Secret sauce for a beautiful mind in the making

My take on secrets for a beautiful mind

Enrolling in the following course from my alma mater remotely via EdX(utAustinx) prompted me to inscribe this digital post, with the sole hope of leaving behind a digital footprint, that is hopefully useful to chance blog readers.


Effective Thinking Through Mathematics
Understand Deeply 
Don't face complex issues head-on; first, understand simple ideas deeply. Clear the clutter and expose what is really important. Be brutally honest about what you know and don't know. Then see what's missing, identify the gaps, and fill them in. Let go of bias, prejudice, and preconceived notion. There are degrees to understanding (it's not just a yes-or-no proposition) and you can always heighten yours. Rock-solid understanding is the foundation for success.

Make Mistakes

Fail to succeed. Intentionally get it wrong to inevitably get it even more right. Mistakes are great teachers - they highlight unforeseen opportunities and holes in your understanding. They also show you which way to turn next, and they ignite your imagination.

Raise Questions

Constantly create questions to clarify and extend your understanding. What's the real question? Working on the wrong questions can waste a lifetime. Ideas are in the air - the right questions will bring them out and help you see connections that otherwise would have been invisible.

 Follow the Flow of Ideas

Look back to see where ideas came from and then look ahead to discover where those ideas may lead. A new idea is a beginning, not an end. Ideas are rare - milk them. Following the consequences of small ideas can result in big payoffs.

The Quintessential Element 

The unchanging element is change - by mastering the first four elements, you can change the way you think and learn. You can always improve, grow, and extract more out of your education, yourself, and the way you live your life. Change is the universal constant that allows you to get the most out of living and learning.

As always, the sweetest reward of practicing such effective mathematical thinking is to discover your ability to create and nurture a beautiful mind 

~ Quintessentially curious student for life 

On Creativity and Imagination ...

Csikszentmihalyi in his book on Flow observes the lives and psyche of creative people. Below is a brief summary of the same.

                                                          The Myth

That there is one "creative personality". Something all creative people seem to share is complexity-they "tend to bring the entire range of human possibilities within themselves".

The lesson

The author says that it would be too easy to see creative people as a privileged elite. However, their lives are a message that we should all be able to find work that is fulfilling and that we love. In fact, the greatest achievement for them was having created their own lives or careers without recourse to social expectation.

The Intrinsic Reward

We are happiest when we are being creative because we lose our sense of self and get the feeling that we are part of something greater. We are actually programmed to get satisfaction and pleasure from discovery and creativity because its results lead to our survival as a species. New ideas are needed more than ever if the planet is going to survive, and the best ones are likely to come from genuinely creative people.

Pearls of Insipiration