"Steel sharpens steel," I said, struggling to find the silver lining of a recent failure.
My boss wasn't buying it.
He replied, "It really doesn't matter how sharp your blade is if you're blinded by all the sawdust in the air."
He had a knack for taking a truism and flipping it in on itself, exposing it as an empty platitude, and refilling the void with ideas that can recalibrate your brain.
Most personal development takes the form of blade sharpening. You see an edge, take a class, and add a bullet point to your resume. You polish that blade, perfect it, and imagine yourself as a Samurai. Then you step out into the woodworking shop where a sword is not just embarrassingly impractical, it is dangerous. You trip on your sword, a confused warrior lost in the sawdust.
On the other hand, you can develop a system that adapts as circumstances change. When the sawdust is flying, you confidently step into the maelstrom with gloves, goggles, glue, inexhaustible energy, and a toolbox full of ugly tools that get the job done.
Thanks for reading. I write every Saturday, kicking sawdust in your eyes, and hoping my words persuade you to come back for more next week. Stay creative.
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