Economist Gary North wrote the following in his e-mail newsletter this week. I always appreciate the bits of advice he shares at the beginning of each newsletter and have found it both practical and helpful on many occasions. You can sign up for his Tip of the Week E-mail Newsletter on the home page of his website. Since most Independent Music Teachers are small business owners, it behooves us to be business savvy.
I like a long, hot shower. In fact, I like two a day.
There is a problem with long showers. They are expensive. No, it’s not the cost of the hot water. It’s the time.
The more valuable your time, the more expensive a long shower is. The same principle applies to taking my dogs for a morning walk. It also applies to the time I spend on my treadmill. (Joke!)
Here is my solution: before I take a shower, I plan a mental topic for my shower time. I go over it as I shower. Earlier this week, I was struggling with a marketing problem. I usually think about marketing in my disciplined spare time. I got into this habit for drive time when I started my first newsletter in 1974. I had been stuck on this problem for several days. The solution came to me in the shower.
That will turn out to be a profitable shower. I am confident that the idea will work. Of course, I will test it. It won’t cost much to test. Maybe 5 minutes.
Convert spare time into profitable work. Don’t daydream. Plan. The mind is tricky. We don’t know when something useful will pop into our minds. I find that if I think carefully about something, solutions will occur to me unpredictably within a few hours.
Don’t you think we could use this same principle with those difficult situations we are facing with particular students? Perhaps coming up with a creative way to present a skill? Or devising a short game to play to reinforce a concept a student has been struggling to learn? I’m eager to give it a try this week and see what I come up with!
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