anyone who’s read this blog for any length of time knows that i spend a lot of time writing about personal development concepts that i’ve come across. there are very things we can do in our spare time that pay off as well as working on improving ourselves – how we do things and how we look at the world. for many years i was content to just absorb other peoples creativity in the form of fictional books and movies. often these things would bring me some pleasure (pleasure is good) and sometimes i would even learn things.

but eventually it got to a point where it wasn’t doing it for me anymore. i was spending too much time experiencing life vicariously thru other peoples creativity secondhand and not enough of the harder, but more satisfying, firsthand experiences.

one of the books that had a great influence on me getting off my butt was steven covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. habit 7 in that book was one of the more important ones and he called “Sharpen the Saw.” covey uses the common analogy of a woodcutter who is sawing for several days straight and is becoming less and less productive. the process of cutting dulls the blade and the solution is to periodically sharpen the saw.

steve pavlina who’s blog is a great treasure of developmental reading had this to say about habit #7:
I’ve found that in practice most people fail to understand what sharpening the saw really means. If you’re overworking yourself and your productivity begins to fall off, common wisdom says to take a break, maybe even go on vacation. However, that isn’t sharpening the saw — that’s putting the saw down. When you put down a dull blade for a while, the blade will still be dull when you pick it up again.

Sharpening the saw is actually an activity, just as the analogy suggests. Think about what it would mean to sharpen the saw of your life. Here are some saw-sharpening ideas:
1. Exercise
2. Improve your diet
3. Educate yourself (read, listen to audio programs, attend a seminar)
4. Learn a new skill
5. Join a club
6. Meditate
7. Write in your journal
8. Have a deep conversation with someone
9. Set some new goals or review/update your old goals
10. Organize your home or office
11. Go out on a date
12. Clear out a bunch of little tasks that you’ve been putting off
13. Read this blog
Now the woodcutter can’t just alternate between cutting wood and sharpening the saw indefinitely. Downtime is needed too, but it isn’t the same as sharpening the saw. The woodcutter can become even more productive by sharpening the blade, studying new woodcutting techniques, working out to become stronger, and learning from other woodcutters.

Forgetting to intentionally sharpen the saw can lead to a feeling of burnout. If you merely alternate between productive work and downtime, your production capacity will drop off. You’re still working hard, but you don’t feel as productive as you think you should be. When you sharpen yourself regularly, you’ll find that you can flow along at a steady pace week after week without getting burnt out.

Whenever I feel burnt out or overwhelmed, taking a day or two off helps a little, but not very much. What yields a much greater benefit for me is attending a weekend seminar, reading an inspiring book, or having an interesting conversation. It’s common to see people return from a conference with a notable spike in motivation that lasts for weeks. But this isn’t really a break or a vacation — going to a conference is an activity, but it’s the kind that often increases energy and motivation.

How are your various blades doing? Your skills, your knowledge, your mind, your physical body, your relationships, your motivation, your commitment, your capacity for enjoyment, your emotions — are all of them still sharp? If not, which ones are dull, and what can you do to sharpen them?

posted by bluematrix at 04/29/08 21:37 | link | comments (2)

interesting convergence just now. just finished watching the movie 'august rush'. and yep, like as happens during a very touching movie or an extraordinarily appropriate song i teared up a bit. i know, i know 'girly man'. so be it. cool shit makes me emotional and reaffirms that i'm not totally dispassionate about life and the beauty contained therein. some critics called a cliche and and i can see where they're coming from, but it still worked its magic on me due to how many of the themes, ahem, resonated with me.

it pretty much had me from 'hello'. the incredible power of music, and how it takes over your soul sometimes - brought back memories of being mysteriously obsessed with writing and producing mary's dream, my rock opera, a few years ago. and the reconnection between a son and his parents is often a good hook for me (eg field of dreams). and the little things like the book on my beside table is 'lila' (sequel to zen motorcycle maintenance) also the mother's name in the movie, the irish father (i'll be visiting the emerald isle home of my ancestors in october), who's also a guitar player, and the guitar music the kid prodigy played in the movie was by my hero michael hedges (see his youtube link posted here a few weeks ago), all wrapped up in great cinemtography and quality acting. pretty choice movie. and coming at a time where i am in a pretty damn good place in my life right now too didn't hurt magic factor either. kinda cool.

posted by bluematrix at 04/20/08 22:24 | link | comments (2)

god is a comedian playing to an audience afraid to a laugh.

i try to laugh (or at least deeply smile) at things everyday. sometimes its because something is funny and sometimes its just a better choice when one crappy thing after another piles up and then one more dumb thing happens and its either get pissed and yell, or laugh at the absurdity of life. laughing in this situation actually gives you power over it. there are so many things in life that we have no control over and can't change. as long as we have a sense of humor, however, we can do something - such as minimize the hold that upsets have over us. laughter has the power to turn any situation around.

there is a Japanese proverb, “Laughter brings us happiness”. i find much truth in that. laughter also brings us health. studies have shown that laughing lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormones, increases muscle flexion, and boosts immune function by raising levels of infection-fighting T-cells, disease-fighting proteins called Gamma-interferon and B-cells, which produce disease-destroying antibodies. laughter also triggers the release of endorphins, the body's natural painkillers, and produces a general sense of well-being.

laughter helps establish communication and rapport, and knows no cultural boundaries. it can help break the ice when you're in a group because its one form of communication which everyone can relate to.

humor increases learning and retention. since laughing stimulates both sides of the brain - people get the message quicker and remember it longer.

it can also be used as a "diagnostic tool." listen carefully to a person's humor- when a person jokes around, he or she may be indirectly telling us about the things that are bothering him or her.

but what is laughter? what is the survival value of the involuntary, simultaneous contraction of fifteen facial muscles associated with certain noises which are often uncontrollable? laughter is a reflex, but unique in that it serves no apparent biological purpose; one might call it a luxury reflex. the paradox can be put in a different way. it strikes us as a reasonable arrangement that a sharp light shone into the eye makes the pupil contract. but that a complicated mental activity like the reading the comics should cause a specific motor response on the reflex level is a lopsided phenomenon which has puzzled philosophers since antiquity.

laughter is involuntary noisemaking. and laughter is noisy, not because it releases pent-up psychic energy, but so that others may hear it; it is a form of communication. the brain broadcasts an honest, unfakable, expensive advertisement of a mental state. As with displays of anger, shame, and fear, the brain is going to some effort to convince an audience that an internal state is heart-felt rather than a sham.

primates, and children in all societies, engage in rough-and-tumble play as practice for fighting. Play fighting poses a dilemma for the fighters: the scuffling should be realistic enough to serve as a useful rehearsal for offense and defense, but each party wants the other to know the attack is a sham so the fight doesn't escalate and do real damage. laughter has evolved as a signal that the aggression is, as we say, 'all in fun'.

lol.

posted by bluematrix at 04/08/08 21:26 | link | comments (8)