Sharpen your Saw

Covey calls this habit the "Principles of Balanced Self-Renewal." This habit causes us to pause from our ever-busy lives and work to renew ourselves in four key aspects of our lives. We can become so caught up in our busy-ness that we can lose the edge of our effectiveness. Habit 7 causes us to consciously spend time and energy "honing" ourselves and our skills to keep and increase our effectiveness.

Habit 7 is about taking care of the most important resource you have - yourself. This habit is a quadrant II activity that I call "re-creation" - not just "recreation" of play or frenetic vacation as an interlude to work, but as time and activity that truly rejuvenates us. These re-creation activities are important, but rarely urgent until we become ill and must address it. Habit 7 is about increasing your PC (production capability) by taking care of yourself.

Four Dimensions of Renewal

We must focus on renewing ourselves in four critical areas of our lives - physical, spiritual, mental and social/emotional - in order to optimize our effectiveness (See Figure 1).

Physical Dimension. The physical dimension is about taking care of your physical self - eating right, getting the necessary rest and exercising. A balanced exercise program addresses three areas, endurance, flexibility and strength. Endurance is improved through aerobic exercise, increasing the ability of the heart to pump blood through the body to provide oxygen. Without oxygen, the tissue can deteriorate or die. Flexibility is improved by stretching muscles so the body can better handle strain without tearing. Strength is improved through resistance exercise that increases the body's ability to perform the physical exertion required to perform our work or leisure activities safely and efficiently.Spiritual Dimension. This dimension is the core of your life, your center and your commitment to your value system that provides the basic "leadership" to your life. It's a very private area of life and a supremely important one. It draws upon the sources that inspire and uplift you and tie you to the timeless truths of all humanity. And people do it very, very differently.³

Mental Dimension. Mental development comes through education -- formal and informal. Without a study discipline, our minds can atrophy. The information age demands continuous learning in all forms. However, we must ask a key question: Are we learning things that help us grow?

Social/Emotional Dimension. The first three dimensions - physical, spiritual and mental - align closely with Habits 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The fourth dimension (social/emotional) focuses on Habits 4, 5 and 6 - the "public victory" triad. These represent the principles of interpersonal leadership, empathic communication and creative cooperation.

As information professionals, we must develop ourselves as leaders, regardless of whether we hold a title of manager or professional. Only as leaders can we effect positive change and growth in the area of our scope of influence.

The social and emotional sides of our lives are interdependent. They are shaped by and are exhibited in the interpersonal relationships with others, at home, at work and at play. The renewal of this dimension happens through our interactions with others.

While the first three dimensions are renewed by carving out Quadrant II time for them, we have ample opportunity in regular contacts with people to sharpen the saw of our social skills. We hone them by practicing Habits 4 (Think Win/Win), 5 (Seek First to Understand, then to Be Understood) and 6 (Synergize).