That's NumberWang!

Writing about numbers is hardly appealing to my target audience but this blog is a shameless promotion of my self-indulgence so here we are.

I've been really good at mental arithmetic for as long as I could count. This skill has left me wondering of its origin and how "gifts" (and things of the sort) work.

"No matter how much knowledge and wisdom you acquire during your life, not one jot will be passed on to your children by genetic means. Each new generation starts from scratch." - Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene

The 10,000 hour theory is fascinating and well worth reading up on, though there are many that disagree with the principle. For me, it isn't a case of whether 10,000 hours of what Matthew Syed ambiguously terms "purposeful practice" will guarantee world-class status, rather it is the mindset that takes my interest.

In his book 'Bounce', Syed advocates the Growth mindset over the Fixed mindset. Adopting the Growth mindset is accepting your current abilities for what they are; how capable you are at any given task in this moment. The key difference to the Fixed mindset is that your abilities are not set in stone but can be improved through effort, good teaching and persistence.

Take Maths - a classic example. For most people it is black or white. You'll either fall into the "I'm rubbish at maths, always have been" category or you'll be pretty handy with the four operations. (There are also those with dyscalculia.)

Mental arithmetic has always been enjoyable and I've found it relatively easy because of that but that doesn't mean I can't improve. It would take me a long time to multiple two three-digit numbers but, if I had the motivation and learned the technique, I could increase my aptitude and speed. I'm tempted to run an experiment on myself but my issue is that if I'm focusing on improving my three-digit mental calculations, what am I neglecting?

The origins of my above average mental arithmetic ability are clear. My parents would play number games with me, usually while travelling in a car and, as a child, they were fun. I also wanted to be fast to impress them - I think this is normal? This segues into my next point: the origin of hobbies/interests and parental manipulation.

There is no way of telling whether I would have enjoyed, or been any good at, mental arithmetic if my parents didn't play number games and push me in that sense. However, there have been cases with irrefutable proof.

László and Klara Polgár and their three incredible daughters. László Polgár is of the belief that child geniuses are made, not born. He found a wife to help him in his quest to prove his belief (lol). Klara agreed, they married and had three daughters: Susan, Sofia and Judit.

They decided to make their daughters world class chess players because chess is objective and easily measured. Susan and Judit became Grandmasters, Sofia reached International Master. They had to overcome massive prejudices to get there and pioneered the way for other female players.

Their achievements have been fantastic and proven their father correct although I can't help but think about the ethics of such an experiment. A lot of the "training" was seen as fun, in a similar way that Serena and Venus Williams used to get to the tennis court before their father Richard because they loved playing tennis so much.

There have to have been sacrifices although one could quite easily argue that sacrifices are made in every situation. It's fascinatingly curious and thought-provoking, isn't it?