Sharpen the Saw
SHARPEN THE SAW
SHARPEN THE SAW is Steven Covey’s 7th Habit from “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” It refers to a contest between a young, strong lumberjack and an older, weaker lumberjack. The contest was simple - most trees felled in one day wins. The young, strong lumberjack started by immediately attacking the first tree he saw, and continued to saw all day long without stopping. He took no breaks and counted on his youth and strength to carry him through the day. The older lumberjack, however, seemed to take regular breaks, as the sound of his saw fell silent each hour like clockwork.
At the end of the day, the young lumberjack had many trees felled indeed. He felt sure he would win the contest. However, when the results were announced, the old lumberjack won. The young lumberjack was incredulous and annoyed. “How is it possible that you won, old man? I’m stronger than you, younger than you, and I sawed all day long without stopping. I heard you taking breaks!” The older man replied, “Indeed, I did take breaks. I stopped at the top of each hour to rest my body and to sharpen my saw.”
The takeaway is that in order to do a good job, you must take care of your tools. The strongest tool at your disposal is - YOU! You must get rest; you must maintain your body and soul and sanity in order to do a good job for your choirs. Here’s hoping the holiday break will help you SHARPEN THE SAW, and will allow you the space to create regular, planned sharpening throughout 2018!
