| I have learned that not all time is the same quality. In | | | | For me, I think the following are my ways of |
| times when I am very alert, rested, focused and | | | | sharpening my saw: |
| efficient, I can be three to five times as productive as | | | | 1 - Sleep. I tend not oversleep. I have pushed myself so |
| other times. My goal is to have more of these highly | | | | hard for so long, I am not really sure how much sleep |
| productive hours. | | | | might help me be more productive. I am going to |
| This harkens back to Stephen Covey's Seventh rule | | | | schedule 6-7 hours per night to see if that helps |
| of Highly Effective People - sharpening the saw. The | | | | productivity. |
| vignette is of a wood cutter who is desperately | | | | 2 - Exercise. I become resentful when I push so hard |
| sawing at a huge tree. A passerby asks the | | | | that I do not have time to work out. I will schedule one |
| woodcutter why he does not sharpen the saw so he | | | | hour workouts 5 days per week and 2-3 hours once |
| can cut more easily and quickly. The woodcutter | | | | per week. For me this is also tied to sleep. If I push too |
| replies, I don't have the time, I have to cut the tree | | | | hard, I end up choosing between sleep and working |
| down. | | | | out. Not good. |
| Lately my life has been like that of the wood cutter. I | | | | 3 - I will allow time for a 15-20 minute walk each |
| have spent too much time sawing and not enough | | | | evening. I find this clears my head. |
| time sharpening the saw. | | | | 4 - Tidying and Organizing. I know I like my environment |
| So my exercise today is to figure out what things | | | | more and am more productive if things are neat. I will |
| sharpen the saw for me and plan to put those in my | | | | schedule an hour per week plus 10 minutes per day on |
| days and weeks first. Then allow the wood cutting to | | | | that. |
| take the other time as opposed to the other way | | | | 5 - Social time. I will schedule a couple of evenings per |
| around. I call this Reverse Planning. Rather than | | | | week of social time. |
| planning what I have on my to do list and trying to get | | | | 6 - Intellectual challenge. I will play bridge, chess or |
| that done, I plan my down time and deliberately work | | | | sudoko 5 hours per week. (this tends to be guilt time |
| to get that done. | | | | for me as I enjoy it too much) |
| This exercise is particularly good for highly driven | | | | 7 - Reading for pleasure. I will schedule a few hours to |
| people. Highly driven people tend to feel guilty if they | | | | read for pleasure. |
| are not working. So good things to put on the list are | | | | My list is not yet complete. I am still working on it. My |
| things that make you feel a bit guilty. Most of what I | | | | challenge now is to stick to my reverse time plan and |
| put on my list are things that I like to do a lot and if left | | | | not allow myself to get caught up by the usual daily |
| unchecked would likely do too much. | | | | volume. |