Chapter 27 – The Secret to Keeping Students
All of my travels, doing seminars world wide have afforded me the opportunity to view thousands of schools inside and out. When I say inside, I’m referring too the books. The amount of students each respective school has, it’s relationship to overhead, and eventual success. I used to think the success of a school depended on it’s size and extravagance, there was also a time when I thought the success of a school depended upon the martial arts style, however at the end of the day, what makes a school equitable, are the amount of students that one has and it’s relationship to the overhead.
Most people in life, enter into various hobbies/sports and then get out, and then dabble into yet another hobby and sport, to eventually end up getting out of that one. The reason we don’t see many people, excelling to excellence in one sport or subject is due to the fact, that very few people are tenacious enough to stay in any subject for longer than about a year or so. Most martial art schools do not have permanent students, they simply have a perpetual influx. In order for success to occur, it is crucial that one increases the longevity of their students participation. In other words increase the flight training time, from one year to ten years plus(I personally have over 100 students that have been with me for over 20 years).
What I am about to share with you now, may appear simple and obvious, perhaps as obvious as the trees in a forest.
Here are the 3 secrets to success…
- Each student must get a great workout .
- Each student must learn something
- Each student must have fun
Regarding point #1, the single most successful, type of classes out there now a days, are aerobics classes. No one learns martial arts, actually no one learns anything. But when everyone leaves class they all have that physiological training buzz. Their bodies are loaded with serotonin, dopamine, and nor epinephrine. When people leave their aerobics class, that’s probably the best feeling they feel all week. And while they are driving home, they are justifying to themselves why they went, “I’m loosing weight !”, “I’m getting in shape”. So in a nutshell, regarding point #1, the last ten minutes of every class, I make sure my students are exhausted.
#2, it is imperative to human nature, that one feels the feeling of growth, one must know that there is some fruit at the end to justify their labor. In 85% of martial art classes, folks are going through the same stuff they learned on day one. In 85% of classes, when folks get in their car to drive home, they don’t feel like they have learned something. They sort of just went through the motions. So for me, I take a long hard look at each group class, I remember what each of my students know, and what they do not know. And I put in the effort to simply teach everyone something new, in every class.
And finally we have #3 – Perhaps the most important ingredient of all, Fun ! Fun guarantees students, longevity, and financial success. Fun, is going past the practicality of a workout, fun is even going past the practicality of learning something. Fun is very child like and visceral. And the end result when you know if a class is having fun… there all enthusiastic. If you ever want to multiply your division to confirm if people are having fun, simply watch their enthusiasm. A few of my favorite tips for fun, #1 – if you see a pair of people working together, “that are not connecting”, or are at such a disparency in level, simply change partners. Next, in each class play music. To have a radio going in the back ground is one of my most important tools. Next, get some live drums, did you ever wonder why we play with live drums? Drums increase movement by a 100%. Our bodies are subconsciously responding to the various accents and rhythms of the music. 3rd, we have incense. The most powerful sense in our body is smell, and the nanosecond we smell the incense it takes us to a martial place and helps us quiet our mind. In conclusion, remember if we give our students a great workout they are satiated physiologically. If we teach them something new they are satiated mentally. And if they are having fun, smelling incense, kicking it to some music, they are satiated emotionally. And guess the news, if your students are satiated physiologically, mentally, and emotionally, you will be satiated financially. Until next week !
Please check the Table of Contents for links to other chapters of this Online Book.
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