What’s the best advice you’ve gotten?

 One of the best pieces of advice I got was from a tutor I had several years ago. I was applying to Uni and was being tutored for the SSAT. I was incredibly tired that day and my session was almost over. All that was left was one math problem that, while not particularly hard, was incredibly timely. It was a several part problem with long numbers and variables that I had to check over several times so that I didn't make a small mistake that would ruin my whole process. After I had finished the problem, I went into another lengthy process to check my work. When he asked me what I was doing, I explained my entire process back to him. At this point I was reaching my limit for the amount of energy I had left to work on math. As I was halfheartedly re-explaining my work, my tutor stopped me. He asked me why I was going through all of this trouble to check my work when I had gotten an answer already. When I told him that I was checking my work to make sure I didn't make any mistakes in my process, he interrupted me. "No" he said, "You shouldn't waste all of this time redoing your own work. You have to know yourself that you are right and move on!" As it turns out, he was right. I had gotten the problem right and had spent more than needed time on it. But as I left the tutoring building, I began to question his advice. "Why in the world would I not take the extra effort to make sure I'm not wrong?" I thought to myself. All my life the education I had been given has told me to meticulously check my work, making sure every process was correct. Little did I know how helpful that advice would be for me in the future.

The SSAT math section consists of majority multiple choice questions with a few written answer ones at the end. Generally, if you were to get an answer given to you through your work, you usually would be correct. In this instance, not checking your work would generally be helpful. It allows you to have more time coming to an answer. It also removes the worry of running out of time. But as I was working through practice tests, occasionally, I would make a small mistake and end up with a wrong answer. I'm sure that if I had spent the time rechecking my answer I would have fixed my mistake. Conversely, If I do take the time to check my work, I would feel the time pressure much more. This would end up in me not having enough time on the last few problems, causing me to miss a few. I was in a dilemma. Both possibilities would have me missing problems on some instances. As I thought about this situation I began to ponder a solution. How can I both be confident in my answers and still have time to finish all  the necessary problems? At that moment, I had an epiphany. A solution to the problem I didn't even know I had. What if the issue wasn't choosing between two option as I thought, but to adjust my work routine entirely? All this time, the real issue wasn't choosing to spend time checking my work. It was needing to slow down on my first attempt to make sure I could be confident in my answers the first time.

After finally realizing this, I saw an immediate uptick in my results. Beforehand, I had been unconsciously rushing through every problem I got. I would try to get an answer as fast as possible so that I would have extra time after I was finished to check through my work. But this process sometimes led me to make simple mistakes that I wouldn't have made if I was more careful. I was setting myself up to fail the first time by worrying so much about making a mistake that I would second guess myself in the process. What I needed was to slow down, carefully plot out my work, and catch mistakes the first time. With this new process, I was able to be confident in the answer that I would get the first time. I wouldn't have to go back and check for tiny mistakes because I wouldn't make those mistakes in the first place. But this new process wasn't just useful for math, it has also helped me in things such a reading and writing. In reading, when answering questions on a text, I would end up rushing through the first time reading, and then going back and trying to find the answers I needed. But taking the time to read through carefully and understand the text the first time helped me not only save time, but also understand what the question is looking for. In writing, I tended to make mistakes in my writing and leave them there until a future date where I would eventually fix them. But making sure I don't make tiny writing mistakes in the first place allows me to focus more time on the actual ideas of my writing. 

But this advice was not just useful for academic work, it has also helped me in my day-to-day life. In conversations, I found that slowing down and taking my time when talking has helped me a lot in making sure I clearly state what I want to say. Especially in disagreements or when the subject matter is something that I am passionate about, I have found that it is easy to jump to incorrect conclusions about the other side. Taking the time to figure out exactly what you want to say can really help avoid unnecessary conflicts. Another odd place in which this advice had been helpful for me was in planning my morning routine. Often in the morning I would get ready for school and, already on the bus, realize I had forgot to brush my teeth or close the door. I have found that slowing down and taking the time to think out loud about what I need to do in the morning has helped me make sure I get everything that is necessary done. The best advice I have ever got was not something that someone just straight up told me. Instead, I was given a piece of the puzzle and had the actual conclusion left out for me to discover myself. To this day, I'm not sure that I reached the conclusion that my tutor wanted me to reach. But regardless, the advice he gave me was exactly what I needed to change my mentality and make sure I am confident in my actions and get things right the first time.