Happy Monday Son,
How are things going there today? Today, for me, it’s just another “sharpening the saw” day.
Are you familiar with the expression sharpening the saw? The expression comes from Dr. Stephen Covey, the author of one of my favorite books titled, “The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People.” He painted a picture by telling a story of a lumberjack who was sawing to cut down a tree. The lumberjack was sawing laboriously and at one point he was simply getting nowhere fast. Someone asked the lumberjack why he didn’t stop and sharpen the saw. The lumberjack’s reply was “I’m too busy sawing to stop and sharpen the saw.”
I immediately identified with the story as far too many times have been in the same shoes as that lumberjack, just continuously sawing and sawing, and never taking time out to sharpen the saw. By sharpening the saw, the lumberjack could have cut the tree down faster because they dull saw simply doesn’t work as efficiently as a sharp saw.
All in all, the point is it’s easy to get caught in the cycle of staying busy rather than in the cycle of being productive. Staying busy and being productive are not necessarily the same thing. If you stay busy and you are productive then that’s a good thing, however, many of us simply stay busy without being productive.
So, today, as I mentioned before I am sharpening the saw. I am looking at my current processes and evaluating them to see if there are better ways to do them. Not only am I looking at better ways to do the processes, sharpening the saw can also mean simply replacing old processes with newer, more efficient ones. Taking the time to sharpen the saw is never a waste of time.
Well, that’s all for now!
Have an amazing day and know that you are in my thoughts and prayers!
Love,
Dad