Why Bloggers Must Sharpen Their Axe

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This piece is inspired 1) by a book that I read over 10 years ago that still holds true today, Dr. Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People“ and 2) by an incident that took place over the weekend – the theft of my mountain bike.

7 Habits of Highly Effective People Takeaway

In particular the 7th habit is the one that relates to this piece-Dr. Covey titled the 7th habit, “Sharpen the Saw“.  Essentially, what Dr. Covey is saying is that whatever it is that you do in life as a profession, always look for ways to improve your skills in that profession.  Within the context of this post I substituted the word Bloggers, but it applies just as much to Internet marketers or small business owners as it does to any other profession or skill.

Benin’s Personal Application of the 7th Habit

So many of you may already know that I just completed my graduate degree from Full Sail University’s Internet marketing masters degree program. However, you might not be  aware that I’ve been also been taking an html class and plan on continuing with this sort of thing either for the next year or until I feel more proficient.

What’s In It for You?

Whats in it for me?

You will derive joy, satisfaction, and continuous performance improvements from improving your skillset. But even if you somehow didn’t the same motivation that motivates me to continue sharpening my axe can still motivate you-do it just so you that know that you have tried your best to be on your “A Game”.  I know…We live in a world where we like to each have our own individual reasons for doing things and this isn’t to take away from that.  Its just to say that as sharp as you may be at blogging or Internet marketing there’s always room for improvement.

And how you get that improvement really doesn’t matter as much doing it on a consistent and regular basis does.  That is to say that you could improve on your knowledge of blogging through books, you could take a step further and learn about the underlying drivers of successful blogs by taking up an Internet marketing program, or you could get a mentor -if you’re like me you’ll do all of the above .  The point that whatever route you take, just don’t get caught standing still.

Takeaway #2 Don’t Forget to Use Your Axe

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One more point is this…Once you sharpen your axe, please remember to use it.   I know that might be thinking, “like duh”.  But hear me out on this one and just think…How many people do you know who are really good at something and who use that skill to perfection when doing their 9 to 5 but when they come home they don’t use that skill for themselves?  Think barbers, landscapers, mechanics…You name it, I’ve seen it.

How a Stolen Mountain Bike Figures into All of This

How a mountain bike brings clarity to this lesson

So now to my story…On Saturday my 7 year old daughter and I were  getting ready to go ride our bikes together.  But her bike was in the backyard and mine was in the garage.  For whatever reason the way we went about getting her bike this time around was a bit backwards.  We left the house through the garage door, leaving the garage door up to go around the back and get her bike.  It 2 or 3 minutes it took to get her bike and walk it back in front of the house-near the garage.  When I went to grab my bike, I noticed that in the same spot where I had left my bike laid my helmet.  But the bike was gone.  It took about a minute or so for it to register in my mind that someone had grabbed it and made of with it.  Initially, I had even thought that perhaps someone was playing a trick on me.

The lesson that I take from this incident is that I did not use the tool at my disposal-which happened to be my garage door.  Subconsciously taking for granted the “oh, this is a great neighborhood” spill, I left a garage full of valuables + my 6 month old baby and mother in law exposed by leaving the garage door open.   This lesson just as easily applies to those of us who are marketers, bloggers, or business people who allow ourselves to slack off on our own projects just because we’re technically “not on the clock”.

That’s all I have for now on the topic.  Until the next time folks!

Note: If you are reading this and you’re considering looking into Full Sail’s program or any related program please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Tagged As: Blog, Business, Full Sail University, Internet marketing, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey