Ready, Set, Iterate

“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it…” And those who do, repeat something else: they iterate.

Maybe it’s an entrepreneurship class buzzword, but I’m applying it as a life philosophy. Before understanding it as a requirement for developing product-market fit, I have always been an iterator. 

The first draft of anything is always quite a catastrophe. But if we do it again and again, we automatically become better. The brain does so naturally. In my tutoring programs, I provide the context that allows students’ brains to do what it does on its own. I’m the iterator that keeps them in the test prep mindset. 

Maybe I was blessed to have been a musical iterator since I was a child. Doubtlessly, I’ve learned boundless skills through having had the opportunity to learn violin and piano, courtesy of my parents’ hard work. 

Now, I’m iterating on different things. My physical health, building this business, dealing with nay-sayers, and the list goes on. Actually, I’m iterating even in the home organization space. My brain seems absolutely obsessed with the idea of discovering marginal improvements. Every time I spot a small thing I could be doing differently to improve my process, I hop on it like a cat on a hot tin roof. 

There’s a Chinese saying for this frame of reference, of course, “熟能生巧.” It’s a beautiful aphorism that loosely states, “familiarity births dexterity.” 

Standardized tests are designed to feel like unfamiliar territory to students. That’s a big part of the reason they are difficult. Like entering a dark, forbidding forest, you can see the anxiety building, just so it can release its full force upon you right when you are about to start the exam. Our job is to help make the experience of taking the SAT or ACT feel as comfortable as walking into your living room.

How does that happen? Time, regularity, and practice. With weekly sessions, your brain will do just fine with the material. If you can keep the faith, your body will do the work.