A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra)

by Barbara Oakley

Pausing and reflecting are key, not only in stopping procrastination but in math and science problem solving in general. You may be surprised to learn that the difference in the way that math experts (professors and graduate students) and math novices (undergraduate students) solve physics problems is that experts are slower to begin solving a problem.6 Experts took an average of forty-five seconds to figure out how they would categorize a problem according to its underlying physics principles. Undergraduates, on the other hand, simply rushed right in, taking only thirty seconds to determine how they should proceed. Unsurprisingly, the conclusions drawn by the undergraduates were often wrong because their choices were based on superficial appearances rather than underlying principles. It’s as if experts took their time to conclude that broccoli is a vegetable and lemon is a fruit, while novices barged in to say that broccoli is a tiny tree while lemons are clearly eggs. Pausing gives you time to access your library of chunks and allows your brain to make connections between a particular problem and the bigger picture.