#12) Habits: Sharpening the Saw


Hello, and welcome to "Always Be Better" with Mel Windham.

This week, we're going to return to the 7 Habits book and start with the easiest and shortest habit, Sharpening the Saw. Out of the seven, it's probably the most important habit.

What does that mean -- to sharpen the saw? Well, imagine you're in the woods sawing trees down. You're getting tired, and it's taking forever. Your friend comes to check on you, and then he says, "Let me see that saw. It looks dull."

"I know," you say. "I've been at this for days."

And he answers, "Well, wouldn't it go faster if you sharpened your saw?"


Most people are likely to answer, "I don't have time for that." After all, it would take time to walk that saw back to the shop and run it through the sharpener. But on the other hand, wouldn't it be time well spent? Sure, it may take a couple of hours to take care of the saw, but then you'd quickly get back those hours the next day when you saw down a lot more trees.

Can you see why this might be important? As we progress in this video series, and work toward becoming better people, it is worth pausing and taking a few minutes. Rest. Reassess. Take care of something. Get ready before diving right back into the effort.

Stephen Covey lists four areas where we can focus our rejuvenation efforts. As we take care of these aspects, we will be more able to accomplish anything we want.

The PHYSICAL aspect is all about taking care of the body. Getting enough sleep. Eating good food. Getting exercise, and doing whatever it takes to keep the body going strong.

The SPIRITUAL aspect is more about the internal workings -- your focus, direction, and strengthening your belief system.

The MENTAL aspect is about taking care of your brain -- keeping it working, planning things, figuring things out.

The SOCIAL or EMOTIONAL aspect is about your connections with other people -- strengthening friendships, practicing interactions, and learning how to work together.

All together, working on these four aspects helps us in our RENEWAL and gives us strength. As we progress through this video series, we'll touch on all four of these aspects.

And most importantly, the biggest thing that I've learned out of this habit is that it's okay to rest. It's okay to stop everything for a short while, play some video games, or play some tennis, or whatever it is you like to do to relax. Because, you're sharpening your saw.

In fact, now that I'm up to twelve videos, I can look back on this video series. Twelve weeks, and lots of fun -- at least for me. But now it's time to take a break -- one week off. I can also take that time to look back and check out my videos -- see what worked, and what didn't. Think about what I can improve, and what I can do to make future videos better. I'll continue inserting breaks here and there in the future as well, but other than these occasional rests, I'll continue to put out a new video each week.

Over this next week, I'd like you to consider what you can do to sharpen your own saw. Prepare to have fun -- don't stress as we press forward. And I'll see you in two weeks.

Thanks for watching, and remember, we can "Always Be Better."

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