There’s a great book by Timothy Ferris called “The Four Hour Work Week”.

One of my favorite sections is one titled “interrupting interruptions”. The basic concept is that when in a corporate environment somebody interrupts your current task it takes up to 45 minutes to get back on task.

Ferris teaches that when someone interrupts you, instead of listening and accepting what they have to say, counter their interruption with one of your own and ask them to send you an email and let them know you’ll take care of it. That way you stay focused on the task at hand and can deal with their stuff later, making your day more productive.

When students interrupt your thought process while you’re teaching karate class we don’t have the luxury of 45 minutes to get back on track. Heck, class is only 45 minutes long sometimes! And when a one student starts to get on the train to tangent city, you better not get on that train with them!

Instead, when their questions aren’t relevant, interrupt their interruption and let them know that you’ll be happy to answer their questions after class or listen to anything else they’d like to tell you then.

Apply this concept and teaching karate will be less of a struggle with disruptive students.

– Jason