This final habit is both private and personal, but if neglected the failure will be publicly obvious.
If you don’t take time to sharpen the saw you’ll be wasting time instead of accomplishing more.
“The single most important investment we ever make is an investment in ourselves. “ –Stephen Covey
The physical dimension of your being is important for building a powerful business. Sharpening your saw requires that you take care of your person.
Exercise to build stamina. The ability to work through the day without tiring will add hours to your schedule. You’ll have more to offer.
Flexibility to increase your daily comfort. As you lose flexibility you find yourself getting stiff and sore more easily.
Strength increases your bodies ability to do more demanding things.
Proper nutrition is the most important thing you can do for yourself. Eating properly will do more to manage weight, increase stamina, and improve your overall health than any other thing you can do.
The best way to manage the stressors in your life is to take some time for yourself – Sharpen the Saw
Once we’ve completed our formal education most Americans believe they have learned what they need to know to be successful...wrong! When I taught school I presented a message to each of my graduating seniors. I told them they were being promoted from being a student to a seeker. Their success in life would be in direct proportion to how well they sought out wisdom.
You are the sum of the things you read, the things you hear and the people with whom you associate.
Visualizing from a full head moves the daydream into the realm of reality.
Planning is a necessary part of the mental process of success.
Writing can do more for your mental development than any other thing you can do.
“Renewing the spiritual dimension of your being adds leadership to your life.” –Stephen Covey
This spiritual leadership dimension is an essential ingredient for your enduring success.
You are a spiritual being...
Your decision making process must be congruent with your value system or you’ll struggle with spiritual leadership in your life.
Your inner peace comes from your spiritual dimension. Peace is a guiding principle and is obvious to those around you.
Renewing your spiritual being can come from study, art, music, and nature none of those things can be rushed. They take time.
Listen carefully. Love deeply. Learn reverently. Renew spiritually!
The emotional/social dimension of our being is clearly reflected in habits 4, 5, & 6. How we interact with other people.
Think Win/Win isn’t possible without emotional maturity. Social/Emotional maturity makes it possible for you to recognize the potential in the other person and work toward the ultimate win/win.
To seek first to understand requires emotional security so that you set your needs aside for the moment to listen carefully to the needs of the other person.
Synergy happens only when mature people can find a commonality that allows them to find a place of agreement. Agreement is achieved and maintained by socially and emotionally mature people.
Sharpening the Saw is about personal renewal.
I meet people everyday who are at the end of their resources. They have nothing left.
By running on empty they have nothing significant left to contribute. Their emotional energy is depleted. They are spent. They’ve neglected to sharpen the saw.
Nothing is dynamic until it is specific.
You’ve read these Seven Habits, but for these habits to impact your world you must make them specific. Nothing works by itself. You must apply them specifically.
You can read this and fail to apply it to yourself. You do and you’ll reach a point where you have nothing left to give. All of your networking will fall apart and you’ll wonder why.
Sharpen your Saw!