http://forums.thinkarete.com/forums/the-big-ideas/topics/stephen-covey-sharpen-the-saw en-us 60 <p>Suppose you were to come upon someone in the woods working feverishly to saw down a tree.</p><p>&ldquo;What are you doing?&rdquo; you ask.</p><p>&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t you see?&rdquo; comes the impatient reply. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sawing down this tree.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;You look exhausted!&rdquo; you exclaim. &ldquo;How long have you been at it?&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Over five hours,&rdquo; he returns, &ldquo;and I&rsquo;m beat! This is hard work.&rdquo;</p><p>&lsquo;Well, why don&rsquo;t you take a break for a few minutes and sharpen that saw?&rdquo; you inquire. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure it would go a lot faster.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have time to sharpen the saw,&rdquo; the man says emphatically. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m too busy sawing!&rdquo;</p><p>Stephen Covey tells that brilliant story in the introduction to his 7^th Habit in &ldquo;Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.&rdquo;</p><p>How brilliant is <em>that</em>?!?!</p><p>How often do we get caught up in being too busy &ldquo;sawing&rsquo; to take care of ourselves (sharpening the saw!)?!!?</p><p>Perhaps&hellip;</p><p>&hellip; are you doing that now? :)</p><p>Do you need to take a step back and sharpen your saw?</p><p>Maybe you need some more meditation time? More journaling time? More exercise? More time with your loved ones?</p><p>Whatever it is for you, sharpen sharpen sharpen!</p><p>&hellip;</p><p>(Heck. While you&rsquo;re at it, why not take a little more time and go get a chainsaw? :))</p> Fri, 11 Jan 2008 22:43:13 -0000 forums.thinkarete.com:503:213:213 brian http://forums.thinkarete.com/forums/503/topics/213