[marktani]

For me it feels like talent = \int_{time} love.

Reminds me of the meme where a kid is dropping tears on the math assignment sheet, "when you do homework with your dad". Forcing kids to spend time on something is an effective way to spoil it for them.

Exploring [math] from a place of curiosity, openness, joy - so, love - is to act out of alignment.

This also means that you need to start from within to develop your talent. What are you curious about, what excites you? Doesn't matter if that's math, obscure bird species or screws.

There's a compounding effect here, once you're deep enough in a couple domains you're starting to see their commonalities and less explored nuances at the domain boundaries.

[lblume]

> Forcing kids to spend time on something is an effective way to spoil it for them.

I generally agree. However most school systems force students to learn basic math, which is generally used for testing whether the student is able to think structurally and follow simple rules. Although I agree intrinsic motivation to be extremely valuable, not doing math with children the way school intends may just lead to worse grades and outcomes.