Math for Grownups
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New Year’s Resolutions: How do you stack up?

Photo courtesy of Pinti

January 2012 seems extra long!  In fact, there are five — count ’em, five — Mondays in this month.  And while I’ve never missed a Math at Work Monday, I decided to take a break this week.  (Want to read up on previous Q&As for this month? Check them out:  Robert the exercise physiologist, Janine the professional organizer, Jameel the budget counselor and Kiki the career coach.)

This month has been all about New Year’s Resolutions: getting in shape and getting organized, boning up on budget basics and becoming your own boss.  But what are our chances of actually succeeding in any (or all) of these things?  Once again, I ask you: let’s look at the math.

According to a 2008 survey conducted by author and motivational speaker, Steven Shapiro and the Opinion Research Group (Princeton, NJ), 45 percent of Americans set New Year’s Resolutions, but only 8 percent of these reach their goals each year and 24 percent say they never keep their resolutions.

(Disclaimer: I really can’t vouch for the veracity of this study, because I can’t find the data.  But let’s go with it, just to prove my point.  The numbers aren’t really all that important.)

How many of you read those statistics and thought: “Well, there’s no point in even making resolutions! With chances like those, I’m doomed to fail!”

Here’s the good news: If you nodded your head, you are not alone.  And here’s the better news: Statistics don’t work that way.

It’s easy to look at stats and think that they must be true and must apply to everyone in every situation.  Cold, hard numbers don’t lie, right?  Maybe the numbers don’t lie, but it sure is tempting to use those numbers to describe something that isn’t true.  (Politicians do it all the time.)

There are a couple of ways to describe this particular fallacy.  But I think one of most important is to consider what is known as independent events.  See, each person who sets a New Year’s Resolution is independent of all of the other people who do the same thing.  (Even if you’re all making the same resolutions.)

And it gets even trickier.  Each year that you set a resolution is independent, and each resolution that you set is also — you guessed it — independent.

In other words, your success probably doesn’t have much of anything to do with how well others have followed through on their yearly goals — or even how well you’ve done in years past.  (I say probably, because you may be one of those folks who is easily influenced by statistics.  In other words, you may decide that you cannot succeed in meeting your resolutions, simply because you read somewhere that most people don’t.)

There’s tons of research out there on why people make resolutions and how they can be successful in them. If you looked at this research and determined that you have many of the same obstacles, maybe — just maybe — you could predict your chance of success.

But simply because many other people aren’t successful doesn’t mean you are automatically doomed to fail. Independence is only one reason for this.  Randomness is another.

Dice are random, but people aren’t.  (In fact, I saw a great video that demonstrates this last week.  Of course I can’t put my hands on it now, but I’ll post a link, if I do.)  While a (fair) die only has to worry about gravity, we have many more things that influence our behavior, decisions and more.  That doesn’t mean that people aren’t more likely to act a certain way under certain conditions.  But it certainly does mean that your New Year’s resolutions are not beholden to statistics.

So, the next time you read an article about the low rate of success with New Year’s Resolutions, remember this: You certainly can succeed — even if you failed last year. And if you are philosophically opposed to New Year’s resolutions, you’ll need a better reason than most people don’t keep them.

How are you doing with your New Year’s Resolutions?  Share in the comments section.  And come back on Wednesday — I’ll reveal how things are going with me!Save

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In Math at Work Monday

Math at Work Monday: Kiki the career coach

Photo courtesy of danielmoyle

So this is the year — you’re ready to launch out into a new career, start a business, get back into the workplace after taking time off to raise the kids.  Rebecca “Kiki” Weingarten, M.Sc.Ed, MFA knows all about these big decisions.  As an executive, corporate and career coach, she’s worked with lots of folks who want to make successful career changes with no regrets.  As the cofounder of Atypical Coaching, Kiki works with corporations and individuals.  She says she once hated math, but today she uses math to help her clients make solid decisions that ease their way into uncharted professional territory.

Can you explain what you do for a living?

Short answer? I work with corporations and individuals  in the US and internationally to set and reach their goals, maximize their potential and fend off anything that gets in the way of their achieving that. Or as my tag line says: Motivating & Guiding Clients to Achieve Success, Focus, Productivity, Stress Management, Balance & Transitions.

Long answer? As an executive, corporate and career coach I’ve worked with people and corporations/institutions in just about every industry on the planet from education, government, finance, business, technology, science, health care, psychology/mental health to numerous industries in the entertainment and creative arts fields including theater, film and writing.

When do you use basic math in your job?  

I’m a firm believer that math is part of just about everything we do. That means that I use math in my job all the time. If I’m working with clients on an business, start-up, corporation or entertainment or creative project we work with budgets, time, financial parameters of a project.

If I’m working with clients on making a career transition we work on the mathematics of finances. How much more or less money will I be making? What kinds of financial sacrifices or changes will I make? If I’m going to be making more money, how will I manage that? Will I need a financial planner?

The math is pretty important when I’m working with clients on life-work balance. How many hours are in your day? How many hours do you need to work? How many leisure hours are there?

Do you use any technology to help with this math?

I use it if necessary. When working with corporations or projects, I’ll work with the people who do the math and they use whatever tools they normally use. If it’s an individual the math part usually comes in the form of coaching tasks that I assign them to do and then we discuss the results and strategize next steps during our sessions.

How do you think math helps you do your job better?

I’m aware that math is part of everything, and I embrace it as much as possible. Math is the language of time, budgets, finances and financial decisions.

How comfortable with math do you feel?

I have an interesting relationship with math. In high school I was a whiz at English and history, but I didn’t apply myself when it came to math. The year I took geometry I totally bombed one semester and decided there was no way I was going to take the Regents exam twice.  So I sat down with the class math whiz and then alone for three days and studied. I totally aced the exam. That let me know that I could do it if I just applied myself.  But I really didn’t love math best, so it still wasn’t my favorite subject.

An amazing thing happened in college when I was studying for my Bachelor’s of Science in Education. I had to take a course on teaching early childhood math and my professor (whose name escapes me now – sadly, because she was wonderful!) LOVED her subject and was such an amazing teacher. I came to understand math in a new way. Turns out I loved teaching it. I wish I’d loved it as much in elementary and high school.

Did you have to learn new skills in order to do the math you use in your job?

I learn a new math language with all the different industries I’ve been in and coach. For example for multi-billion dollar and over one-million person target-group government projects that I’ve directed, I use one kind of math. Venture capital and business plan math is another kind. Entertainment budgeting is another kind of math, and when I’m coaching individuals on negotiating salary and compensation, that’s yet another kind of math.

Talking about money is an entirely different language, and I wish women were more comfortable speaking it. When working with women I find it’s a language they’re not as comfortable with as the men I work with. Even women in the corner offices, C-level, business owners, leaders in the corporate and other industries just aren’t as comfortable as they should be doing the math of the worth of their work and contributions. I work with them to do the math of who they are, what value they bring to their work (whatever it is), how to measure that in dollars and how to assert their value in order to get the financial rewards that they should get. Whether it’s during a job interview or asking for a raise.

One’s knowledge of math should be an evolving knowledge. School provides the basics and you keep your ears, mind and abilities ready and willing to learn new knowledge and incorporate new skills.

I often kid around that I learned a lot about coaching  by being an early childhood teacher which was my very first job. Math is no exception. I learned that math is part of every single day and most activities — shopping and spending, time, money, baking and cooking. If you pay attention to how much math is part of your daily life you’ll be amazed.

I love that Kiki talks about the language of math, because that’s what most folks are afraid of — and very good at.  You’re probably an expert in your own field, whether that’s being a mom or a speech therapist or a corporate executive.  That’s half the battle in using math to further (or launch) your career.

If you have questions for Kiki, ask them in the comments section.  I’ll make sure she knows they’re here!

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In Math at Work Monday

Math at Work Monday: Janine the professional organizer

Either A&E Television is super smart or I’m easily manipulated.  On January 1, the cable channel ran a marathon of Hoarders, the documentary-style television program that shows extreme hoarders getting help to deal with their illness and their (often disgustingly) cluttered and dirty homes.

I watched several episodes.

Let’s get one thing straight: I am not a hoarder.  But like most folks, I do have a clutter problem.  Hoarders makes me feel better about my own issues, while learning a bit about how to let go of material things.  And besides, professional organizing has always been a fascinating career.  The process of helping someone get organized — their spaces, their collections, their time! — is akin to waving a magic wand.

Getting organized is one of the most common New Years resolutions, so I’ve invited professional organizer Janine Adams, who owns Peace of Mind Organizing in St. Louis, Missouri.  Not surprisingly, she uses math in her work.  Here’s how.

What do you do for a living? 

I help people create order in their homes and their lives. I specialize in working with folks who are overwhelmed by clutter and for whom getting organized is a lifelong challenge. Though no two clients are alike, I typically help in the area of decluttering, then creating systems to help people function smoothly in their homes. My special skill is in gently guiding people who have a special relationship with their things so that they can let go of stuff and feel okay about it.

When do you use basic math in your job?

When someone has too much stuff to fit into their space, we sometimes have to figure out what percentage of their things they might need to part with in order to be able to store everything. So the client might agree that he or she needs to part with three of a particular type of item for every one kept, for example. When creating storage systems, I typically try to subdivide spaces using bins, so I use simple math to figure out how many bins will fit on a shelf, for example. When working with clients on creating habits and routines and time management, we break down the day into small increments and try to figure how long things will take and what can actually get done in a given amount of time.

Some organizers do a lot more space planning than I do (I’m spatially challenged, so I don’t do space planning). I imagine they use more complicated math!

professional organizer

On the financial side of my business, I use math all the time, calculating my fees (I typically charge by the hour) as well as in calculating what I owe my subcontractors. I pay sales tax on any items I buy wholesale, but sometimes I round up or down to a whole number when I’m charging the client. Then, for bookkeeping purposes, I have to calculate the base price and the sales tax on it so that they equal the whole number.

Do you use any technology to help with this math?

I use the calculator on my iPod to check my math when I’m calculating what I’m owed (or owe subcontractors). I want to make sure I get it right. I also use a calculator when I’m figuring out sales tax. I use Quickbooks to help me with my bookkeeping and appreciate its math functionality.

How do you think math helps you do your job better?

If I didn’t know how to do basic math, I wouldn’t be able to run a business. I think it’s that simple. I feel like I’m constantly calculating fees, expenses, time available. Math is essential!

How comfortable with math do you feel?

This is very basic math. I’m comfortable with it!

What kind of math did you take in high school?

I was in an accelerated math program, but stopped at second year algebra, in 10th grade, because I didn’t enjoy it very much, to be honest. But I felt pretty good at it. I also took accounting classes, which have helped me in my two businesses (writing and organizing) and with home finances. What’s interesting to me is that I’m much better at basic math (the kind I use in every day life) than my husband is and he majored in applied mathematics in college.

Do you have questions for Janine?  Ask them in the comments section.  And be sure to come back on Wednesday and Friday.  I’ll show you exactly how you can use math to help yourself get organized.

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