and voila! we were already in Connecticut! It made the trip feel much more manageable. I did the same on a couple drives from North Carolina to Florida for football bowl games during my college days. We started out with just a coffee at 5:30 and didn't stop for breakfast until 7:30 and bang! we already had 120 miles under our belt.

Paul Reiser, the other star of that 90's comedy, Mad About You, wrote a book called Parenthood. Being the funny guy he is, the book literally started on page 120. After cracking it open and reading just a few minutes, I was already on page 125! I have to admit, it felt good.

As we mercifully put 2020 in the rearview and hope for better things to come in 2021, we will set some goals, the inevitable New Year's Resolutions. Like that book and like my dad, we ought to do the same - give ourselves a head start.

Granted, it feels a like a gimmick, but it's a legitimate trick. You're still doing the work. You're just getting a head start. By starting early you're proving to yourself you want to work toward your goal not because of an arbitrary date on the calendar, but because you simply want it. 

I have a goal to complete 5,000 exercise reps by January 31. So I started early even though it's like any other New Year's goal. I'm already approaching 1,000 so I'm well on my way. And if I get that head start, I'm more likely to finish the goal. Anyone ever started a goal only to give up on it because you couldn't get started?

Problem solved. Start early... go ahead and read one book, lose pound, or run one mile. Then set the goal and backdate the start of the goal.

I use the Runkeeper app to track the miles I run. It allows you to set mileage goals and it allows you to backdate. So I do this all the time. I'm already 5% of the way toward my goal when I set it up! 

What's your New Year's goal? Is it measurable? If it is, then give yourself a head start! 

Mark B. Anderson
​Tutor & Founder, Strength in Numbers Tutoring

Not being super creative I read the same chapter of Proverbs to him every day for a year. Proverbs 3 teaches principles like "Let love and faithfulness never leave you" and "Do not be wise in your own eyes". The takeaway is that he should orient himself to God, trusting in him with all his heart.

But how do you do that?

Well, turning a few pages back you find Proverbs 2. There the writer lays out what is foundational to finding the knowledge of God and finding your way in life - in a word, "understanding". 

Together the words "understanding" and "understand" are used 6 times in the first 11 verses.  

• applying your heart to understanding
• cry aloud for understanding
• understand the fear of the Lord
• from the mouth of the LORD come knowledge and understanding
• then you will understand what is right and just and fair
• understanding will guard you

You don't have to believe in God to see the value and validity of this principle. The Bible says that seeking understanding is foundational to obtaining the knowledge of God. But seeking understanding is also foundational for living in a world where you simply don't know everything. And none of us knows everything. We are finite beings and yet there is an infinity beyond ourselves.

We will meet and interact with hundreds even thousands of people in our lifetimes in professional and social circles. There are "school subjects" by the semester-load like mathematics, chemistry, economics, history and art. There are political ideologies on a continuum spanning the extreme left and the fundamental right.

How do we engage with these people? What is our attitude toward learning? How open are we to ideas that may differ from those we are born with or have been taught?

With understanding. With an open mind. With a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset. 

This is the first blog in a 7-part series that explores the nature of success. 

Lao Tzu opined that a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. The journey of success begins with understanding. 

If there's anything we all can agree on it's that we each want to make a difference. We want to make the world a better place.

But... those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. George Bernard Shaw's words are true if we do not have an attitude open to understanding. They are true if we do not have a mindset that seeks understanding. 

Our attitude is our emotional stance toward the world. Our mindset is our mental stance toward the world. 

My dad used to tell me as a teenager that I needed an attitude change. My kids' other grandfather likes to say he needs to go into the woods "to get his mind right".

Let's do both. Let's change our attitude AND get our minds right so we are open to understanding other people, new subjects and different ideas. Then we'll be growing and learning, and that's the recipe for success.

This wouldn't be a blog about numbers without some connection to math or counting. The practical takeaway is to write out what you learn. Make a list of what you have come to understand. Number them in a journal. You might even write up your personal Top Ten Life Lessons. 

Once you establish the habit of numbering your lessons learned, success will come ... like clockwork. 

Next post in this series will address what you can actually do to gain understanding. Let's just say I will attempt to explain. You'll be surprised. The plan is to post every Tuesday.  

Mark B. Anderson
Tutor & Founder, Strength in Numbers Tutoring