Practice, confidence, and questions (Math Immersion Month Day 4)

This wasn’t so bad for a sick day; I did 2 hours of practice problems on Khan Academy, came up with a couple questions about addition and subtraction algorithms, and made this very quick vlog:

Quick personal check-in

If only I hadn’t been up half the night sneezing, maybe I would’ve been able to channel my creativity today and actually explore more math or make more stuff! Oh well. I’ve noticed that if I don’t have a clear idea for what the day’s video will be about before lunch time, then anxiety tends to win out over curiosity as I become preoccupied with the ticking clock.

But based on past experience, if I had a slow day like today and didn’t have a daily goal (like publishing a video), I would’ve spent those remaining hours feeling bad about myself for not doing more until finally giving up and watching TV for the rest of the night. So while the pressure and anxiety created by a deadline is uncomfortable, it still feels better to try and do something small than to preemptively give up – and sometimes the deadline sparks some curiosity or creativity that otherwise never would have happened!

Time breakdown

  • Video production time: 1 hour 56 min
    • Script writing/preparation: 26 min
    • Filming/setup: 20 min
    • Video editing: 47 min
    • Publishing: 23 min
  • Math study time: 2 hours 23 min
    • Practice problems: 2 hours
    • General research: 23 min (plus more tonight; will update later!)