How much time do you really have in a week!

[JiuJitsuNation]

After missing almost two weeks of class I had a student come in and say to me"Sorry coach, I mean no disrespect for missing class." I appreciate the gesture and his posture. So I said "Come here, I want to show you something." From there I went on to ask him how many hours he had worked last week. 59. How many hours do you sleep at night? 4 I wrote down 6. How many hours do you spend in the gym lifting? 2 a day. And on we went. So lets look at this

59 hours at work

42 hours of sleep

14 hours in the gym (not mine)

equals 115 hrs accounted for.

There are 168 hours in a week. which leaves him with 53 unaccounted hours left. I'm only asking for 4.

After our little sit down he was dumbfounded at the time he had left and couldn't say where it went. Most people aren't nearly as active as he. He understood and expressed at that point that he had obviously made excuses because he couldn't argue with the numbers.

A how to attitude in life is crucial for accomplishing goals.

Don't base what you are going to be, off of what everybody else is not.

[isshinryu5toforever]

I love martial arts, I always have. I've been involved in some form for nearly 19 years now, but life does happen. You can't fault a person for working nearly 60 hours a week, sleeping for hours a night, and missing a couple of weeks of martial arts classes. The rest of his time probably went into eating, traveling back and forth to work, getting ready, and finally getting a little relaxation in from the work week.

A lot of people do make excuses for themselves, why they didn't train harder, why they weren't more dedicated, but I always attribute it to life just happening. We want our students to be dedicated at all times, but sometimes they can't be. Kudos to the student for taking the initiative to apologize though, most wouldn't.

[bushido_man96]

I used to think about things like that a lot, but now, if I miss a class, I don't sweat it. I go when I can, and remember that the reason I do it is because I enjoy doing it, not because I have to do it.

Now, there is another side of me that balances this out, by constantly reminding me that someone else is training, and getting better, and what if I meet him at work some day?

I also have a family, and do shift work, so I'm not always on a set schedule. So, things pop up, and classes can take the back burner at times.

[JiuJitsuNation]

My focus was more on time management and not that he had to be there. Regardless of what you feel about missing, 50 some odd hours and you don't know where they went can make you really think of the possibilities. You may even decide to do something you once thought you had no time for. Time management.

[sensei8]

Time management is important! However, time management has to be managed consistently for it to mean anything, imho. Otherwise, time gets away quickly before you know it.

The child students are subjective to their parents schedules and the like, so, what follows is meant for the adult students.

Having said that, if my ADULT students don't want to practice and/or come to class often, I don't care! If they don't care, then I don't care! I'm not their mommy or their daddy or their spouse or anything to them, other than their sensei.

If they don't respect their own training, then I don't. They can be a white belt forever. They won't get and I won't give them an invitation to the next testing cycle. My students know where the Hombu is. They know where they can find me. They know the class times. They know a lot of things and they are in control of their lifes, not I. I'm only in charge of the Hombu.

Their training ethics reflect in their abilities! I can see it! They can lie to me all they want when I ask them if they've practiced at all, but, I can SEE! I'm not dumb and I'm not blind. My students must be honest to themselves first before they can be honest with me.

I'll encourage them to attend classes and the like, but I'm not going to hold their hands or drive them to and from or anything else. My responsibilities to my students doesn't include baby-sitting them in any shape, way, and/or form concerning practice and coming to class.

I'm always telling my students that they can ALWAYS find the time to come to class and/or time to practice. If they have time to do absolutely nothing, then they have time to practice and come to class...If they want to. If they're to tired to come to class, I'm cool with that. I know what it's like to be too tired to come to class/practice, it's all good! If they choose to not to either, I'm complete in my totality; it's all good!

5 minutes here, and 5 minutes there adds up, and before they know it; they've practiced 30 minutes to an hour that day.

"But Sensei, why blah, blah, blah?" Why? Lack of knowledge/skill/experience...pick one! Lack of personal motivation. I don't know, and I don't care because they came to me, I didn't come to them. I didn't seek them out and then I dragged them to the Hombu. No. They wanted, key here is 'wanted', to learn Shindokan and they wanted to learn it from me. I already know Shindokan, they don't!

Students like Brian have valid reasons, and those students will get more from me than the students that demonstrate everything except what's required...DESIRE! Excuses are a penny a dozen, so, if they want to, then train and train hard!

Who wants to be bugged to come to class or to practice? I don't and if I'm bugged enough, I'll just not do it at all. So, they're grown-ups and they can dress themselves and they can bath themselves and they can feed themselves and on and on and on, so, my students can either come to class/practice or they don't.

It's all good! Time management can be such a bothersome thing...NOT!

[sensei8]

After missing almost two weeks of class I had a student come in and say to me"Sorry coach, I mean no disrespect for missing class." I appreciate the gesture and his posture. So I said "Come here, I want to show you something." From there I went on to ask him how many hours he had worked last week. 59. How many hours do you sleep at night? 4 I wrote down 6. How many hours do you spend in the gym lifting? 2 a day. And on we went. So lets look at this

59 hours at work

42 hours of sleep

14 hours in the gym (not mine)

equals 115 hrs accounted for.

There are 168 hours in a week. which leaves him with 53 unaccounted hours left. I'm only asking for 4.

After our little sit down he was dumbfounded at the time he had left and couldn't say where it went. Most people aren't nearly as active as he. He understood and expressed at that point that he had obviously made excuses because he couldn't argue with the numbers.

A how to attitude in life is crucial for accomplishing goals.

Don't base what you are going to be, off of what everybody else is not.

Solid post!

[ps1]

Seems like it's more an issue of "time awareness" than time management.

If the student honestly believes he spent time only working, sleeping, and at the gym...he's left out a few things.

Eating, visiting family and friends, posting on forums, watching youtube, checking email ect...

Either way, it's a good habit to be in. Once a month I try to remind myself where my extra hours are and figure out what I should do with them. It could be a valuable life lesson for the student. It was a nice thing for you to do for him...assuming he took it the right way and continues to do it for himself.

[Jay]

Seems like it's more an issue of "time awareness" than time management.

If the student honestly believes he spent time only working, sleeping, and at the gym...he's left out a few things.

Eating, visiting family and friends, posting on forums, watching youtube, checking email ect...

Either way, it's a good habit to be in. Once a month I try to remind myself where my extra hours are and figure out what I should do with them. It could be a valuable life lesson for the student. It was a nice thing for you to do for him...assuming he took it the right way and continues to do it for himself.

This was going to be my observation its not so much the time doing the actual activity its the time doing the rest of the stuff that comes with the activity.

I have to say that honestly I miss class a lot often because going to a one hour class turns into a 5 hours travelling affair. You have to come back, shower, prepare food, eat food, sit down if you have been on your feet all day its a must, pack your bag, travel to the station which is a half hour walk. Then get the train, the walk to training, after which you are knackered, and then travel all the way back. Then still afterwood you have work to do.

Just using myself as an example its not always practical to go. It very much depends on a persons situation.

Thing is I agree that as a teacher you want a certain amount of commitment from the person. However if you are doing it as a business then it really doesn't matter to you if they attend or not, you are still making a living. Provided they are paying through a contract.

[GeoGiant]

Seems like it's more an issue of "time awareness" than time management.

If the student honestly believes he spent time only working, sleeping, and at the gym...he's left out a few things.

Eating, visiting family and friends, posting on forums, watching youtube, checking email ect...

Either way, it's a good habit to be in. Once a month I try to remind myself where my extra hours are and figure out what I should do with them. It could be a valuable life lesson for the student. It was a nice thing for you to do for him...assuming he took it the right way and continues to do it for himself.

This was going to be my observation its not so much the time doing the actual activity its the time doing the rest of the stuff that comes with the activity.

I have to say that honestly I miss class a lot often because going to a one hour class turns into a 5 hours travelling affair. You have to come back, shower, prepare food, eat food, sit down if you have been on your feet all day its a must, pack your bag, travel to the station which is a half hour walk. Then get the train, the walk to training, after which you are knackered, and then travel all the way back. Then still afterwood you have work to do.

Just using myself as an example its not always practical to go. It very much depends on a persons situation.

Thing is I agree that as a teacher you want a certain amount of commitment from the person. However if you are doing it as a business then it really doesn't matter to you if they attend or not, you are still making a living. Provided they are paying through a contract.

You guys beat me to the punch! Travel time eats a lot of my day up. Also, it takes time to shift gears. If I'm doing task A and i'm interrupted by B, C, or D.... A suffers, which means i have to refocus and get back into the groove. i think most people don't realize how much time those little tasks involve. How much time is spent in bathroom everyday!?

[JiuJitsuNation]

As a teacher I was trying teach something that a very small percentage of the population actually grasps. Somewhere around 3 percent. So far I only hear people justifying the reasons why they can't. My point of the post wasn't coming to class or my interest in hearing excuses for why one can't make it. An individuals story in dealing with the difficulty in which they find coming to class is only interesting if you are overcoming the obstacles. If so and so says they have to spend x amount of time and effort making it to class is only relevant to the teacher when he/she can look at this person as an example of someone who is overcoming a lot just to do what they want. My point was to inspire him. Not just to do class, but anything worth doing.