Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

Habit 7 is based on the principle that by taking time out to nurture your body, mind, heart, and soul, you become more effective in all other areas of your life.

Remember the story of the goose and the golden egg? You are the goose. You’ve got to take care of yourself if you want to continue to produce. What are your golden eggs? Grades, friendships, being a good brother, son, or a hobby?

There are four dimensions we should renew regularly:

Physical: To Live

Social/Emotional: To Love

Mental: To Learn

Spiritual: To Leave a Legacy

Each dimension overlaps and by strengthening one dimension we also positively impact others. I am working with some veterans trying to get a wellness workshop and sweat lodge organized. My friendships with these folks help me socially, but by talking about and helping one another live well we are addressing some mental and spiritual dimensions. This is like the 7 Habits in general: they are a spider web, pull on one end and the whole web is pulled in that direction.

If each dimension was a scale from poor to excellent where would you place yourself? More importantly what will you do to close the gap?

Habit 7 activities fall in Quadrant II. Remember that from Habit 3? Put First Things First. First is you. This doesn’t mean your life will be easier or you will make more money. When we were going over Habit 7 at the Academy I asked what we were doing-we all said laughing. We were laughing, but contextually we were doing so much more. We were taking time out of our day to day lives to experience life. Like Koz pointed out we stopped drinking and we still had fun. We were renewing commitments to ourselves about our education, Fraternity, family, and friendships.

The legs feed the wolf. In Miracle the team put first things first and was sharpening their saw. It wasn’t easy, but it was important and vital to their success.

I encourage you to examine how Habit 7 can be a priority in your personal life and for your chapter. A chapter that focuses on the four dimensions will be better prepared for the duties of life. They may not be a Hugh Shields, but that is an award and an ambition. Live to your aspirations, and create goals to continually improve.

Sharpening the Saw aligns with our mission statement of Committed to Lives of Excellence. Excellence is about continually improving. The other pieces of our mission statement, such as Life Long Learning and Growth are Vital, Brotherhood Sustains Us, and more will help us build and renew ourselves.

The language of our ceremonies, songs and the Delt Creed teach us to live well and to treat others with compassion. In that light we should help each other sharpen the saw. When we sing Delta Shelter and the second stanza of the creed we are not giving voice to a physical place. We are presenting a metaphor for all of our brothers to be in a safe environment that fosters friendship, conscience, aspiration, self-restraint, opportunity, understanding, loyalty, and embracing one another because of our strength. This is all sharpening the saw. The creed is all about the 7 Habits, and it all starts with Habit 1: Be Proactive. You have a choice to Believe in Delta Tau Delta, just like you have a choice to Sharpen the Saw.

This week write down one thing in each dimension that you will do to Sharpen the Saw and share it with your roommate from DC. Then schedule a time and do it. The legs feed the wolf. You are the wolf.