Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 <inaudible>
Speaker 1 00:00:11 Good morning, LinkedIn community. Welcome to another fun edition of coffee with Jim and James. You don't me. You know how I always start our episodes. James is always telling me, man, you got to sharpen the saw. I'm like I have the sides. It's still pretty sharp. We're okay. And then it's like, no, no, no, no, no. Seven habits. I'm like seven habits, new Orleans, 2013. We won't talk about it. He's like, no, Jimmy, no, let me get real for a second. And when I, uh, mentioned sharpening the saw and mentioned James, you know, really James is a mentor. He's a mentor to a lot of people. He's a mentor to me. And that's not a position. That's not a title that somebody picks out of the book. It's because of the way he lives his life. And he's always talking to me saying, Hey man, you got to sharpen the saw, you got to slow down and you got to recharge the batteries, all those things.
Speaker 1 00:01:05 And so when James and I were talking about this episode of sharpening, the saw I'm like, this is going to be great for so many people in the LinkedIn area that are struggling right now with just a lot of things in life, or maybe not struggling, but challenged or whatever. So with that, let me bring in James my, as I'll go wacky again, my partner in crime, my brother from another mother, James, how are you? This fine and beautiful morning. Good. Jim, I'm excited about talking a little bit today about sharpening the saw. This is something I bring up a lot with our team and other teams struggling with, with focus and being effective. And so I'm excited to dive in with this one, even though I feel I'll be honest, I feel like such a hypocrite today because I'm at a point right now that I know is not sustainable.
Speaker 1 00:02:10 I'm right in the middle of it. I know it means that I promise you by the time everybody sees this, uh, episode that I've planned accordingly, I am sharpening the saw as you watch, whether it's Thursday or Friday, I've scheduled it, which I'll talk about here in a little bit, but today as we take, this feels a little bit of both, but you bring up a good point. I do want to start a little bit on the habits, really begin with the end in mind. You've probably heard us say that before. Um, so, so let's utilize that habit right now. And so the beginning today, we're talking about sharpening, the saw and, uh, for those that are not aware, this comes from the seven habits of highly effective people, um, which is, uh, a classic in business. Um, so many foundational elements in it coming from Stephen Covey.
Speaker 1 00:03:18 And today the hyper-focus is really around sharpen and massage, which is the seventh of the seven habits. And I speak on this as if, you know, I'm the best at it, but sometimes it's definitely one of those do, as I say, not as I do things, but seven habits is something as a company that EWN is embraced where the everyone, um, unfortunately here lately we've been growing at a pace that we haven't been able to maybe provide, you know, our, our seven habits workshops like we used to, but even here recently, I said, man, we got to have another batch. And that's really how I was introduced to it because when I joined EWN they had just been, you know, just went through kind of embracing this from a leadership standpoint. So it was like a year and a half into working there that actually I got the chance to teach one of the, how two of the habits.
Speaker 1 00:04:20 And then we've actually went through another cycle since where I was able to teach to them the habits as well again, and that's kind of a rhythm that we do within our walls. And so sharpen, the saw is that seven tablet and honestly covering says in the book himself, that it's the hardest one of all of the habits to really create a habit, which is silly. When you think about what sharpening the saw is all that we love, right? If it is, uh, all as well with the body, with the mind, the heart and with the soul, that's really what it boils down to. And so, you know, taking that time to, to whether it be exercise or sleeping or eating well or relaxing to reading, to educating yourself and writing, if you're a writer and learning all the skills that you can or spending time with your friends and your people and your inner circle and your family and laughing and, and just loving on each other.
Speaker 1 00:05:25 And then lastly with the soul, whether that is prayer for you, whatever that looks like, um, taking in just quality stuff that you know is going to hit you in your soul, meditating, journaling, whatever that looks like to you. But those four things really embody that seven habits and studies show a crowd. I don't have the stats. I'm not going to drop them on anybody today, but that seven pack, it's hard for a lot of people. You know, America as a whole, I'll speak on America, America as a whole has embraced this idea that we have to work ourselves to death and then set this new bar and do it again and do it again. And it's a vicious cycle, no matter what your role is, no matter what segment of the industry or any industry, it is a cycle that we have got to break to be a second. Amen. I hope that sets the stage on again, another habit beginning with being the mine out, that sets the stage of what today's about.
Speaker 2 00:06:34 Well, you, as always, when you speak those words, they just resonate in me. And I think the challenge though, for me, you know, we're coming off a holiday weekend and you know, you and I talked on Friday, heck you know, we, we began this series months, half a year ago as therapy for you and I to have a release, have a place to talk, to have fun, to cut some things up, to bring friends on, you know, to share with the industry. And, you know, we live our lives by calendars, right? Always checking calendars. And I had my mind set on this holiday weekend last weekend that I was going to sharpen the saw and you know, life happens, you know, good family matters happen, you know, nothing bad, but just things happen. And the sharpening, the soft portion, James gets pushed down and down and down and I'm living in, you know, things that are needed, but you know, it's definitely not sharpening saw it's now.
Speaker 2 00:07:33 So, and again, this goes into my second point, you know, we're in the middle of a lot of things going on in the world right now, working remotely, you know, still areas that are somewhat quarantined or, or having special attentions and such like that. So we're all working. A lot of us are working from home and we have blurred lines. You know, when the, when does the work day start? When does it stop? Does it ever start or stop or does it just keep going and going and weekends? And so I struggle, brother. I struggle with that. And do you have a insight you could share with me? And I, I can tell you, I've seen so many of our friends on LinkedIn that are crying out for the same thing. They're using terms as burnout, all those, you know, words and such like that. Any thoughts, what's your, uh, where do you want to, where do you want to take us to help us to be better?
Speaker 1 00:08:24 Yeah, that's a tough one. And I don't think going into this, that any of us had this, this magic plan, right. I mean, for our lives and for our work, but, uh, as we've kind of lived through it and you're dead on what the fact that we're blurring this line more than ever before, which, you know, probably if you went back to when, uh, Mr. Covey wrote this book, or at least the first edition of it, these were not things that we have to consider. Sure. So I don't know that we have the perfect answer today, but I will say that that sharpening, the saw looks so different in so many people. Right. So, so I would argue starting in the series and the initial thoughts behind it and the friends that we wanted to dialogue with and have on that therapy portion. I can talk about if we think about the, the list that I mentioned in the beginning, uh, even at the four, does this check any of the boxes for you mind, heart or soul or body?
Speaker 1 00:09:32 Probably not body, you know, other than maybe a little bit of relaxation and venting and stuff like that, but, but the other three areas, without a doubt, we're checking boxes, that's good for our soul. It's good for our friendship. That's good for our mind to talk through these things and, and take that moment to really reflect. So sometimes we think sharpening the saw is that, you know, our visual goes to literally sharpening that saw, right? And then it's a concerted effort, right? That, that, Oh, I've doll because I've been focusing too much on work and I really need to take a weekend off. Listen, we can't correct the amount of work that we put in over the amount that we should have been putting in. We can't correct that with one weekend and we can't correct it by reading one book or, you know, having friends over for dinner on Saturday night, like we used, like, it has to be a concerted effort.
Speaker 1 00:10:35 I think the biggest thing you said, and if there are any tips that you might be able to give someone, and I told our teams in the beginning, we're going to be an HR nightmare when the pandemic is overcome, you know, whenever that day is November, maybe it's next year. I don't know. But if we don't take time off, the whole company is going to be off queue that Q4, like we're going to have all this big time off. And yeah, I joke about that. That it's an HR problem, but that's a people problem. That's a sharpening. The saw problem. And, and my, I guess it comes back to the tip of my tip is that you have to, another habit is, is one of the seven habits is to put first things first. And if you are not putting sharpening soft first, then you're not scheduling your time. As silly as that might sound, I'm going to schedule time to focus on sharpening the saw. It sounds insane, but if you're not you're right, you're going to keep kicking that can down the road.
Speaker 2 00:11:44 Let me, let me just jump in real quick. Ag, I want to pose a quick question. When you say consistent, you know, having it, you know, in your schedule or on your actually a calendar, you know, doing that, are you talking like this weekend, starting Friday night at six 30, I'm going to start or is this something daily?
Speaker 1 00:12:06 So, so again, if we go back to think about it, think about before of the big four things that we're trying to conquer body, mind, heart, soul, right? If we don't make a dedicated time, I mean, listen, there's some people that pray for an hour every morning. It's not me. I don't need an hour, but maybe I go on a walk at seven o'clock every morning and I pray while I walk. Sure. And then I'm checking again. I'm checking four different boxes at the same time. So yes, you can schedule it, but it does have to be a daily thing. I can't, I can't tell you what checks those boxes for you, Jim and I can't, but I can tell you that if you don't make time for those things, if you don't put first things, first, someone else is going to decide what your thing is.
Speaker 1 00:12:59 That's that's, that's what got me was I can complain about the person that schedules the four o'clock meeting on Friday, but I promise you they're checking their boxes of first things first. And so if my important thing is at four o'clock on Friday, I'm going to take an hour and disconnect and go into my weekend in the right mind frame, going to check all my work boxes so that at five I can step away and not have any concerns. Then I'm going to schedule that because it's not someone else's going to define what my first things are.
Speaker 2 00:13:35 Is that a declaration? I mean, I use that word as whatever, but declaring to the team, to your coworkers, to the industry or whatever. Hey, look forward to talking to you Monday morning at 7:00 AM, but tell them I'm checked out and in my world is strategic alliances. The fun part, as well as the challenges that so many of the people I talk to, not just during the day, but they happen at night and on the weekends, when we have a little downtime, you know, Hey Craig, how you doing? Good, good. You know, got a second to chat. Yeah. Next thing you know, it's 45 minutes later and dinners go and cold and you know, and you get just caught up into it and it's fun,
Speaker 1 00:14:14 But that feels a lot different than, than when you're working on a business plan or you're on a virtual conference or conference in realtor. I mean our life, you know, picking up a phone and texting somebody and just doing a temp check and really you're, you're doing that more as a friend than you are on trend. You're not trying to sell something on Saturday. You're checking in. Cause you care, you know, something that's going on. And I would argue that sharpening the saw more than, than it's worth it is blurred. Don't get me wrong. But Jim, I check in with you all the time on the weekend, but it has very little to do with true. We may have a thought and we may go off on a tangent, but that's good for our heart and good for our souls to keep us grounded and centered.
Speaker 1 00:15:02 But all I'm saying is, and we can do another segment on first things first because I'm very passionate about that one, that if you don't schedule this time and you're not sure, you're not trying to make a hap, right. These are called the seven habits of highly effective people. Not the seven I'll check in the box. I mean it not set of actions. It is habits you're trying to perform in Jim. You and I talked about it the every day I, when I first started working with you closely, you walked probably six, seven miles a day. I mean, I don't even know. I'm just saying like you were a pacer. You like to walk in the mornings. I have no doubt about it because you're, you're a godly person as well that you probably prayed for people during that time. Prayed for you got your mind, right?
Speaker 1 00:16:01 You probably, you probably built fantastic things from a business standpoint during those times and you were not in front of a computer. Oh no. A great habit that you had formed and that did so much for, for sharpening the saw. And are you in that habit right now? Nope. No, that right. That's habits now. And you have really, you have whole new habits, just like I been sitting in this chair and eating some snacks, right? Like we create habits, whether we're conscious of it or not. And so you had some good habits at one point, but it is really hard to bring it back around. It's really hard when, uh, sharpening the saw in pandemic world may mean that I'm walking from the office, into the living room and sitting in the new chair, eating a new snack. Uh, that is what it feels like for a lot of people. Whereas sharpen and salt for me in the past, might've been going out with friends on Friday night, having a dinner, you know, um, maybe it was going to the rock climbing gym or whatever it looks like to that person. And then in this reality is how do I achieve that same thing?
Speaker 2 00:17:30 And I have to tell you, I got to jump in again. I, I struggle so many times during this time because it seems like there's been a paradigm shift in what our old normal is versus our new normal, even taking a day off. I took a, a day off. I can't remember when it was sometime over the summer months and I had a day off and we didn't go anywhere though. That was one of the issues is that, you know, we stayed at the house and it was good, but I mean, literally every 15 minutes, 30 minutes hour, I'd go by the computer and just kinda like check in, you know, see a couple of Slack messages going by, Oh, you know, I'll pop in and say something and I'm like, stop. You know, they all know I'm on TT.
Speaker 1 00:18:14 Yeah. But Jim, I would say to that, so I do the same thing. I get a lot of email. So if I'm out two days consecutively and I don't check my email, when I come back, I'm going to have 400 emails. Oh yeah. But so my argument and this is probably, you know, Covey will probably run in the road if you've heard me, um, you know, translate this habit. Okay. But I would argue, and I tell my wife this all the time and she'd probably could do her own episode on how that I'm sharp, but I would argue that those activities, if I take a day off, I check my emails and my downtime of that day off just like I have downtime in a regular day, I check in with it. So that mine day, my first day back is not the worst day of my life, but that I don't spend two hours in the morning checking email to get caught up on the things that I didn't do because I can go through as they come in and check and run through and kick it over to somebody. And that's good for my mind and my soul that I'm not going to walk into a firestorm. So again, I don't think Covey wrote it that way, but habits it's habits. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:19:41 Yeah. Because we, we live in this world now where we're always connected. I remember when I worked for center point in Minneapolis years back, and we got this thing called a Blackberry and we're, I'm sitting there saying this is pretty cool. You know? And they're like, Hey, can I get your emails? I'm like, sort of, they shut off at six o'clock at night. You know, that they're like, well, no, they go all the time. And I'm sitting there thinking, I'm like, you know, like when I go to the parking garage, get in the car at six o'clock at night, drive home, uh, pre blackberries, you know, you kind of like left everything now. It's like, I can't go to bed at night without checking that, just to make sure that everything's good. There's no fires to be put out or anything like that. And first thing in the morning, I mean,
Speaker 1 00:20:25 Firstly, but also when I'm doing those things, um, and uh, okay. So I take the day off today. I'm probably going to spend my morning on my patio, drinking coffee, watching the chickens and the ducks Peck around, watch the sun come up, you know, like it's everything. I want my normal data book to be like, you know, the kids are out there, they're hanging out a lifestyle out there. Like it's a nice ramp up to the debt today. My ramp up is I wait for the coffee and then I sit down at my computer. Right. But while I'm sitting on that patio, I don't mind checking a few emails or responding to some Slack messages or whatever it looks like. But, um, it's, it's at my pace. And really it's about ensuring that when I come back, I'm not inundated with work. So
Speaker 2 00:21:22 Words or the word I'm hearing in my head right now. And I don't want this to be a cliche, but honestly, it's balanced. That's what I'm looking at you on that patio. And you have a balance, you have a balance of recharging and a balance of also taking care of things. So you can recharge because I'm with you the same way you're going to vacation. You want to check emails like two days before you get back. If you have a week off, try to decompress, but come two days before you hit the office, you're on the emails. Just so you don't worry,
Speaker 1 00:21:53 Even worse. Have you ever gotten an email? Let's say it's an hour or two into your weekend, your long weekend that you've done. And then an email comes across and there, there is a fire that needs to be put out and you don't because you're like, you know what, there's other people on there. I'm not going to be concerned about it. I'm off. Right? The whole, not my job thing. And then how does that work out for you? Not good because lamb you're, you're consumed by it. If you would've just taken 30 or 40 minutes or three minutes and written an email and got it over to the right person and said, okay, now I feel better. Now I can go about my weekend, but instead you're consumed by. You hope someone took care of it, but I don't want to look at that email. That's, that's, it's a habit, right? I mean, it's a diligent habit. And you said balance, you know, I, I struggle with work-life balance. You know, somebody I've mentioned it before, but somebody said, you know, work-life rhythm makes more sense. There's a big projects at work. There's big projects at home. And depending on competing resources, obviously they, they, they require more or less attention. But I think the goal is more balanced, but you probably find yourself a little bit more in a rhythm. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:23:21 I like that term rhythm. That's a
Speaker 1 00:23:23 Good one. I mean a work rhythm right now. I need to make more time for sharpening the saw. But I know once I get a little taste of sharpening the saw I'll, I'll reflect that in my rhythm. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:23:36 And we talk about that too. When you show up with a saw and you get your mind free and clear, it's a lot easier to focus on task or to do's and all those things, because your mind can actually, you know, go free and work on them,
Speaker 1 00:23:50 Best ideas after shopping and I'd come back and I'm sure if I hate, so I come back and have like 40 new projects, but I can't do that in a normal state. I can't IVA. I can't do those. Another Covey term, those quadrant two activities is where you shouldn't be living the ones that are most impactful. Right. And instead we live in quadrant one, which is really the firefighter, right? We're not proactive. So, um, sharpening the saw helps you get back to true North, which is focusing on the important thing
Speaker 2 00:24:29 James, we got, we could probably talk, I'm not saying hours for days on this and I'm, I'm thoroughly engrossed in this and loving every second, you know? And I will say, you're, you're my best interviewee all day long. How does that sound? We should, we should, we should wind down. But any final thoughts for our listeners? Um, any one, two sentences of advice, anything you want to,
Speaker 1 00:25:04 I'm just going to go off on a tangent. It's one of my favorite things to do and you do it. Well, I think we should just call the show tangent and it may a tangent about whatever the topic is. We'll we'll workshop that, but I guess for those that are not engrossed and have not really dove in to seven habits, I would say, start there number one, right? That's not really a tip or some, you know, Epic statement. But if this has interested you, I promise you the other seven habits. And if you leave teams as a, I mean, this is a core foundational book, uh, I think teams and every person on the team should be able to function with seven habits. It doesn't, you can lead from anywhere. Right? So, um, it doesn't matter what your role is. It's an action. So I would, I would urge everyone to start there and then remember that it's a reef, a reference book.
Speaker 1 00:26:04 Okay. A lot of people think they're going to read this book and then be enlightened. And for the rest of their life, being able to live this new life, um, you know, for, for a good example, essay, it's like the Bible for business. Anytime I'm having a problem. A lot of the times, if I go back to the seven habits, one of them is totally off guilty. And so the sooner you realize it's a reference book and later down the road a year from now, you will go, James, I get what sharpen the saw means. I can't tell you how many people that I've taught a habit to that years later have texted me on a Saturday and said, James, I get the light bulb. First things first, just like what you said, and today it at home. And then I promise you, if you go back and you pick that up and reread that portion, when it hit you, it's just like scripture.
Speaker 1 00:26:59 Right? So, so I would definitely say start there for those that are not fully aware of seven habits for those that are, and that are really focused on sharpening the saw today. Like what we're talking about, like, how do you take action with this is I would go back to first things first and that is schedule it, make a habit. If you're going to schedule all the things you don't want to do, please believe you should be scheduling the things that you do. Okay. And I can't answer what that looks like to each person. I don't think any of us can, um, it may be barbecuing for me or sitting on a boat or riding a lawnmower or going to the beach for some reading, a book. Um, whatever it looks like to schedule it, make time. If it's twice a week that you put something on your schedule, it's better than what you're doing now.
Speaker 1 00:28:02 And if we don't make this diligent and consistent, it will never become a habit. And we know all the stats on habits and how long it takes to do habits. This is all different businesses, smell different. And then the last thing, and this is something that I started this year and I kind of like having, and I'm trying to get us in this cadence as a company to do these fourth quarter, um, seven habits, kind of who, anybody that wants back in, you know, enjoy it because then as you roll into the next year, you can hold yourself accountable a lot easier. And so that's, that's the point is once you kind of go through it again, it's, it's hard to apply seven habits, all seven habits and stuff. It's not sustainable. You're never going to do it. Okay. You don't have enough time, obviously.
Speaker 1 00:28:52 Um, take a couple of the habits, the ones that you think make the biggest impact with you and tell your teams, tell the people you work closely with that. That is an absolute focus that you're doing. So for me this year, first thing's first, I'm tired of other people deciding what are the first things in my life. And I say, life, business, life, whatever you want to call it, all of it. I'm tired of that. So I stated it right up front. My commitment this year is that I'm putting first things first because I want my first things to be first in, whatever room is left. If, if you need your first things on my calendar, then you better get to work because I'm going to look to fill first and stated it to everybody at the beginning of the year and said, holding me accountable, scheduling, I'll hold you accountable. And that's how you can get to a habit is make it known, scream it from the rooftops that you're committed to and dedicated to this and then schedule it. So I love it. And if you do that, you're actually knocking out two habits, right? First things first and shut up. But I think they go hand in hand.
Speaker 2 00:30:17 I love you. I love your passion. And I said, at the beginning of it, you are a mentor to so many. You're a mentor to me. And you're a mentor. There's probably so many people that don't even realize that your mentor, but they look to you for your leadership, your thoughts, your, your passion for life, your passion for work, life or personal life for rhythm, all those things. And I can't thank you enough. I hope that if one person got to change in their life today, by watching this, we have done our job. And, um, all I would ask is that one person that got something out of it, if they would share it with somebody else, keep the echos, keep the ripples, keep all that going because that's how we make a difference.
Speaker 1 00:31:00 It's all about the echoes. All of 'em. You're not a leader until you can make a lever that makes a leader and you can't do that without that first sector. I agree, man. Thank you so much. I hope my heart feels the same. And this is, this is sharpening the off for me.
Speaker 2 00:31:20 It is for me, I'm in a great mood. You know, like sometimes the mornings get off a little in your, like, this is, you know, decompression. So I will, uh, I will offer out to the link to the community. You know, James, as you can tell is an open book. He tells it like it is. And if anybody wants to private message him with a question, anything about the seven habits sharpening the saw, I know I'm speaking for you, James, but I know that you would welcome those connect with us. You know, connect, uh, keep following us, connect with us. So if you have questions, let us know how we can help. Absolutely copy the Jim and James tell next week, everybody stay safe. God bless you. God bless our industry. And we will see you next time on copy of Jim and James Sharp
Speaker 1 00:32:05 Sharpen, sharpen the saw. Thank you, Jenny. Thank you. Every mother <inaudible>.
