Sharpen The Saw – Living A Balanced Life
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
Abraham Lincoln
A couple of years ago I started a blog, on top of my full-time work as a Project Manager. The blog was about freelancing, and how to find jobs online. I got really excited about it and threw myself into work. I believed I could stay up in the evening, work on weekends, and in that way find enough time to grow this new business.
What happened is that I burned out, but worse than that I endangered my health. After 8 hours of sitting at work, I would continue sitting in the evening. At first, I started feeling pain in my neck, but soon enough, it progressed to dizziness.
Then I had to stop. I was no longer able to spend hours and hours sitting at the desk and staring at my computer screen.
The blog was doing very well, I started making money from it. But I had to stop completely.
I ended up at the doctor and got my autoimmune diagnosis soon after.
The point of the story is that you cannot pour from an empty cup. You cannot give your best if you are tired, unhealthy, and in pain.
Your top priority is your health. You can’t be at your peak productivity if you don’t feel good about yourself and your work.
So when I read the chapter Sharpen the Saw in the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey it made so much sense.
What happened to me was not an accident. It was a result of overstressing the body both physically and mentally, not taking care of it in the slightest, all in the pursuit of a business goal.
For Covey, Sharpening the Saw is about taking the time to renew and refresh the four dimensions of our natures — physical, spiritual, mental, and social/emotional — so that we’re more effective in our work. It’s about regularly investing in ourselves so that we can reap dividends on a continual basis. It means working smarter, not harder.
It means taking care of yourself physically, mentally, emotionally so that you can perform at the peak level.
The biggest mistake we all make is that we believe that we just need to work harder and work more. But you always have a limit. And when you reach it, everything crashes.
How to sharpen the saw?
The greatest killers of productivity and satisfaction in life are illness, injury, depression, lethargy, and burnout. That means the greatest asset you have in life is you.
There are 4 dimensions that you need to think about when you think about taking care of yourself:
- Physical Dimension (Taking care of your body)
- Mental Dimension (Taking care of your mind)
- Emotional Dimension (Taking care of your emotions)
- Spiritual Dimension (Taking care of your soul)
Taking care of all four dimensions is about living a balanced life that brings the best long-term results. We can all pull an all-nighter, or spend one month overworking ourselves. But if you want to build something long-term, if you want to improve all aspects of your life, you need first to take care of your needs.
Physical Dimension
I used to sit down for hours without any exercise. Days would pass before I would get outside and leave my home (I work from home). When you are young, you can do this without any major consequences.
As you get older, however, you soon realize how detrimental this behavior is.
You are not getting anything done, you are just running yourself to the ground. Until something major, like an illness, stops you completely.
So the basis of every productivity model is taking care of your body. For me, that means doing exercises every morning for 10 to 15 minutes and going out for a walk during the day.
Sometimes, as I prepare my coffee, I do 10 squats. I try to sneak in any movement whenever I can. I go out to get breakfast in the morning, exercise while I cook or prepare my coffee, and play volleyball with my kids.
Here are some staples that you need to pay attention to:
Exercise (any movement counts, a simple walk is enough if it is regular)
Nutrition (unprocessed food, good quality ingredients such as fish, olive oil, vegetables and fruits)
Rest (make sure to set aside time for rest every day)
Your self-esteem and self-confidence will grow when you start exercising regularly and feeling stronger.
Check out: Building Habits: Key Lessons
Mental Dimension
I used to read a lot when I was younger. I would spend almost every afternoon with a book in my hand.
As I finished school, and then college, I suddenly stopped reading. I was overwhelmed with work, starting a new business, and getting married. Somehow I lost my habit of reading and learning.
I believe this happens to most of us. We finish school and then we just stop learning and stop growing. We get stuck at a job we dislike and have no time or energy to start something new.
But to work at your top level and be very productive, you must continually learn and question everything. This is done through good literature.
You can sharpen your mind in several ways:
Reading good quality literature (I make sure to set aside at least half an hour every day for reading)
Writing a journal (Every morning I write in my journal, even if it is just 10 minutes)
Organizing and planning (There are many ways you can do this, I prefer using a journal)
Visualizing
The Spiritual Dimension
The spiritual dimension is your core, your center, your value system. It is closely related to the sources that inspire you and uplift you. And it is closely related to Habit 2, Begin with the end in mind.
You should first start by reexamining the values you live by. What is the most important for you? How do you want to be remembered?
We all get lost in life and start chasing the wrong goals just to compare with others. But once you think about what really matters to you, and what type of values you want to live by, your life direction becomes clear.
The Spiritual side of your life is about feeling a sense of self-actualization, belonging to something bigger than yourself and living a better world behind, no matter if you are religious or not.
Here are some examples of activities that can help you take good care of your soul:
- Write down what values are important to you
- Donate time or money or contribute to the local community
- Meditate
- Immerse in books, music, nature.
For me, it is extremely important to return to true values and goals in life. I got lost in my thirties and started desiring material things that I do not need, or want, but looking at social media I got distracted.
And wasted years doing things that did not serve me, all so that I could keep up appearances. But once I returned to my basic values, to what really matters to me, and started living with intention, my life changed.
The Social Dimension
Renewing the Social Dimension does not take time as other dimensions do. We can do it in our everyday interactions with people.
But it is important to realize that we need to be continually working on improving relationships with important people in our lives. These people are our friends, family, coworkers, employees.
To be able to grow and develop our social side of life, we need to take a different approach to relationships and problems that occur over time. Here are some beneficial steps:
- Accept that there are differences in opinion (this is a first step, as you need to understand that differences in opinion are not rare and should be welcomed)
- Listen carefully to what the other person has to say (but really listen without judging and try to understand)
- Say clearly what you feel (you need to express your views and how you feel, this is just as important as listening)
- Work together on a solution that will be a win for both (you are after a compromise, something where both of you will feel that you are satisfied)
When we live a life in line with our values, and when our daily habits reflect our deepest values, we feel a sense of security and confidence that enables us to approach people in our lives differently.
It enables us to listen and to really hear what others are thinking and feeling. And then it enables us to work on a solution that will be good for both.
Not only that, but if you find a way to help others, this will significantly benefit you. Living a life of purpose, a life that is not just about ourselves, but about helping others as well, is a life we all crave for.
Conclusion
Taking care of yourself is just as important as working. But it is something we all neglect too often.
We actually only learn this once we hit a wall, and can no longer go on as we did before.
If you manage to strike a balance in your life, where you both take care of yourself mentally, emotionally, socially, and spiritually, you will start to see much more progress in your work.
This is my second blog. And I enjoy it so much more now. I fit it now into my regular work hours and I make sure to have enough time to rest, spend time with kids, read, and exercise.
None of these activities are perfect. Sometimes it’s only a 10-minute exercise, writing a couple of sentences in my journal, a 5-minute coffee break. But no matter how small these achievements are, they make me feel good and excited to start every day.
Taking care of yourself isn’t selfish, it’s a necessary step toward achieving long-term success and well-being. Once you start the journey of self-care, you realize that your productivity and fulfillment soar.
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