What's the problem with starting over

I was working with one of my tutoring students who was practicing their characters for their foreign language class. There is a clear order for each character that must be followed.

As I watched her, she did step 1 for each character. Then Step 2. Then step 3 for each character until they were all completed on the final steps.

I see students do this with math facts, too. Writing the first number of each problem first, then the multiplication for each, then the second and finally the equal sign at the same time.

Compared to the students (and people for that matter) who write and solve problem 1 before doing any set up or solving for the remaining questions.

I see it enough that it struck me as curious. What is the reasoning? Does it mirror students' willingness to work?

In my small and limited case study, I find that many times, the students who solve one problem at a time are the ones who are much more willing to complete the work. the students who complete one at a time seem to just do it, there is less drag and more flow and repetition.

The students who do 1 step for each problem and so on are more work-avoidant.

With the initial student, it seemed that the idea of completing one character only to find the next needing complete all the way back to step one felt like starting all the way over.

You accomplish something only to find an equal size pile to be cleaned up somewhere else. Feeling like you are not making any progress.

"I did it!!"........ "oh wait, there is more to come."

Why are people so resistant to the feeling of starting over?

It feels like it is based in confidence. It takes a lot of energy and effort when you aren't confident in the work you are doing. Mentally your brain is taxed much more than when you know what you are doing. When you are confident, it is more effortless, you can be on autopilot more than when you do not know how to do something as well.

So if you have to put in a higher amount of energy to complete a task, when you move to the next one, you realize you have to put in the same amount of energy.

That is taxing. It is draining.

And it's a tricky area to navigate because in order to get to the point of more autopilot, you need to put in a lot of hours of practice. But those hours of practice can be exhausting. Each problem feels like a restart, back to square one.

How can we assist people and students alike to shift them from the mental tax of work to a confident level?

Isn't that a major question to education and life.

For those students I work with, I find ways to break up the learning. I give them a clear, defined stopping (or pausing point) and an activity to earn or complete after that they enjoy. My character student was to complete 3 characters in order with the right strokes and then she could work on the cross word puzzle she wanted. Another day was coloring in her journal. Or getting a playdough break.

On the days I haven't implemented these break goals, the session dragged on. She became more agitated, continued to ask when it was done, and worked even more slowly.

This helped in all activities we'd work on: reading, writing, math.

It is common to feel like you are totally restarting each problem when you are not confident in the skills. But it doesn't have to be the norm anymore if you can learn what breaks work for you or the person you are working with. Maybe its a different activity, or a stand break, snack break, check your phone. While it may in turn take longer, you are improving your relationship with the task and, hopefully in the long run, improve your efficiency and confidence in the work you do.