I’ve heard women utter a phrase often enough that I want to chat about it….the phrase “I’m just really bad at math”.
Sorry, what’s that you say? I think it’s honestly like going on a date and opening with, “I’d love a glass of chardonnay, and hey, I’m bad in bed.” Says who? Who is this universal math judge that has determined your global standing? And is there a universal judge for skills in the bedroom? Is it a 10-point scale? 1 for mediocre at french kissing, and 10 for fireworks?
Let’s think about both topics. Do you honestly think that some people are just innately better in bed, they were just given a special gift? Or would we say that experience and knowledge, and a healthy dose of curiosity can improve your bedroom skill set? My personal view is a desire to be good in bed helps you make sure you have some knowledge to improve your performance. Doesn’t it?
There is absolutely no reason we can’t approach math in the same way – a bit of knowledge and experience levels the field. We’re simply talking about math you need to be financially savvy in life, daily skills, with no calculus required. It’s definitely as do-able as sex is. Math is essentially just logic. I’ve seen some super-women figure out how to go to work, get the kids after school, prepare dinner (plus breakfast and strategize lunch), contribute to an online chat room, fit in a pilates class, lead non-profit organizations, send 3 work emails while transporting home, ensure everyone in the house is clean(ish), read to the kids at bedtime, AND occasionally have sexy times with your partner – all on the same day. How on earth do women pull that off?
It’s a logical (and phenomenal) juggling act, where you minimize wasted moments and maximize key details for efficiency. You know that true – because when your spouse takes the kids for 6 hours, you notice the details you would have covered get dropped – and that’s how you realize you simply do it more efficiently, right? I guarantee your partner or spouse doesn’t say “shucks, I’m bad at parenting” after stepping in for an outing you normally do. It’s just about getting familiar with the details. You simply make shortcuts and efficiencies for the details to be smoother. That is the core of math – not kidding!
So in my aspiration to reduce the desire to say “I’m bad at math”, I’m going to specifically walk through one area – percentages. They are used all the time in life, in figuring out how much you pay on things (25% off today!) and how much YOU get paid (savings account pays 2%! you’re getting a 5% raise!). Do you know what 5 x 3 is? Yep, because it’s familiar, so let’s try to get to the same place with %’s. Here’s how I break it down to make it more familiar.
To calculate 10% you simply move the decimal place over – which means just hack off the last digit. That’s the shortcut.
- What’s 10% of 250? Knock of the last 0. So 10% of 250 is 25.
- Try another. How about 143? Hack off the 3, 10% is 14. So a $143 dress on a 10% sale, you take 14 off.
- Now what if you want to take of 20%? Double your “hacked off” 10%. For 143 we quickly hacked off the 3 to get 14….what is 2 x 14? That’s 28.
- So if your $143 dress is 20% off, you take off $28.
- (Maybe your head gets a bit weary by 143 minus 28 – just round it to $30, so a 20% discounted dress is $113. Close enough for a buying decision!)
- What about 25%?? Same approach – keep thinking in the “10s”. 25% is two of the “10s” – so 2 x 14 = 28, plus a half of one of the “10s”, so half of 14 (our hacked off #) is 7.
- Put those together for 25% – it’s 2 of the 14s (=28), plus a 7 = that’s 35. So 25% of 143 is 35.
Is that feeling ok at all? Does it give you logic steps? 10% is your starting point, and you take multiples of that. Practice it this week – share any examples in the comments.
Now if the %s are smaller than 10%, like in many interest calculations, then start at 1%, and you just hack off TWO digits.
- 1% of $3100, you knock of 2 digits, so 1% is $31 – the last 2 digits are gone.
- So if you have 2% annual interest offered on a savings account?
- Start with the 1% ($31), and double it – so how much would you get in a year if you put $3100 in a 2% savings account? $31 x 2 = $62 in interest per year.
So kinda like mastering all the chaos in your daily life, you just break it into pieces you already are familiar with, take it from there, and you’ll master it like you do so many things in life. And of course you can just do addition and subtraction on your phone if you don’t want to keep it in your head. You honestly are just fine at conquering math. And you’re probably good in bed too – but no comments required on that. If only we had a judge for both – until then, give yourself some credit, you’re probably just fine at both.