When you find yourself engaged in certain activities for an extended period of time, whether or not you're good at them, it could become routine and without passion. Our industry can be very fun and exciting if we remain sharp! The problem evolves when it becomes dull to you or worse yet, you become dull to it! This can happen without you even realizing it.
A mentor of mine once told me a story about a knife in a kitchen. The purpose of a knife is to cut and slice. As long as the knife cut and sliced it fulfilled it purpose in the kitchen. Now after so many uses, the knife begins to become dull and ineffective in its purpose in the kitchen.
Fortunately, outside of the kitchen on a small table on the porch lied a small piece of rock called a honing stone. This stone had the ability to bring the sharpness back to the knife so it could once again be used to effectively fulfill its purpose. The knife had only to leave the kitchen and go outside onto the porch to allow the honing stone to do its work. If the knife never leaves the kitchen it will continue to be in a dull and ineffective state. Useless!
So the story goes that the knife goes outside onto the porch, makes contact with the honing stone, and is restored to its original sharpness; or maybe even better than it was before. The knife then goes back into the kitchen and can now slice veggies and fruit, cut meat, and fulfill all its intended purpose!
Hopefully you took advantage of this holiday season to take the opportunity to relax, refresh, renew, and refocus. So here's the moral of the story: The knife is you, the kitchen is this industry, the veggies/fruit/meat are your clients/peers/service providers/partners, the honing stone is relaxation and fun, the porch/outside is (get this now!) VACATION! There it is! I said it!
If you don't take time off at least occassionally throughout the year, you become dull. Stay sharp and you'll be surprised how your mind and creativity will increase! You'll see things you couldn't see before because you could never get that from the outside looking in perspective because you were always there. You'll be able to figure out problems you were pulling your hair out over. YOU'LL JUST BE A SHARPER KNIFE!
DON'T FEEL BAD ABOUT THE TIME OFF YOU TOOK! JUST MAKE IT PAY OFF!
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