Under my Skirt: Life is Like a Math Problem

By Tuck Gump

I bet you don’t know this about me, but I’m a math whiz! I love math, and I love numbers. Nothing used to make me happier in school than working algebra problems and differential equations. And, nothing challenged and inspired me more than diligently working ledger cards in my accounting job years ago.

I know people thought I had some screws loose, but 10 to 1, if you wanted to find me, there I’d be puffing away on my cigarette, just calculating away in heaven.

Why am I sharing this with you? Thanks for asking!

I’ve often asked myself why “working with numbers” is so much fun for me. What is it that keeps me in the game, working to find a solution or answer, because I could never give up? I would skip meals to do this. You can’t imagine “the look” I’d have given you for interrupting my flow and concentration.  

My response – because there is an answer! What?!? Yep, I know this might sound weird, but I would hang in there because I knew there was an answer and solution that existed for each and every problem. Just knowing that the answer existed kept me in the game.

I had no fear of getting it wrong or right. That didn’t matter. What mattered was finding the answer. I couldn’t believe that people would just give up and say "I can’t do this." 

Well, it hit me recently that life is that way too. Life is like a math problem. And life is like a ledger card. A solution exists, and it can be balanced!

The variable (that’s a math term for us math junkies) is you. Are you willing to do the work? Are you willing to hang in there, knowing the answer is there for you?

Let's look at an analogy: What do you do when you can’t find the answer to a math problem and don’t want to give up? You look for a tutor, someone who can guide and teach you. You find someone who can walk you step-by-step through the math problem, showing you where you are stuck and how to do it differently next time. What I used to do when I got stuck was find a similar problem where the answer was in the back of the book, and compare and learn from that one.

You can do life the same way. If you are stuck and feel like giving up, don’t do it. Find a tutor, coach or mentor to guide and show you the way. Or, find someone who is successful at doing what you want to do and model, mentor and learn from them.

Just don’t give up... there’s always a way! Life is like a math problem! Keep after it... and don't stop... run, Tuck Gump, run...