The Input-Output-Machine of Life, Math, Learning & You: Partie trois de trois - Learning & YOU

Any Input put into -> A Math Machine -> Gives an Output.

Month 3 of 12: Journey to achieving my New Year's Resolution, 'I write funny' 😁😂🤣😃 posted in MailBag on March 31.

The Input-Output-Machine of Life, Math, Learning & You: Partie trois de trois - Learning & YOU

• Partie Un 1️⃣, Life and machines done last Wednesday. Partie deux 2️⃣, Math and Machines done Thursday. Today I give you Partie trois 3️⃣, Learning and YOU.

• When you’re learning, you are the machine 🚲.

• The Output is the Objective you’re aiming to achieve 💪.

• The Inputs are what you think you need to do to accomplish that Output.

• So, how do you figure out the input that leads to getting the Output you want Know how to learn!

• How do you learn from your mistakes? Know how to learn!

Any Input put into -> A Math Machine -> Gives an Output.

Inputs also known as (aka) actions 🏃🏽‍♂️🏃🏽‍♀️👨🏽‍🦼🧗🏽‍♂️.
Outputs aka Results, an Outcome, a Goal, Objective, a solution (to a problem)
Input into a Machine to get an Output. Humans are a machine.
YOU are a machine. I am a machine.

Yesterday, Tuesday, April 2,

I ate nothing (aka fasting) 🍽. By the time this article gets published it will be 33 hours of no food. My intended Output was not to eat for April 2, and my Input was to take action to achieve that. And here’s the thing: there was a time when I had to have 3 meals a day plus 3-4 snacks a day 🍕🍔🍟🌭🥓🥨🥗🍗, so for me this is ‘impossible’ becoming possible. It’s a big deal for me.

If you’re asking, “Wasn’t it hard?” Why? How did you do it? Weren’t you hungry? … Quick specific answer to “How did you do it?” … I did not put any food in my mouth … That’s it, there’s no magic or mystery or secret. But we all know if doing the Inputs* was that simple and easy, we’d all achieve 100% of the Outputs we desire in the snap of a finger 🤸🏽‍♀️🤸🏽‍♂️🏄🏽‍♂️.

A less specific answer would be this: I applied what I learned from learning math … which is what I aim to do with my students (teach them how to learn), and what I do with the Math by Edison project (lobbying for learning), and recently with, I write funny.

*But here’s the thing about doing the right Inputs: Before you can do the Input, you first have to understand what Inputs to do** … then be motivated to do those Inputs … and then learn how to do those inputs and then make those inputs a habit … which sounds a lot like learning 👏🏽.

Before you can do the Input, you first have to understand what Inputs to do … then be motivated to do those Inputs … then learn how to do those inputs and then make those inputs a habit.

My Output was that I did not eat; the Input to achieve that was all the self-talk, habits, learning, motivation, learning from my mistakes, understanding food, sleep, hydration … that goes unseen. All had nothing to do with food, which is exactly what I’ve been writing on Math by Edison for the last 12 months – that “Math isn’t what makes math hard’.

And asking me if it was easy isn’t the right question! What’s easy have to do with it? If it was easy everyone would know the Input to do, no? Most people do not want to not eat for 33 hours, but I use it as an extreme example, of how math learning helps you learn in life! A better question is, “Help me understand how I’ll know what Inputs to put in to achieve the goal I’m after?” That, I think is a better question …

In Canada, most students had 4 days off this past weekend,

Friday, March 29 and Monday, April 1 were holidays. 🕰 Consider Student P, who had an assignment due Tuesday, April 2, and did nothing (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday) for three and a half days (over 72 hours) 📄🖊. Then, they started their assignment late Monday night 📋 - some will call that procrastination. Why does my 33 hours of doing nothing get more questions than their 72+ hours of doing nothing? Should we not marvel at this ‘not doing anything,’ especially since Student P, like me, chose to do nothing as their Input?

Of course, there are differences … and similarities:

1️⃣ Similarity #1 we both had the same Inputs (do nothing).

1️⃣ Difference #1 Procrastination was not their desired Output, as they had the intention of … well … not procrastinating but … as everything in life, in the end they ‘achieved’ an Output.

2️⃣ Similarity #2 we both used habits to aid with the Inputs to ‘achieve’ our Outputs.

2️⃣ Difference #2 one of us had a positive habit that got us moving towards our objective and the other a negative habit that pulled them away.

3️⃣ Difference #3: One of us had not learned the needed inputs 🔒or was not in control of their Inputs 🔓.

Said another way, it would be ridiculous and presumptuous of me to tell someone, “Just don’t eat” as Input advice on how to not eat for over 24 hours, as it would be to say to Student P, ‘Start the assignment sooner’ or “Don’t procrastinate” or “Get organized”!

But yet, that’s the advice they get in droves, and the problem with that ever-popular generic advice? It’s mixing up a solution with an Input 🔊. A solution is an Output - start the assignment sooner is the Output. The better advice is to ask, What’s the Input required to start sooner? What’s the Input required to, Not get an output of procrastination? What’s the Inputs required to “Get organized?” What’s the Inputs required to start the assignment on Saturday?”

Learning and you: 

Can you the reader, now take the role of Student P, so You are Student P; do you know what inputs are needed to attain the desired output of starting assignment sooner? And I’ll repeat myself here, Start sooner, Don’t procrastinate, is not an Input as is the myriad of similar suggestions … So you are Student P, what Inputs do you do? ❓❓

Do you think that Student P delayed starting their assignment on purpose? Do you know the negative self-talk, invisible to an outsider, that would have accompanied them around for that 4-day weekend? And then, Start the assignment sooner, is offered as a 'solution.' Make them feel like crap ... and yes, they know they should have started sooner, but they didn't – that's what they need to learn!!!! Do not confuse Inputs and Outputs! All three phrases of 'wisdom' are not Inputs, they're Outputs! You have to understand that Student P does not know the Inputs to not procrastinate!

Biggest blunder I see?

Confusing Outputs with Inputs 📢. Solutions are Outputs! Don't mix up Inputs and solutions! Start the assignment sooner is the goal - it's the objective, the desired Output, and the end result of the Inputs. It's not an Input! It's the solution to the problem of procrastinating. It's not an Input!! … The million-dollar question, and there are two, two key ones, is: What Inputs does Student P need to put in to start the assignment sooner, and Where do they go to know how to learn* these Inputs?

* Reminder on the 5 steps of learning (The Learning 5)

#1 Set an objective
#2 Be motivated to achieve that objective
#3 Understand the steps to get to that objective
#4 Repeat the steps to understand again and again … until mastered
#5. Result tells you if Objective achieved: If yes, keep doing what you’re doing, if not, gives feedback on the first four learning steps (time to make some changes).

Now let’s switch environments: Student P is an actor 🦸🏽‍♀️🦹🏽‍♂️, we’ll call P,

and P just finished a short scene. Director comes up to “P” and says, “Okay, not bad for a first take, but can you show more emotion, when you say that last sentence.”

Take 2 action! …. 
End of scene

Director comes up to P and says, “Nice, I liked the emotion, that was good, but on the last two words, I need you to lower your voice to a whisper, and instead of saying it like a sentence, have it become a question … and you can improvise the other mannerisms in that moment.”

Take 3 action!
End of Scene

After take 2 the director gave very specific actions, or inputs for the actor P to do: Lower voice, say it as a question and improvise. There is absolutely no doubt in the actor's mind what they need to do! The more specific the Input the easier it is for the learner.

• Work harder is not specific.

• Go to see your teacher is vague.

• Practice more is ambiguous.

The objective for P as an actor is to nail the scene (#1). They’re motivated (#2). And they read the script so they know the words to speak and understand the character well enough to mirror their personality (#3) and of course have done lots of repetitions to memorize their lines (#4), all to get ready for the first take. The Director gives the feedback to P (#5), which tells P what changes to make with their inputs. The Director’s job is to help P to learn to be better!

You are Student P. Who is your Director?

You are a student, called S! You’re doing math at school, and you want to improve your understanding, forget less, be more motivated, not give up on challenging questions, do better on tests, be better in math …

Who helps you, P and S to learn, learn from mistakes,

know the new Inputs needed to get the outcome they’re aiming for? Who is tasked with that? If no one, then there are 4 choices:

1) Schools start teaching students, How to learn
2) Do nothing - so keep doing the same Inputs which leads to …
3) Teach students how to self-learn (be auto-didacts)? Though I’d add we’ve forced them in this direction w/o teaching them how to learn ☹
4) Read Math by Edison!

If 1) was done by schools, I would not need to be writing 4).

Quick tip > Want to get some insight into the Inputs you need to do?

Start thinking of yourself as a machine! YOU are not a math student, anymore, no, YOU Math by Edison reader, are a machine! Think that way and the machine (YOU) will demand YOU give it specific instructions, just like a vending machine, dishwasher, bank machine, life, plant, your teeth, an orange … demands a specific instruction and math (Evaluate 2 + 3) expects it.

Squeezing a potato and hoping for orange juice is …

Edison

Edison Hopkinson
Lobbying for How to Learn to be taught in the schools! Until then I give you …

P.S.
How did I learn to not eat for 33+ hours? Quick answers:
1st I learned from math …
learned how to learn and just followed The Learning 5 …
Understood the basics …
I started off not eating for 30 minutes …
… and then built on that …
upped it to 40’ ….
repeated it …
made it a habit …
upped it to …
my stomach had a lot of conversations with me
…
made it a habit …
upped it to …
…
and when you view it that way …
it’s really a piece of cake.
The journey to 33 hours started with a small step, 0.5 hours to be precise.