Tag Archive for: teaching space

This guy can make quite the noise. He also pops up out of nowhere!

From Monday to Friday at around 1pm, and again 10 minutes later, my 12lb dog sounds like he wants to rip someone’s head off. I never knew such a small dog could sound so angry and ferocious. The nice, friendly mailman pulls up and drops off our mail, and then 10 minutes later pulls up across the road.

He didn’t use to be like that. He was fine and friendly towards our old mailmen. But, one day when we were all outside our temporary mailman decided to approach our little dog and start acting like a dog: barking, running around, and looking aggressive. Ever since he associates mailmen and their trucks (and even their sounds) as the number one danger.

This means that my beautifully created downstairs office is now left unused. It’s terrible to be in a lesson and have your little dog barking like a madman. So, I’ve moved upstairs into the spare room away from the ferocious little beast.

Having a good space to teach in is a challenge. Most of us don’t have a separate wing where everything is peaceful and without interruptions, so we have to try to work with the best that we’ve got. Other potential interruptions can be the telephone, people knocking on the door, children, partners, and I’m sure you can add some more.

Achieving interruption-free lessons.

I overcame the barking problem by moving upstairs, far away from the noise. This also took me away from the centers of action (living room, kitchen etc.) and the front door. My wife also needs to walk upstairs to pop in for a quick question (the stairs being the barrier) so I get less interruptions from her during the lessons too.

I also try and block my lessons from 12-4pm. This allows me to get into teaching mode during the afternoon and it means that those who want to contact me know that it’s best to do this in the mornings. This could easily be switched to mornings or evenings depending on your situation and the time-zone of your niche.

I have toyed with the idea of getting an office space, but there haven’t been many available within walking distance of where I live. I also have managed to overcome interruptions by having a good space at home.

So, try and think what space is best for you and what times you’ll receive the least interruptions. And, if you do get interrupted, make the interruption part of your lesson (asking my wife for something to show an example of a request), apologize, and move on.

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