> The problem comes with how you define success. Exactly. With math, you must focus on the journey at least as much as the destination. While the proof motiv

> The problem comes with how you define success. Exactly. With math, you must focus on the journey at least as much as the destination. While the proof motivates the effort, the mastery of math comes not in deriving elegant proofs, but in devising 'A' proof, then remembering how you did it so you can later: 1) use the method again in other proofs and 2) improve on the proof, often by learning from others. Nobody jumps straight from zero to hero. Like chessmasters, only the best mathematicians invent techniques. Most just employ what they've learned in inventive combination play.