Sharpening That Saw

There’s an old joke about people who work in higher education: We just never wanted to leave college. And, while much of that is inaccurate (most higher education professionals I know aren’t looking to prolong their college glory days), I think there is a bit of truth that most of us are, at heart, lifelong learners. I know that applies to me and is why I’ve spent twenty-five years working in higher education mentoring, leadership, and professional development. Not only do I work in a 24-7 learning environment, I get to wake up every single day thinking about how to help people at all stages of their lives own their personal and professional growth.

From that work, I know that those who will be most successful in the future of work are those who know how to do two things: maintain a bias toward lifelong learning and build intentional relationships. If you don’t know how to set goals and pursue them, seek out and adapt to new opportunities, use the world around you to grow your skills and knowledge, and build and leverage relationships for individual and collective success, you will be left behind. For all our current talk about technology and AI, the two things that will be your competitive advantage are the two things that make you the most human.

In 1989, Stephen Covey published his bestseller The 7 Habits of High Effective People. One of those habits (and the only one that ever stuck with me) was to “sharpen the saw,” which meant to take care of yourself and to constantly invest in your development to keep improving and growing. This idea goes all the way back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who had a philosophy known as the “care of the self,” taking critical self-care of the body, the heart, and the mind through a set of intentional practices. These practices were intended to live your life as if it were a work of art. Think about that for a moment. How might you treat yourself differently if that were your approach?

Both approaches depend upon building relationships with people to support that growth and development. None of us can be successful in this life by operating in a vacuum. While it has evolved considerably over time in its use and purpose, the word “mentor” first appeared in The Odyssey, written in the 8th century BC. I’ll write more on how to find these people in another post. For now, I think it’s worth noting: The future may depend upon technology, but your critical advantage relies on things that have been with us for centuries.

No matter what you are pursuing, whether it’s a traditional career goal, a creative passion, or some kind of personal aspiration to develop a new skill, remember that no one starts out as an expert in anything. Any pursuit worth achieving requires intentional practice.

So ask yourself:

• Where am I now? What are my strengths, my interests, and my skills?

• Where do I want to be? What is one goal I could set for myself to pursue over the next 3-6 months?

• What are my learning and skill gaps that I will need to fill to achieve that goal?

• What steps can I take to fill those gaps, through intentional learning, practice, feedback, and reflection?

• Who can help me? Where can I find mentors, sponsors, and wise counselors?

Sharpening the saw is not a one-time exercise. Lifelong learning, by its very name, is an ongoing pursuit. There is no end-goal, no point of ultimate mastery. The secret to a life well-lived is to take care of it, to pay attention to it, as if it were a work of art.