Sharpen The Saw
7 Practices of Highly Effective Martial Artists
The 7th of Dr. Covey’s Habits is called Sharpen The Saw.
It is the habit of renewal.
In the Dojo, we refer to it as Kaizen.
Kaizen is a Japanese word that means constant and never-ending improvement.
Habit 7 is what being a Black Belt is all about.
It encompasses Habits 1 through 6.
Black Belt…
The discipline of Habit 7 encourages us to renew and refine the first 6 “Habits” in a manner that reflects the ever increasing demands that life requires of us.
The thought behind Habit 7 is that the condition of our lives will invariably default to a diminished state.
That’s not really great news.
In fact, it’s not news at all.
The complete condition of our lives can be profoundly enhanced through mindfully targeting clear outcomes and timing their achievement accordingly.
A wonderful way to keep our lives moving forward in a direction of our choosing, is to establish a significant set of wants.
Obviously, needs come before wants.
Guess what…
Our true “needs” are already being met.
What do you really want?
I believe that you really want the same thing that everyone else wants.
Fulfillment.
Fulfillment is a consequence.
A consequence of checking a series of other “boxes.”
Those “boxes” mostly represent the quality of your relationship with people, places, and things.
One of those people, is you!
It is difficult to have a healthy relationship with someone who hasn’t bothered to build a healthy relationship with themselves.
Isn’t that true?
What are you getting better at?
Since you have more influence with yourself, than you have with anyone else, you may want to start with you.
Take a close look at your physical condition.
Most likely, you had an incredibly flexible body when you were a child.
Remember that?
If you ask anyone who knew you when you were a baby, they will confirm this.
You were able to touch your nose to your toes, without much effort.
Have you tried that recently?
If you do nothing to maintain and improve your flexibility, you will gradually lose it.
The same goes for your stamina.
Your endurance is largely a function of your cardiovascular development.
It can be built up in a relatively short period of time, and likewise, be compromised quickly through abuse or lack of use.
Muscular strength takes a bit longer to cultivate, and tends to last longer, even if you neglect to address it.
However, as with flexibility and endurance, if you do not use your physical strength, you will inevitably lose it.
Fortunately, all of these attributes can be improved through decision and action.
Reversing the aging process remains a mystery.
Accelerating the aging process is easy to pull off.
Life span and health span are not the same.
In the Dojo we learn to use the power of targeting and timing to inform our focus, integrate our resources, and drive intensity through the roof.
Everyone is familiar with the value of goals and deadlines.
Choose your objective first, and establish a timeline to achieve it.
Direction is first, speed is second.
When your goals are in line with your sincere “wants”, the science of achievement and the art of fulfillment come alive.
If you don’t find that exciting, check your pulse.
It’s what training in the Martial Arts is all about.
If you take a bit of that out of the Dojo and into the world, apply it to academic education, athletic performance, artistic expression, and/or your livelihood, and see what happens.
If your academic institution had a belt system, at what belt level would you be?
If your job, career, or profession, had a belt system, at what belt level would you be?
What belt level are you living your life at?
If you are seriously and steadily striving to sharpen your skills and further your knowledge, you are behaving like a Black Belt.
Habits 1 through 6 are the practices that place us on a productive path.
Habit 7 encourages us to continually progress toward our full potential.
Martial Arts training is a process that serves to build a stronger body, a sharper mind, and a non-quitting spirit.
If you have spent any time in the Dojo, you have surely discovered this for yourself.
- A Sharper Mind — Training in the Martial Arts serves to improve your memory, increase your focus, and expand your imagination.
- A Stronger Body — Time on the mat will enhance your strength, optimize your flexibility, and maximize your endurance.
Opportunities to gain these benefits through the practice of the Martial Arts are abundant.
Here is the best part…
- A Non-Quitting Spirit — This can only be developed when you want to give up, but you subordinate your mood to your values, and continue on.
A non-quitting spirit is not developed when you feel like training.
It is developed when you “don’t feel like it”, but you do it anyway.
Just reading that can be exhausting if you do not have powerful goals, dreams, and aspirations.
Remember, give serious consideration to a significant set of wants.
Each time you step on the mat, you have an opportunity, if not a responsibility, to broaden your skills and deepen your understanding.
Behave like a Black Belt, even if you don’t have one tied around your waist.
To maximally reap the rewards of Habit 7, we must apply it to every dimension of our lives.
Visualize a spiral staircase that starts off small and narrow, and continues to broaden as it simultaneously heightens.
Conversely, you may consider picturing “circling the drain” as a reminder to resist entropy.
Feed the parts of your life that you want to grow, and starve the things you want to eliminate.
Martial Arts practice is an action-packed adventure.
It is a process, not a product.
It is a journey, not a destination.
Enjoy it.
It will not last forever.
Integration of the capacities of your mind, body, and non-quitting spirit is achieved through Habit 6 - Synergize.
Habit 7 - Sharpen The Saw, is what optimizes these capacities.
Enhance your ability to create, defend, and heal, by honing the edges of your instruments: the saw, the sword, and the scalpel.
Strive to become masterful in their use.
I look forward to seeing you and your family at the Dojo.