Discipline is based both on Repetitive Habit as well as Systems based on Systems.

If you hit a wall, then brute-forcing the problem is not only not going to work, it will work against you.

Brute forcing is forced pattern recognition. Even if you master the answers on a static test in this way, you didn't actually gain a skill. You just memorized meaningless patterns. Different tests will confuse you.

The more you fail, the more hopeless it will feel, and your confidence will wear away as your stress increases, causing a burnout where the more you try, the foggier your head gets.

The solution to this seems to be to go back and master an earlier system since this one is too advanced for you. There are reasons for that. You didn't master the previous level, and there are deep cracks in your understanding.

You aren't a failure, but running a program with incomplete code. Of course you are going to fail when your foundations are fractured.

If you can't do math in your head, go back 1 grade, and see if you can do that level. If not, keep going back. It is easy to feel infantilized by the childish nature of basic arithmetic tutorials.

You are an adult. You are supposed to be beyond this.

This mentality is trash. If you don't like the way these tutorials are presented, work out the problems with a blank sheet of paper instead.

Make your own tutorials to break down what went wrong.

Find the cracks. Where is the pain? Where are you hurting? Where is the missing code?

It may be that you only partially memorized your addition tables, which has a rippling effect all the way up to advanced mathematics.

That's what it means to have cracks in your foundational understanding. No shame. Just find the cracks and patch them.

Make a list of basic arithmetic problems you can't do in your head. This is your Hard Table. Practice memorizing your Hard Tables.

For example, why is 7 x 2 easier than 7 + 5?

There's the crack. Find more.

Pay attention to the Stress on each problem.

There should be no stress on any problem. You need to be able to do Math in your head quickly and completely with little effort if you expect to solve more advanced problems without crashing.

I know how to solve 7 + 5. 7 + 3 = 10, and then there's 2 left over because 5 - 3 = 2. The answer is 12. Look at all the energy that took.

That's the problem.

Memorizing 7 + 5 would be more efficient. I need to manage my Energy Efficiency. 7 x 2 didn't take the same amount of energy because it was memorized. I didn't need a hack.

Ah, but then I'm contradicting myself. Am I trying to brute force "7 + 5"? Because if I brute force it, then it's just a meaningless pattern, and I didn't actually learn a skill.

I'm only cheating myself out of a skill so I can pass a test.

I need a reason. I need a "Why?" because Why, Where, When, and How are Power. I need Power. I need Power over my own inner Logic.

Power gives me a Mnemonic Device that allows for Leverage. I leverage a skill to cause work to happen. If I don't have leverage, then I don't have power, and nothing gets done. Power drives Work. If Work is done for Extrinsic Authority, then Work will be done only for Extrinsic Authority. When I need that Work done for an Intrinsic Authority, I'm screwed! Tell me what to do! Nope. Nobody is here. There is no Authority Structure but me. All I have is Intrinsic Authority, which causes friction against my foundational understanding of basic skills that rely exclusively on Extrinsic Authority. Fuck. No use crying over spilled milk. This is why I'm here, to clean and repair.

So, it isn't just the Hard Tables. I need to write out a reason for each equation. I need to know what that equation means to me. A Mnemonic Device to aid my Memory.

This was a problem in School growing up. I didn't want the knowledge. I just wanted to play and not be hassled.

"If I memorize these meaningless patterns, will you leave me alone?"

What does that mean?

It means that Data is meaningless, and Information has meaning. I allocate Memory to Meaning and not Data. Data can be referenced, so why commit it to Memory?

Data must be Translated into Information.

As in Cooking, presentation is everything. Charts are dull and lifeless. They are not Comprehensive. They do nothing for my Emotions. I cannot properly digest Charts. I need to revise a Chart into a form that I can digest easily, or I will try to brute force memorization of the chart, which my brain recognizes as swallowing Gasoline.

The Mental Exercise of "Chunking" applies. I am working towards memorization of chunks of data to translate into meaningful information.

So, to Approach Mathematics with Firestone ends in Frustration.

To Approach Mathematics with Waterstone opens me up to the various Arithmetic Learning Strategies that were not taught in Elementary School, but using only Waterstone just dilutes my focus without settling on a choice to act on. It's nice to have options, but a choice needs to be made.

Earthstone says I can't solve the problem and I have to build my activities around it. I am what I am, and that's all I'll ever be. This is Righteousness. There is a right way to operate, and all else is false.

Windstone wants the value generated by Mathematics. It wants to unlock the puzzle to indulge in the effect of being a Powerful Mathemagician. This is not dull classwork...This is Ancient Sorcery.

Earthstone says I should be more realistic about Math by Memory. Working out Math on Paper has Merit. There is no shame in using Tools to Solve Puzzles. Waterstone approves of this because Earthstone is changing his mind about something, which is rare.

Firestone brings up the fact that repetitive daily review may help with rote memorization but agrees with Waterstone that alternate methods may help with mental and emotional digestion of data into information.

Lifebloodstone chimes in, mentioning the Infant Dynamic. I am an Infant as the core foundation of my being. That Dynamic has 2 functions, to Absorb my Environment, and to Process/Digest that Data into Information. One happens while awake, and the other happens during sleep. As a more advanced foundational layer, the Inner Child functions as a Gamer. Just as Tet from No Game no Life is the God of Play. The Inner Child learns through Play. So, Learning won't happen until I'm getting my REM Sleep, and my job while awake is to guide the right Sensory Input into my Brain to be assembled into Mental Machinery of Thought and Skill during incubation/sleep.

Intelligencestone: When looking at the set of Division Tables, I notice a Pattern. All the Answers are 1 to 12. I also notice that each set of Equations from 1 - 12 deals in Counting by 1's, 2's, 3's, etc,...

Warstone: "We don't know how to COUNT??!! HAHAHAHA oh I'm done. Goodnight! That's it! Pfft HAHAHAHA!"

Peacestone: "Get a grip! This just means the problem is more foundational than we thought. It's nothing to get riled up about. "

Firestone: "Yes. The only thing to be done is to grind on this daily. Learn to count. Practice over time will whittle this problem down to nothing, but it won't be solved in one sitting. Meanwhile, there is other work to keep up with in our Classes. Let's not linger on this."

Coin: "Isn't the division table communitive to the multiplication table like the addition table is to the subtraction table? That would mean that learning one proves the other. That could cut our work in half."

Earthstone: "Who let you in here?! Guards!"

(Coin dives into a wall-socket and vanishes)