Math for Grownups
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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 Home

Getting organized bit by bit

“My house is a disaster.”

How many times have you uttered these words or heard someone else say them?  You and they are not alone.  Getting organized is one of the most common New Year’s resolutions.  But like losing weight, it’s easier said than done.

But how do you manage this daunting task? If you’re inclined to take a week off of work, with high hopes of a sparkling, organized home after five long days, you may want to reconsider.  If you’re not already organized, why would you want to spend so much time cleaning out your linen closet and kitchen cabinets?

On this point, the experts agree: a little goes a long way.  So most suggest that devoting only 15 minutes a day to organization can yield big benefits.  Let’s take a look at the numbers.

If you devote five days, for (let’s be generous) 10 hours a day, you’ll end up working 50 hours total, right?  (That’s 5 days x 10 hours or 50 hours.)  And you’d probably also have a sore back and a week’s worth of vacation lost to your label maker and plastic bins and lids.

But what if you committed to 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week?  How much time will you have spent?

15 minutes x 5 days = 75 minutes

75 minutes ÷ 60 minutes = 1.25 hours (or 1 hour and 15 minutes)

Gosh, I spend more time in a week figuring out what’s for dinner.

So what if you started on January 1 and stuck with it throughout the month?

There are 22 weekdays in January

15 minutes x 22 days = 330 minutes

330 minutes ÷ 60 minutes = 5.5 hours

That’s less than the time it would take for you to watch the first two films in the Lord of the Ringstrilogy!

So let’s take this a bit farther.  If you managed to keep this resolution for an entire year, how much time will you have spent organizing?  Let’s assume there are 250 workdays in the year.  (You’re not going to organize on a holiday are you?)

15 minutes x 250 days = 3,750 minutes

3,750 minutes ÷ 60 minutes = 62.5 hours

So by devoting a mere 15 minutes a day to organizing, you can end up spending more time over the year than if you took a week off and worked on the task for 10 hours a day.  Plus, I guarantee you’ll be much more relaxed.

But what can you accomplish in 15 minutes?  Here’s a short list:

  • Cleaning out your junk drawer
  • Going through seasonal clothes and deciding what to give away, toss or keep.
  • Alphabetizing your spice rack.
  • Culling through your kids’ artwork and filing or scanning special pieces.
  • Scanning your bookshelves for titles you’re ready to part with.
  • Setting up a spot for your mail, keys, purse and jacket.

By the end of one week, you could have a tidy junk drawer, trimmed summer wardrobe, room on your bookshelves and a regular spot for your keys.  By the end of the year?  Who knows what you could accomplish!

Have any organizing tips to share?  Post your ideas in the comments section.  I’ll bet I (or someone else) can find the math in that technique!

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In Health

One Little Word, One Big Clue

 you’ve read a women’s magazine or watched one of Oprah’s weight loss shows, you know a thing or two about how to shed those pounds.  Move more, eat less, right?

You probably also know how easily we can be fooled by diet companies and nutrition labels.  One of those bags of chips you buy at the gas station between errands? The package may claim 250 calories per serving, but the bag may actually contain 2.5 servings.

It’s that tiny little word — per — that screws us up.  It’s so little, you might not even notice it.  But it can make a big difference between reaching your weight goal and wearing a muumuu on the beach this summer.

If you think back to your elementary or middle school math classes, you may remember your teacher explaining that per means each.  And if you think even harder, you might remember the operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication or division) that is indicated by the word per.

Yep, it’s good old division. Think of it this way:

Charlie has six Star Wars figures, and he’s playing with two friends.

“But I want all of them,” he screams. To which you calmly reply, “I know, but that’s not fair. How can we be fair?”

“They can have none, and I can have all of them,” says Charlie, stubbornly.

This is why we teach kids division, you think.

In that situation, you know without a doubt that dividing the Star Wars figures evenly between Charlie and his two friends is not only fair but easy: Because there are six toys and three friends, each friend gets two figures.  In other words, there are two figures per child.

You did that in your head, but the math works out.

6 toys ÷ 3 friends = 2 toys per friend

Now, look more carefully at the above statement.  Toys per friend translates to 6 ÷ 3 or 2, right?  And that means that per means to divide.

Got it?  Good.  Now you can apply this any time you see the word per. In fact, this is precisely what I did on Wednesday, when I was figuring out how long it would take me to lose 25 pounds.

Whatever you expect to lose in a week, the math is simple:

total weight lost goal ÷ loss per week = number of weeks

25 pounds ÷ 1 pounds per week = 25 weeks

So if you think you can lose 2 pounds per week, it’ll take you 12.5 weeks to lose 25 pounds:

25 pounds ÷ 2 pounds per week = 12.5 weeks

Remember, I also wanted to convert the number of weeks to months — because that’s how my brain works:

I already figured out that I can probably reach my goal in 25 weeks.  To find out how many months that is, I can just divide by 4 (the number of full weeks in a month):

25 weeks ÷ 4 weeks per month = 6.25 months

This works for a variety of calculations you may make when embarking on a plan to reach your fitness and weight loss goals.  If your trainer says you should exercise for 5 hours per week, you can divide this in a variety of ways:

5 hours ÷ 5 days = 1 hour per day

5 hours ÷ 4 days = 1.25 hours per day

5 hours ÷ 6 days = 0.83 hours per day (or 50 minutes per day)

And so on.

If you practice this skill, you’ll find yourself doing it all over the place — translating miles per hour to your estimated time of arrival, figuring out how many cheddar cheese goldfish are in a half-serving, calculating the exact number of stickers each of your triplets get from the package, and so on.

So get on with your bad self.  Use per to your advantage and don’t let servings trick you into eating more than you wanted to.

When do you use division (and per) to help with your fitness and weight loss goals?  Share your thoughts in the comments section.

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In Holidays

Turning Over a New Leaf

2012 is just around the corner, and people all over the world are making promises to themselves and others that they may not keep. Yep, it’s New Years resolution time.

Confession time: I’m not so great at keeping resolutions.  And apparently, I’m not alone.  According to a 2010 study, 60% of all Americans have made resolutions at some point in their lives, and 41% did so in 2011.  Unfortunately:

  1. Only 23% surveyed indicated that they had made “significant, long-term” change in 2010
  2. 29% said they had made a “minor change”
  3. Approximately 49% made no change at all

So there’s no point in making resolutions, right?  Based on this research, isn’t your chance of failure greater than your chance of success?

Mathematically speaking, it doesn’t work out that way.  That’s because events like success or failure of a New Years resolution are not random.

Rolling a die is random.  (You have just as much chance of rolling a 3 as a 5.)  Picking a certain card from a full deck is random.  (You have just as much chance of choosing the queen of hearts as the two of spades.)  And flipping a coin is random.  (You have a 50/50 chance of the coin landing on heads.)

But you can’t judge your success or failure in making resolutions based on the research that is done on others’ experiences.  Whether you keep or break a resolution is not random.

In fact, there’s tons of research out there that shows why some folks are able to keep their resolutions, while others are not so successful.  Here are some suggestions:

1.  Keep it simple.  When you make huge lists of resolutions and complex plans for keeping them, it’s likely that  your brain just can’t keep up.  In fact, willpower is the first thing to go.

2. Believe in yourself.  People who believe they can meet their goals actually do!

3. Get support from others.  When you’re made accountable for your actions, it’s easier to stick to your plans.

4.  Be specific. Think of your long-term goal as a series of smaller steps and focus on each one individually.

5.  Remember that change is a process.  Setbacks will happen.  It’s what you do with those little failures that make a difference in your ultimate success.

For the next month, we’ll take a week-by-week look at New Years resolutions — and how math can help you meet your goals.  Stay turned!

P.S. If your New Year’s resolution has anything to do with saving money, losing weight or learning new hobbies — but the math around those goals is frustrating at best — Math for Grownups could be a big help!

Do you make New Year’s resolutions?  Why or why not?  How successful have you been in the past?  Care to share this year’s resolutions?

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