So, we've been discussing burn out and how to stay motivated as a school owner.

If you're new to running a martial art school, you probably haven't run into the burn out monster yet...

...instead, chances are good that you're still thanking your lucky stars that you get to do what you love for a living.

Well hold that thought, because that reminds me of the next two strategies I want to share with you to help keep you motivated when you start to experience instructor burn out.

GRATITUDE

Gratitude is so important to staying motivated, and it's also one of the best ways to maintain a positive attitude as well.

It's easy to become focused on everything that is wrong in your life instead of everything that is going right - especially when faced with the day-to-day challenges of running a small business. 

And interestingly, that shift in perspective often marks the difference between successful entrepreneurs and those who fail.

Successful entrepreneurs see opportunity everywhere, even in life's setbacks. To them EVERYTHING is a potential opportunity waiting to be exploited.

On the other hand, pessimists make very poor business owners. Everything is a crisis to them, because they spend all their time focusing on what could go wrong, instead of on what's going right.

And, that's a very good way to stress yourself out and make your life as a business owner a living hell.

On the flipside, exercising thankfulness and gratitude is a great way to increase your job satisfaction. Just spending five minutes every day writing down all the reasons why you're thankful for being an instructor can make a HUGE difference in how you view your job.

And as we all know, perspective can often make the difference between enjoying a fulfilled and prosperous life, or suffering life's little indignities in a daily grind that only ends at the grave.

Just remember that how you choose to view your life impacts your ability to enjoy it, and it impacts your job satisfaction as well. It's your call.

SELFISHNESS

Yes, I'm going to tell you to be selfish for a change. Not selfish in the way that most people view business owners and entrepreneurs...

...you know, how the media portrays us, as greedy, insensitive swine who are only in it for the buck. Nope.

Instead, I want you to practice a little "enlightened selfishness", so to speak. Meaning, I want you to help yourself by helping others.

Here's how. You need to set little goals for yourself based on performance benchmarks and milestones in your business. 

Remember, we operate in an industry where helping people is par for the course, right? So, the more people you help through your school, the more prosperous you become.

It's that old Zig Ziglar thing - "You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want."

This is a fact. So, I want you to start setting benchmarks and milestones in your business...

...and I want you to reward yourself for hitting them, both great and small.

For example, a large milestone and reward would be something like this:

"When my school reaches 175 active students, I'm going to take a vacation in the Bahamas."

or

"When my school is grossing $25,000 a month, I'm going to buy myself a new <insert car you've always wanted here>."

I think you can see how this can keep you motivated to achieve bigger and better things in your school. 

But, you also need to give yourself small rewards at regular intervals to keep your mind interested in the day-to-day tasks of your school.

When I'm teaching full-time or working on growing a school, I set weekly performance benchmarks and activity goals for myself, and if I hit them I give myself a reward at the end of the week.

For instance, I might set a goal to get five new enrollments in a week and also to finish my marketing action item list for the week.

And if I hit those goals, I'll reward myself with a nice dinner at my favorite restaurant, or I'll take Friday afternoon off and go see an action movie by myself (I'm sure the married men in the audience will identify with that one).

Speaking of which, that brings me to the next topic in this email series, which I'll share in tomorrow's email. This one is major, and it's probably the most important thing you can do to avoid burn out as an instructor.