Monday Morning Motivations Sharpening Your Axe

Published by Robert A. & Vicki L. Prentice of Professional Development Systems
August 21, 2006 Issue 212

From the Desk of Bob

Staying sharp and crisp in mind and spirit is one of my life goals, and finding creative and innovative ways to do this is a passion of mine. Learning new things, developing new hobbies, completing special projects, giving to others in both time and money, all this I do–and more–to live a richer, fuller and more satisfying life, which contributes greatly to my staying sharp and crisp in mind and spirit as I would like to be.

Reading Monday Morning Motivations helps me, too. In fact, I read and re-read these articles many times during each week to help me keep my focus and attitude is right. Because I want to assure the information I am putting out there is accurate, clear, relevant, to the point, and actually makes sense, I often stand back and read MMM from your perspective, as well.

Keep in mind you and I are a team here, and we are working towards the same objectives. If ever these writings do not make sense to you, or I need to clarify something, please let me know. This will also help me in the process of staying sharp and crisp. I promise it will not hurt my feelings if you correct me or challenge me on something that we publish or encourage me to dig a little deeper into a topic.

Let's all keep learning and growing this week! Bob

In this week's issue

Life Attitudes

Seeds of Success: Sharpening Your Axe

The Parable of Sharpening Your Axe

The Prairie Beacon

Mr. Attitude's Life Tested Tools

Life Attitudes

"Unless you try to do something beyone what you have mastered, you will never grow."
~C. R. Lawton~

"Learning is not attained by chance; it must be sought for with ardor and attended with diligence.." ~Abigail Adams~

"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether this happens at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps on learning not only remains young, but becomes constantly more valuable regardless of physical capacity."
~Harvey Ullman~

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Seeds of Success: Sharpening Your Axe

By Robert A. Prentice

Making the time and finding the energy to improve one's self is, in my opinion, a very wise investment, and yet I am amazed at how many people I meet who do not fully understand the importance of personal and professional development and training for themselves.

Investing one's time and money in learning is a powerful thing. We each have so much potential that could and should be tapped. I have found that investing in my own continuing education is far more profitable to me than investing in the stock market.

Gaining knowledge is one thing, however learning the skills to think, plan, and make dreams turn into realities, is entirely another matter. This can be accomplished by taking the time to sharpen our axe. I personally choose not to be dull. I want to be sharp. I want to be ready at all times to cut wood–that is, to make things happen in life.

I encourage everyone I meet to become a person who craves more education and hungers for learning. Taking seminars and classes, reading books and listening to CD’s, talking to others and asking a ton of questions are all ways one can sharpen their axe.

You may benefit from this four-step process I use quite often to sharpen my own axe. Keep in mind that the primary reason for improving oneself is so to be more effective in getting along, uplifting and contributing to others’ lives in a positive manner.

Step One. I CAN! Make a list of all your skills and abilities.

Step Two. I AM! Make a list of all your roles and responsibilities.

Step Three. I HAVE! Make a list of all your assets.

Step Four. I WILL! Make a list of all you goals, dreams and desires.

Apply this process in your everyday life and you will be amazed at the results. Indeed, you will discover a definite sharpening of your axe!

The Parable of Sharpening Your Axe

A young man approached the foreman of a logging crew and asked for a job. "That depends," replied the foreman. "Let's see you fell this tree."

The young man stepped forward, and skillfully felled a great tree. Impressed, the foreman exclaimed, "You can start Monday."

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday rolled by–and Thursday afternoon the foreman approached the young man and said, "You can pick up your paycheck on the way out today."

Startled, the young man replied, "I thought you paid on Friday."

"Normally we do," said the foreman. "But we're letting you go today because you've fallen behind. Our daily felling charts show that you've dropped from first place on Monday to last place today."

"But I'm a hard worker," the young man objected. "I arrive first, leave last, and even have worked through my coffee breaks!"

The foreman, sensing the young man's integrity, thought for a minute and then asked, "Have you been sharpening your ax?"

The young man replied, "No sir, I've been working too hard to take time for that!"

Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don't take time to "sharpen the ax." In today's world, it seems that everyone is busier than ever, but less happy than ever. Why is that? Could it be that we have forgotten how to stay sharp?

There's nothing wrong with activity and hard work. But it is never good for us to get so busy that we neglect the truly important things in life. We all need time to relax, to think and meditate, to learn and grow. If we don't take time to sharpen the axe, we will become dull and lose our effectiveness.

~Author Unknown~

Bob "Mr. Attitude" Prentice is available for Keynote, conference engagements, and in-house company training assignments Call to schedule Bob TODAY! 800.437.9715

Read on...

The Prairie Beacon

The Prairie Beacon is a monthly positive attitude paper, published by Mr. Attitude, featuring Seeds of Success articles, motivational stories, quotes and attitudes, all guaranteed to challenge and inspire it's readers to live a richer, fuller and happier life.

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Mr. Attitude's Life Tested Tools

My training sessions consist of the principals, attitudes, and skills that I have discovered over the course of my life, and that I aspire to practice in my day to day living. These are the Life Tested Tools that I have to offer:

KEYS TO BETTER LEADERSHIP • Creativity Encounter • Planning for Results • Organizational Effectiveness • Understanding Ourselves and Others • Teamwork Works • Building Morale

KEYS TO BETTER SELLING • Gaining a Prospects Attention • Building Interest • Communicating with Conviction • Painting Pictures of Desire • Asking for the Business • Welcoming Objections • Showmanship in Selling • Total Customer Service • Bootstrap Marketing o Barter o Networking o Advertising o Podcasting/Blogging o Internet

KEYS TO BETTER LIVING • Attitudes for Excellence • Managing Stress and Time • Complete Life Strategy • Tapping our Potential

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Feel free to pass your Monday Morning Motivations on to a friend.

What a great way to let them know you are thinking of them!