How many of us know more about a healthy lifestyle than we practice? Nearly all of us I bet. This is the essence of the Knowing-Doing Gap. Often we know what we should do—the vital behaviors that would get us the results we want—but we aren’t able to get ourselves and others to act on them. 

This challenge leaps off the page in a New York Times article about a company that has broken the code on teaching math. This new company, Indian Math Online, uses deliberate practice to help elementary, middle-school, and high-school students master mathematics. Students take carefully constructed tests that pinpoint gaps in their knowledge, then build mastery through focused drills. And it works! Students who stick with the program improve their math skills quickly and dramatically.

But, here’s the challenge. Most students don’t stick with the program. The company’s own research shows that children of Indian and Chinese immigrants stick with the program, but American kids lose interest after a month or two. I think American families aren’t providing enough motivation to keep their kids on track. Or maybe the program isn’t generating enough intrinsic interest to keep American kids engaged.

I have a friend whose daughter has turned herself into a fine musician and athlete. She labors over her music and her sports, and her deliberate practice pays off. But, when it comes to academics, she doesn’t put in the practice time and her academic performance suffers. She would really benefit from Indian Math Online. But I doubt she’d stick to it. In fact, while her world is perfectly organized to help her become a musician and an athlete, it provides almost no support for her to succeed academically.

Here is the big question: How can we make academic practice as motivating as the practice associated with athletics and music? The challenge is to build her motivation using Influence Sources 1, 3, and 5.

Source 1 Personal Motivation: My friend’s daughter hates math.

The Goal: She needs to take personal pride in her math abilities.  She needs to take pleasure in the little insights and wins that accompany practice. She needs to value the personal accomplishment that comes with mastery.

Source 3 Social Motivation: Her parents don’t like math. They don’t encourage her to practice math or praise her for her math achievements as they do with her music and athletics. Furthermore, when she thinks of people who are good at math, she thinks of nerds and losers.

The Goal: Her parents need to encourage and support her practice and achievements. She needs to see that many of the people she looks up to—her auntie who’s a physician, her cousin who’s an engineer—are who they are because they are good at math.

Source 5 Structural Motivation: Music and athletics involve frequent concerts and competitions—occasions to feel like a winner, to celebrate, and to be recognized by friends and family. Math has exams and grades, but they don’t make my friend’s daughter feel like a winner, celebrate, or be recognized.

The Goal: She needs frequent, short-term occasions to demonstrate her progress in math—and to be rewarded and recognized for her improvements.