Sharpening the Saw

This is a wonderful analogy used by Stephen Covey in his fantastic book ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’, in which he describes the sorry state of a person working long and hard to cut down a tree, sweated and worn out from the effort. When it is suggested he take a break and sharpen the saw he replies ‘Goodness I don’t have time to sharpen the saw, I’m far too busy sawing!’ and carries on sawing away with the blunt blade.

India is my favourite place to go and sharpen my saw. Last time I was there several ideas for articles came to me in a matter of minutes and I have since written and published those pieces. There were also spontaneous ideas for workshops, which I have run in this last year. Plans which came to mind so effortlessly in India, have matured now and blossomed into wonderful projects. And of course it’s not just the creative saw which is sharpened but also the physical, emotional and spiritual, through rest, being close to nature and having time to reflect.

Time for Reflection

As the year draws to a close I’ve been reflecting upon the experiences which have been most significant for me. My two trips to India certainly stand out. It was a real test of personal strength to travel alone as a woman knowing that I was going to be entirely responsible for my personal safety and well being. There wouldn’t be the reassurance of emergency services such as police and ambulance as we have here, I’d be completely alone, save for the few days spent with some relatives.

Both trips were exhilarating. I let myself be guided by my intuition, if a situation or person didn’t feel right I didn’t hang around to find out why. Just because an individual or family were friendly and warm it didn’t mean they had my trust, that’s something earned over time. It was emotionally taxing though to be constantly aware of potential dangers to safety, not smiling as much as I do normally was really hard, a friend of mine had told me to leave my smile at the departure lounge at Heathrow and pick it up on the way back – ‘it means different things out there’ she said. Being firm but polite was not too difficult as it’s part of my business personality and staying reserved and quiet was easy since I was travelling alone and there was no one to talk to anyway – the funny outcome of that was most of the locals thought I couldn’t speak the language, some went to great pains to speak to me in English while others would talk about me not knowing I could understand every word that was being said!

‘It’s a land of extremes’ as a friend once said, true to a great extent, a place where chaos and tranquillity dwell as neighbours.

Here are some shots from my last day there.

Single Tasking

I learnt many things during the few days I spent with my relatives in India. Most of the time they wouldn’t let me help them so I was resigned to sitting and watching while we chatted and they went about their daily chores, they were probably right as I can’t really say I’m competent at cooking over a fire!

This gave me a great opportunity to observe how they do things and go about their tasks. What really stood out is that both the men and women only dealt with one task at a time. Their approach was calm, relaxed and focussed. They seemed to enjoy and savour whatever they were doing. And it’s not like they don’t have a lot to do, the farm is run in a very business like manner in which time keeping, individual responsibility and team work are critical.

Since coming back I’ve applied this rule of single tasking to both personal and professional areas of my life. It was a stretch at first for a super multi tasking modern woman, but the rewards have been great.

Just focusing on the task in hand and giving it all my attention, has resulted in increased satisfaction and focus. I feel calmer and enjoy what I’m doing more. The quality of the results I’m achieving is better too. Before I approach any task I think of what is important to do not just urgent and demanding, so that’s leading to better prioritising. Strangely I’m getting more done without feeling overwhelmed or stressed!

Single tasking is allowing me to live the moment rather than just whizz through it like a passenger on a high speed train.

Here’s a pic of my aunt after we’ve all had breakfast, she’s sorting lentils for lunch, there are things that need doing all around her, but she’s sitting comfortably just focusing on the task in hand. How nice!

Close to Nature

I love many things about India; one of them is how close it’s possible to be to nature. On this trip I saw how rice was harvested, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen rice on the stalk and I’ve been eating it all my life! It felt so bizarre when I came back to UK and sat at my PC, 48 hours earlier I had been taking the cows on my uncle’s farm to have their afternoon drink of water!