Now For The Step That Everyone Avoids: 7th Letter to BodyChance Students

Sick of reading about niches? Then you’ll love todays letter, as I turn a corner in my conversation with BodyChance students seeking a wildly successful career as teachers of Alexander Technique in Japan…

  

Dear Seito-san,

Today my home got a tremendous cleaning!

After packing the kids off to school, I vacuumed under my bed, swept up all the leaves outside, got a messy cupboard organized, as well as putting on two loads of the dishwasher, washing and hanging out both the kids clothes, cutting my nails and cleaning my desk. Then I made a coffee. Why this sudden burst of energy?

To avoid writing my blog!

Often I’ll do anything not to write. All the jobs that I avoid doing – like this morning’s list - suddenly I love doing them if it means I can delay sitting down to write. “Oh, I really should get this done first. It’s important.”

The road to a successful career as a teacher of Alexander Technique is full of blocks – most of them put there by you. No wait – ALL OF THEM put there by you. How is that possible? Well, it’s possible when you don’t agree that the obstacles are of your own making.

Success is the same – we avoid doing the things we need to do to make it happen. Writing is one of those things. So let’s start with the block so many of us have about writing…

Can you write? Most people answer no. It comes from having no self-image as a writer.

Before you go too far down that road, take time to think about the question. The word “write” for instance. When you hear that word, what are the images and voices you feel? Nobel prize winners, best selling authors, journalists – is that what you associate with “write”? In that case, no wonder you have an averse reaction!

However – you can’t write: is that true? Of course it is not true. You couldn't count the number of words you have written in your life so far. The idea you can not write is nonsense. But as a person wanting success as an Alexander Technique teacher, when you believe that thought, you start feeling and behaving in ways that jeopardize the very thing you need to succeed.

It’s my assertion, unwelcomed by many, that you can not succeed without writing. Let me put that in a different way, that may make more sense to you. It’s my assertion, understood by all, that you can succeed if you can explain Alexander Technique to a pupil. So if you can talk and explain, you can write and explain – the gap is not as wide as you imagine it to be. Heck – these days your smart phone can almost transcribe your spoken lesson while you are actually teaching it!  

Words written, and words spoken both begin life as words thought. So if you can explain verbally, explaining in text possible.

The rest is just practise.

cheerfully

Jeremy

PS If you are feeling stuck and want to ask questions, join my circle of friends in FaceBook by putting in a friend request here: www.facebook.com/chancejeremy There's lots of interesting discussions going on there about my blog!