SHARPEN
THE SAW
Samuel Mwangi is timber yard owner whose yard is stationed next to my house and every day when I go out for my daily activities, I have to pass by his store. For the last one month I have observed something that caught up with my attention and I was keen to know more about it. Every single day each morning, when Samuel opens his yard he begins the day by sharpening his saw and he has being doing it with lots of focus, vitality determination and concentration.
One morning
I decided to stand and watch him do his daily routine and I was amaze, for he
was so passionate about it. I really wondered and asked myself “does he really
have to do that every single day?” to me
it seemed so tiring and boring doing the same thing over and over yet he could
just sharpen it once in a week save him the frustration of sweating every morning before he could begin
his work of cutting timber.
On this particular day I decided to ask him
what was behind all that sharpening. “Good morning Samuel,” cheerfully I greeted
him. “Good morning to you Washingtone, how are you this morning?” Joyfully he
responded back. “I’m doing better than good, I thank God for it.” I answered back
at him. “And so am I” he affirmed with a happy smile. Then I posed a question
to him. “Samuel I see you doing this serious sharpening every single morning, what’s
the key reason behind it? And must you be doing it every day morning?” “This saw, while pointing at it, does 85% of
the work in this yard. It’s main function being cutting, it has to be sharp for
me to perform my work efficiently and effectively.
When its blunt, I will end up wasting lots of
time, struggling and straining to cut timber, I will also use lots of energy
and force during my work and that will reduce my performance rate, hence will
attend to less customer and that means less pay for me, so to save me all this
I prefer setting the saw ready every morning so as to ease myself from the hard
labor.” He completed his statement firmly. “Well I guess I understand you now,”
cutting me short he retaliated, “also bear in mind that this is just how our
minds work. It works best and delivers best when you keep sharpening it.
Failure to which, you will end up not realizing your life desire and purpose.”
“Wow!” I
exclaimed. “I didn’t see that coming, I
take it as my life lesson for the day I will dig more into it.” Samuel then
left me with a simple statement as I left in bewilderment. “As you cultivate
your mind to work for you it’s the same way I do with my saw to work for me.”
Thank you very much for the lesson.” I shouted back. “It only works when you work it.” He
concluded.
Come to think of it all that we are in the
present moment are a function of our mind, all that we have achieved in life
emanates from our mind. The actions we take are based on the decisions we make
and the results we get in life projects back to decision making. Decisions and
choices are made from our thoughts which only take place in our mind. Our brain
is a battled field of activities most of them are on choices. If we only learn
how to cultivate it well, it will best work to our interest. It is all about sharpening
the mind and this is an ongoing process. Constant and never ending self-development
comes from nourishing the mind with positive rich motivating and inspiring
materials.
Reading positive uplifting materials, that
challenge, inspire and motivate you to take actions in life. These Materials add to our references to which
we make decision on. I have been reflecting on the words of Albert Einstein. “The
thinking that got you to where you are right now will not take you to your
dreams.” In trying to understand the deeper meaning, I have found out that for effectiveness
in life we have to know what to do, how to do and the why we are doing it.
We cannot act on something that you know
nothing about. For instance if you are in the business or entrepreneur world
and you find yourself stuck where the business is not growing or advancing or
not moving to the next level. The problem is not the business; the problem is
with you as the owner, for you have not taken enough measures to learn more on
how to improve your business. The business can never grow beyond what you know.
That’s why I keep telling my friends that “we can never see the world beyond
that which we are.”
All that we are right now and all that we have
achieved in life is basically a true reflection of what our mind holds. To affect
change in our life we have to begin by getting to know more about us. You have
to be aware of who you are and what you want and why you want it. To realize
our potential, our capabilities, our skills and abilities we have to keep on
working on us. To take our business to the next level we have to feed our mind
with new materials every single day so as to improve and grow. The various ways
of achieving this are; you could decide to get into a library and get all business
oriented books and read and then try to implement what you have learned. The other
way could be going back to school and learn more on business management and
administration or find business oriented forums and take part in them. It is as
simple as that. Learn more and make more.
If you are struggling due to luck of financial
stability, you can only improve by learning more. By learning I mean feeding
your mind with knowledge from financial intelligence materials. Please note
that am not writing this out of the blues, but through the experience I have
gone through and I’m still struggling to keep up to it. I have become who I am
right now through the process of learning more. I’m not saying it’s an easy park
that you just walk into, you have to decide and act and keep your commitments
to self-development. Commitment being not accepting any excuse but result. It come
s with effort, determination and persistence not forgetting constancy. Constant
and never ending self-improvement.
2018 is here and nothing will change if you
keep on doing things the same way you have been doing. You have to change your
ways. You must start the process of improving yourself. You must change the circle
of you friends. If you friends don’t help you grow then you have to say bye to
them. Remember if you hung out with dogs you get fleas. Our life depends on our
decisions and decisions emanate from our mind. So to make better decision which
project to actions, we have to keep up the work of sharpening the saw. No one
in this world is born stupid or poor we only make poor choices that slowly and
systematically assemble us into that state of poorness or stupidity. This is a
situation we can change by sharpening the saw. So what are you waiting for? The
choice is yours to make. If you want 2018 to work for you, then you have to
decide and act on self-development.
The only way to make a significant impact in
life is to act on what you have learned here. Practice it until it becomes part
of you and also share it to you friends, family and friends. If you have any concern
please feel free to drop me a comment or if there is something you wish me to
address also write back to me I will be glad to share with you. Thank you for
taking time to read. May God bless your endeavors, let them come to fulfillment.
HAPPY
2018
