Creative work of any kind can be very consuming. It’s easy to tunnel vision and get caught up in the day-to-day execution. If you’re building things that are big enough, it’s tiring too, and when you’re done you want to rest. But there’s a very important creative tool that you MUST use to improve your creative output. You’ve got to regularly take time to Sharpen the Saw. Read on to find out what I mean.

Sharpen the Saw

Work in our universe is… well, it’s work. Even creating things for pleasure or improving our world can be a grind. It takes a lot of effort to do things that are worthwhile. It costs you time, energy, and also usually money or resources to make or evolve anything. What’s essential to be able to have more world impact, and become capable of turning ideas into real things more effectively?

You’ve got to intentionally apply yourself to levelling up. I call this “Sharpening the Saw.”

This is how I do it, and this approach will work for ANYONE. I regularly take time to reflect upon and improve these three things:

1. Myself & My Skills
2. My Creative Process
3. My Tools

The cadence isn’t precise. But it is very important to habitually improve all three. You MUST be improving all three at least multiple times per year. More frequently is better. The improvement must be conscious and intentional (guided by your mind with specific goals in mind).

1. Sharpen Yourself and Your Skills

Your most important creative instrument is yourself. Primarily your soul and spirit, but your body is also a vital part of the creative process.

I reflect frequently on the following:

• Am I improving the way I approach my work? How so? (Trajectory)
• Am I more excited, aligned and energized by the work I am doing? (Skill Alignment)
• Do I have more skills than I did last time I evaluated? (Skill Stacking)
• What are the key skills I possess that the world needs currently? (Skill Allocation)
• Have I developed more mastery in my key existing skills (Skill Mastery)
• Are my increased skills visible and communicable? (Skill Presentation)
• Do others know what my key skills and work products are? (Skill Communication)
• Am I able to generate more outputs with less inputs than last time I evaluated? (Skill Efficiency)

The more you know these, and have them on the top of your mind, the more personal creative growth you will experience. You will become more capable, more creative, and more impactful.

2. Sharpen Your Creative Process

Your next more important creative tool is your process. This is way you create. For 95+% of people, this the way you and your team approach your full-time job. If you have a poor process, your creative impact is limited. With a strong creative process, you will only be limited by yourself and the natural challenge of the work you undertake.

I reflect frequently on these kinds of questions. These can be individual questions, but they also work when applied to a team/group:

• Do we know what we’re working on? (Clarity)
• Are we working on the most impactful things? (Leverage)
• Do we know what the desired impact to the world of our work is? (Purpose)
• Are we bringing things from idea to reality directly? (Execution)
• Is the translation from idea to reality matching expectations? (Practicality)
• Do we know who is responsible for which parts? (Ownership)
• Is our delivered work having the desired effects? (Quantification)
• Is there needless social friction in the execution work? (Social Alignment)
• Is there wasted time/money/resources involved in the execution work? (Efficiency)
• How closely does the idea of the work process match the actual work process? (Conceptual Alignment)
• Are we happy with the way we work? (Joy)

I find that regularly reflecting on these types of questions helps me in my creative work, helps me lead better, and helps me and my teams improve our collective creative impact, efficiency and joy!

3. Sharpen Your Tools

Another key component of creative power is your tooling. Having and using the right tools is a massive multiplier in your creative capacity. In the age of computers, mass manufacturing, mass communication, mass information… etc, you have tools that allow you the potential to do HUGE things with less effort.

Some questions I ask myself to reflect:

• How am I happy with my current tools?
• How am I unhappy with my current tools?
• Have I become more skilled at using my most frequently used tools?
• Have I recently learned about and actually tried a new tool?
• Are my close colleagues learning about new tools?
• Have I recently tried out a tool recommended by a colleague?
• Have I recently recommended a tool to a colleague?
• Am I aware of any new conceptual advancements in tooling in my domain?

This is a bit more abstract, since our world is FULL of so many types of tools, and so many tool makers. The key thing here is to be mindful and intentional about ones tools. Tooling is high-leverage things that can massively empower you to create more, and faster, and cheaper, and distribute more widely. Conversely, having poor tools can cost you much in resource needs, or lower the quality of what you are able to make. They may even lead to insane frustration (if you are a software developer or user… you KNOW what I mean).

Conclusion

As a maker or worker, you will best be improving your work joy and impact if you make a habit to Sharpen the Saw. As long as you are regularly taking time to Sharpen the Saw, your growth and world impact are inevitable, whether you work LONG hours, or find yourself working fewer and fewer hours. Each hour will yield bigger and better results.

Is this your personal culture already? Does your team have a culture of Sharpening the Saw? Does your company? Does your household? Does your community? Does your society? Let’s all be intentional about bringing our A game every day, and also raising the ceiling of what our A game looks like.

What other techniques do you find useful in your creative journey? Share in the comments below!