How do you build a roadmap?

Over the years I have learned quite a few skills when it comes to Computer Science. I started building websites with WordPress and HTML/CSS. PHP, Javascript. I really like learning new things and I benefit from that every day. I even built this website from A to Z.

But recently I can sense that my hunger for learning new things is growing to a point where I’m not quite sure I’m suitable anymore. Or let me put it another way: the more you know, the more you realize that you know very little. ¹ The original quote derived from this is from the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley: “The more we study the more we discover our ignorance”.

I am, of course, talking about math. The science that lies as the foundation under everything. I’d even venture to say that without Mathematics we still wore bearskins and were walking around with bats.

And although I took Mathematics in High School, I am pretty sure about 2 things:

1. That knowledge has already sunk a long way
2. The math you learn at school is not the beautiful, magical math that lets you discover the world ² This is mostly what I read in math books. I’m parroting others here.

Okay, so I want to learn Mathematics. And that roadmap starts for me, where every quest pretty much starts. At Google.

However, that soon started to make me dizzy. 2,520 million results…

So I went to YouTube (my favorite learning portal) and entered the same search terms [how do I learn math].

Scanning a few videos ³I am still a bit confused about the word math. Is it math, maths, or mathematics? Now it turns out, as so often, the difference between math and maths is UK English or US English. Learned something again. I knew one thing for sure: there is not 1 right way to learn Mathematics, but there are 1000 ways. Good luck choosing the right one!

Start at the beginning

If only it were all that simple

It soon became clear to me. I had to solve this problem myself. Time for pen and paper! Beforehand there were two aspects that I was reasonably sure about:

1. Math is hard
2. Many people are afraid of Mathematics

We’ve all heard someone yell, “I’m not a math person.” ⁴ Or something to that effect, like “I’m not good with numbers.”

And to be quite honest, I had (and maybe I have) this belief too. Mathematics is reserved for geniuses like Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, John Nash, or even Srinivasa Ramanujan. And with that, the picture changed from Mathematics itself, towards another topic: my mindset and my beliefs.

Because why shouldn’t I get good at math? Isn’t the fact that I’m eager to learn it already an important clue? Or the fact that I’m good at programming? Or my love of data? And if so, is following various (online) courses on Mathematics and a lot of self-study enough? Or do you need a diploma/university education?

And the problem with asking too many questions is that they raise even more questions, like where do you start? Just Algebra and what level then?

And as for the learning itself, how does it work? Do Anki cards still work? Is the Zettelkast method effective? Digital or pen and paper? Notion or Evernote?

I ended up with a huge headache and a million questions.

Disappointed, I told myself that it wasn’t a good idea and that math wasn’t for me at all. I will stay on the path I already know.

Ensuring the right mindset

It’s all in your head

Unfortunately, or should I say, fortunately, I couldn’t get the idea out of my head. I just wanted to learn and understand Mathematics. Period.

I noticed that there was a correlation between my thoughts and not starting a path towards math. This had nothing to do with the abundant educational material, but more with my mindset and especially the beliefs that held me.

I just never saw myself as a “Mathematician” or “Math person”, or even as an intelligent/talented person.

Do you see where this is going yet?

Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes.

Peter Drucker

All those negative thoughts were exactly why I never launched my blog, why I never started YouTube, and why I never put anything I created in the spotlight.

My number 1 problem was my negative mindset.

I simply didn’t believe I was capable of doing those things.

And guess what? I am not alone. Several famous and successful people have the same troubles. It’s so widespread it has a name: imposter syndrome.

I decided to read more about it and a logical start was of course to start with my mindset. Soon I came across Mindset by Carol Dweck. It even turned out to be in our bookcase for several years, because my wife had bought it once. ⁵ Sometime in the future I will write a review of the book.

After that I also ended up with another book about mindsets, mainly focused on Mathematics: Mathematical Mindsets by Jo Boaler.

So how do you make a plan for the future?

It’s time for version 2.0

With all the knowledge I found I started to create a new roadmap, with the somewhat vague goal of learning math as my primary point on the horizon, but now with several small steps. Because I realized the following things:

Realization 1: Take your time

One of the first things I noticed was that I was in a hurry. Like the devil was on my heels. I had to know everything within a month. Like I ran out of time. And that doesn’t work. Studying, learning, and developing, all take time. To incorporate the information and knowledge.

There’s plenty of time. Take it easy.

I don’t mind losing as long as I see improvement or I feel I’ve done as well as I possibly could.

Carol Dweck

Realization 2: If you have a dot on the horizon, anything will help you

If you know which way you want to go, then everything that comes your way will help you. That may sound like a tile of wisdom, but believe me it really works that way.

Realization 3: You can learn a lot from bad courses

Realization 3 reminded me of my childhood. I used to play a lot of tennis and then you have different opponents of different levels. Some were much better than me, but sometimes I also had strong and much better opponents. Or tennis players who didn’t have their day.

When it comes to bad courses it sometimes seems like a waste of time, but funnily enough, you can also learn a lot from bad courses. Namely, how not to do certain things, or how to see why something goes wrong.

Realization 4: You don’t have to be the best

Perfectionism is terrible. It can cause any plan to derail. A way to keep planning and working on something endlessly. Or in my case, that you never start anything. Sometimes good is good enough.

Here’s my plan roadmap

I’m taking my time

Learning math is now my primary focus. Even if I start slowly and at the beginning. Step by step I will get there.