Hi, welcome to Lifebuilder!

We live at break-neck speed. Recreation is usually on the bottom of our list of priorities. Yet productivity and efficiency are greatly enhanced by taking time out to have fun and recharge.

The seventh habit of Steven Covey’s bestselling book “The 7 Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” is “Sharpen the Saw”. In the book, Covey tells a story that provides an instructive lesson: 

A man is sawing away at a large tree. He is red in the face, sweating and swearing, barely a quarter of the way through the trunk. A wise man, taking his mid-morning stroll through the forest, comes upon the frustrated lumberjack. ‘Good morning,’ he says, ‘how long have you been at that tree?’ Without stopping to look up, the lumberjack wheezes, ‘About three hours.’ ‘Three hours!’ exclaims the wise man. Taking a closer look at the lumberjack’s tool he asks him: ‘Have you stopped to sharpen your saw?’ ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ replies the lumberjack, ‘can’t you see I don’t have time.’’ But Mr. Lumberjack,’ says the wise man, ‘if you’d stopped to sharpen your saw you would have had that tree down two hours ago!’ 

Some of my best ideas have come to me during weekends away, on the beach, in the gym or just walking in my garden. Rest and recreation are not optional - they’re the way we humans sharpen our saws and remain productive. Without recreation, there can be no creation.

I must give credit for today’s Lifebuilder to Sam Harrop from Affordable Adventures. Last week, I did a series of speaker showcases for his clients. Affordable Adventures runs excellent recreational team building sessions, which are a huge amount of fun. It got me thinking about the importance of ‘scheduling fun’ to make sure it is an integral part of one’s life and company culture. If you are interested in letting Affordable Adventures give your team a fun (and teambuilding) day, go to www.affordableadventures.co.za now.

Until next week - Create Your Self!

Justin

Justin Cohen


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