Page 134 - A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science

notes that we could all learn from the successes and failures of hostage
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negotiation. At the beginning of such situations, emotions run high. Efforts to
speed matters along often lead to disaster. Staving off natural desires to react
aggressively to emotional provocations allows time for the molecules of emotion
to gradually dissipate. The resulting cooler heads save lives.
Emotions that goad you by saying, “Just do it, it feels right,” can be
misleading in other ways. In choosing your career, for example, “Follow your

passion” may be like deciding to marry your favorite movie star. It sounds great
until reality rears its head. The proof is in the outcome: Over the past decades,
students who have blindly followed their passion, without rational analysis
of whether their choice of career truly was wise, have been more unhappy
with their job choices than those who coupled passion with rationality. 8
All of this relates to my own life. I originally had no passion, talent, or skill

in math. But as a result of rational considerations, I became willing to get good
at it. I worked hard to get good at it. And I knew that working hard wasn’t
enough—I also had to avoid fooling myself.
I did get good at math. That opened the door to science. And I gradually got
good at that, too. As I got good, the passion also came.
We develop a passion for what we are good at. The mistake is thinking that
if we aren’t good at something, we do not have and can never develop a passion

for it.