Sharpen Your Tools
Maintaining and honing your tools to maximize efficiency and practice excellence is critical- and elemental. Once one integrates this realization, everything changes.
Just as cooking becomes smoother and less dangerous with a honed kitchen knife and fishing becomes less tedious with the appropriate bait and rod, our lives improve as we improve our physical, emotional, and spiritual tools. Getting stronger trivializes our day-to-day chores. Practicing and developing patience softens the blows of the day-to-day and transforms the mundane into moments of rest; waiting goes from being ‘annoying’ to something enjoyable and a moment for even practicing stillness, grounding, or meditation, and overall, the challenges, which are undesirable obstacles for most people, become the way we grow and evolve, become the sharpening of oneself, the honing of one skill and practices.
Observe the things that inspire or grasp your attention throughout your day. The art, the music, the details, the kindness, the groomed person, the sharp wit, the gentle and precise motions of a gymnast, the beauty of a smooth layup — it’s the honing, the practice, and the hours invested that make these so stunning, appealing, beautiful, and awe-inspiring. The sharpening of the skills makes things appear effortless and smooth, and this beauty should inspire and motivate you to start your journey of self-improvement.
Here’s a list of topics to sharpen yourself, dwell on, and understand deeper:
- continuous learning
- mindfulness
- meditation
- time management
- goal setting
- physical fitness
- emotional intelligence (EQ)
- critical thinking
- resilience (physical and emotional)
- skill mastery
- networking
- mentorship
- adaptability
- effective (and nonviolent) communication
- leadership
- collaboration
- curiosity
- reading
- travel
- debate
- ethics
- improving your diet (whole foods)
- sleep hygiene
- stress management (self-care)
- pursue hobbies
- explore music, arts, and other creative pursuits
- integrity (be honest with yourself, practice this honesty)
- gratitude
- compassion
- patience
- financial literacy
- DIY skills (cooking, sewing, others)
- technology proficiency
- writing (the reason I do this type of work)
Understand this idea, sharpen your tools, and get that unlimited power!
