If you've read any of Steven Covey's books you might remember the story of the woodcutter who, although much smaller than his competitor, felled a tree in half the time. The secret was that periodically the smaller of the two stopped his "sawing" and sharpened his saw, making him more effective than his larger more powerful counterpart. The metaphor shows us that sometimes we spend so much time producing results, "sawing,"  that we forget to "sharpen our saw," that is maintain or increase our capacity to produce results in the future.

Sharpening the Saw

If you’ve read any of Steven Covey’s books you might remember the story of the woodcutter who, although much smaller than his competitor, felled a tree in half the time. The secret was that periodically the smaller of the two stopped his “sawing” and sharpened his saw, making him more effective than his larger more…