create a mental picture of yourself succeeding in your endeavor. Whenever
you visualize, try to use as many of your senses as you can – sight, hearing,
feeling, smelling, and touch. For example, you may want to visualize yourself
getting an A on the next math test. Paint a picture of a scene like this:
Visualize yourself sitting in the classroom while your instructor is passing
back the test paper. As he or she gives you your test paper, feel the paper in
your hand and see the big red A on top of it. Your friend next to you says,
‘‘Way to go!’’ I don’t know how to include your sense of smell in this
picture, but maybe you can think of a way.
The best time to visualize is after relaxing yourself and when it is quiet. Of
course, you can use visualization any time when it is convenient.
A fourth way to develop a positive attitude is to give yourself apep talk
every once in a while. Pep talks are especially helpful when you are trying to
learn different topics, when you are ready to give up, or when you have a
mental block.
How we talk to ourselves is very important in what we believe about
ourselves. Shad Helmstetter wrote an entire book on what people say to
themselves. It is entitledThe Self-Talk Solution. In it he states, ‘‘Because
75% or more of our early programming was of the negative kind, we auto-
matically followed suit with self-programming of the same negative kind.’’ As
you can see, negative self-talk will lead to a negative attitude.
Conversely, positive self-talk will help you develop a positive self-image.
This will help you not only in mathematics but also in all aspects of your life.
Another suggestion to help you to be positive about mathematics is to be
realistic. You should not expect to have perfect test papers every time you
take a test. Everybody makes mistakes. If you made a careless mistake, forget
it. If you made an error on a process, make sure that you learn the correct
procedure before the next test. Also, don’t expect to make an A on every
exam: sometimes a C is the best that you can accomplish. In mathematics,
some topics are more difficult than others, so if you get a C or even a lower
grade on one test, resolve to study harder for the next test so that you can
bring up your average.
Finally, it is important to developenthusiasm for learning. Learning is to
your mind what exercise is to your body. The more you learn, the more
intelligent you will be. Don’t look at learning as something to dread.
When you learn something new and different, you are improving yourself
and exercising your mind. Learning can be fun and enjoyable, but it requires
effort on your part.
Developing a positive attitude about mathematics alone will not enable
you to pass the course. Achieving success requires hard work by studying,278 SUPPLEMENT Overcoming Math Anxiety