Describe a piece of advice that you received and found useful

I'd like to talk about some advice I received from my high school teacher, Mr Rahimov, when I was about seventeen. I was a student who tended to give up quickly if something was difficult, especially in mathematics. I used to say that I was just not a maths person.

One afternoon, after I had failed a test, I stayed behind in the classroom, feeling quite discouraged. Mr Rahimov noticed and asked me what was wrong. I told him I'd never be good at the subject. He thought for a moment and said something I've never forgotten: that being good at something is mostly a question of how many times you are prepared to be bad at it first. He suggested that, instead of studying for hours before a test, I should solve just five problems every day, no matter what.

I decided to take his advice, mostly because I respected him. At first, it was hard and sometimes boring, but after a month, I noticed that I was understanding things better. By the end of the year, my marks had improved from a D to a B, which was a huge achievement for me.

The advice was useful because it changed the way I look at learning. It showed me that regular, small efforts are more effective than occasional bursts of hard work. I've used this idea ever since, for example when learning English or preparing for professional exams. I still think of him when I want to give up.