In today's episode, Neil discusses how he schedules his lessons and why he isn't keen on taking lots of breaks during the teaching day.

"Maybe I’ll ring a bell in your mind, maybe you’ll think differently and have a different approach – either way, take whatever is useful from here and do let me know your thoughts and ideas."


KEY TAKEAWAYS

• First of all, I confess to not liking breaks very much: I teach back-to-back lessons, usually in blocks of 4 or 5 hours. A couple of my tutoring friends think I’m working too hard and should have a break between every lesson, but I can’t agree with them.
• There’s not much I like to do more than teaching, so I want to do it as much as I can, whenever I can, and as often as I can. That’s also why I don’t do holidays – because not doing something that’s incredibly rewarding and massive fun in order to do anything less fun just doesn’t make sense to me.
• I do limit my face-to-face teaching time to 50 hours a week, so I want to concentrate my 50 chargeable hours into highly productive blocks. Peak time for me is between 5pm and 10pm weekdays, so I usually book that period solid and don’t schedule a break for myself. I’ll book the rest of the day in booked-solid blocks, consolidating as many lessons as I can into each day.
• Breaks don’t pay the rent – let’s say you charge £50 an hour for your tuition – every 30 minute break costs you £25 – or to put it another way, your hourly rate drops to £40per hour.
• Breaks disturb my rhythm – I’m much happier as one lesson runs into the next, there’s a sort of momentum built up and my energy stays high when I’m teaching – breaks, on the other hand, are slumps in my energy, so I have to regain that momentum every time I take a break. To me it’s like driving in stop-go traffic, accelerating from rest and working up through the gears uses more petrol than cruising at a steady 60mph on the motorway.
• Breaks break my state – When I’m teaching I’m at my best – alert, interested, enthusiastic, funny, caring and committed: this is how I love to feel and how I love to move through the world. Every unnecessary break I take moves me out of that state and is a less enjoyable experience.
• Teaching is bliss – it is something I love to do - I’m in flow, most of the time – Mihaili Czikzhentmihaili – peak state. Time distortion: hours fly by in a pleasurable state for me – I project that and my students pick up on it, too. I believe it makes me a more effective teacher, too.

 

 

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Tutor Podcast

Weird Things Guitarists Do book by Neil Cowmeadow

www.Neilcowmeadow.com

 

ABOUT THE HOST

Neil Cowmeadow is a maverick peripatetic guitar teacher from Telford with over 19 years’ experience in the business of helping people. Learn how to start, grow and love your business with Neil’s invaluable advice and tips without the buzzwords and BS!

 

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