The Leader In Me

SARAH CAFFREY

Leadership Facilitator

As we end another school year, it is so important to reflect on all of the wonderful achievements that have taken place. These come is so many forms. There has been wonderful academic growth, impressive developments in resilience, and we have seen many students building and acting on Habit 8: Find Your Voice and Encourage Others to Find Theirs.  

It is now time to think about Habit 7: Sharpen The Saw. We must take time to recharge, look after ourselves and renew ourselves for another year ahead. Sharpen the Saw means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have……you. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual. Here are some examples of activities:

“There is a story of a man who was sawing down a tree and not making a lot of progress. When a passer-by asked him why he didn’t stop sawing to sharpen his saw, he remarked that he was too busy sawing. Habit 7 reminds us that we are more productive when we are in balance—body, brain, heart and soul. Just like the four tyres on a car, if one area is being ignored or overused, the rest will feel the results. For young children, the car analogy is one they understand; a car could not go on fewer than all four tires. Explain the four parts of each person (body, brain, heart, and soul) and how important it is to take care of each part to make them all work better” (Leader in Me Parent Guide p.13).

It’s all about BALANCE, being able to use all the habits to ‘make’ the time to refresh, revitalise and refuel all of the four areas. If the tree chopper chose to stop and sharpen his saw, he may seemingly ‘lose’ time, yet by stopping he stands to achieve so much more. More likely to be more effective, efficient and achieve more satisfying results.