Sharpening the Saw - its a phrase termed by Stephen Covey in his famed book The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People. Its a book I am revisiting at the moment quite a bit - of the 7 habits this is habit No. 7 and an issue I think many people forget in their work life, particularly photographers. It's easier to quote Mr. Covey than to explain myself:

Sharpen the Saw means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have--you. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual. Here are some examples of activities:

• Physical: Beneficial eating, exercising, and resting
• Social/Emotional: Making social and meaningful connections with others
• Mental: Learning, reading, writing, and teaching
• Spiritual: Spending time in nature, expanding spiritual self through meditation, music, art, prayer, or service

As photographers we often discuss renewing our equipment - the latest cameras, the latest lights and laptop but what about renewing ourselves? I've been working a lot on the Physical at the moment with lots of running and exercise (it is this that reacquainted me with the book as a friend reccomended running to books rather than music). The second and forth aspects above are really not why I'm writing this but the third point very much is.

This year has been a year of investment for me - three new cameras to ensure I always have the right equipment available as I work and complete set of more powerful and flexible lights for the studio but none of this matters if I don't work on the third part Sharpening the Saw - improving myself and what I can do. How?

• More practice! (Learning) Be they self portraits, still life's or working with others

• Writing - my blogs have been rather static of late being very brief descriptions of jobs and pictures.

• Teaching - my other blog! I'm writing more there with techniques.

I think its something we all should do. All we need is a little motivation.

SELF PORTRAIT. BEACH, WORTHING, UK ON 19/08/2017Unflattering Self Portrait on Worthing beach - learning new lighting and remotes