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I am not a lumberjack nor an expert in the sharpening of tools.  "Sharpening the Axe" is a metaphor for setting goals and improving the tools that help us get through life.  These tools might include the following skills: art methodologies, personal and business relationships; personal health or just about anything that makes us who we are.  The idea is that we set realistic goals, consider what we must do to reach them and evaluate our progress.

First a bit of personal history.  I am an artist.  I have always loved art and it has been a part of my life since childhood.  My father is an artist and my earliest memories are of him working in his studio.  He instilled in me an understanding of what quality art looks like by taking me to the best galleries and museums.  Art is who I am.  I absolutely must create.  I taught in public school for twenty three years and gave my energy to developing the creativity of the local youth.  I did not have much job satisfaction and the situation deteriorated over the years as the school devoted less relevance, time and resources to developing creativity and imagination in the students.  My enrollment declined as students were encouraged or dictated to enroll in more "academic" courses.  I was not able to devote time to the development of my own artistic skills and I often thought of quitting.

I made my career changes after becoming very ill.  I went from being fit and active to being in I.C.U. because of bilateral pulmonary embollisms within a two week period.  Without going into much detail suffice to say every doctor and nurse that work with me tell me I am lucky to be alive.  This was the final signal to me that it was time for me to devote my time to improving my art skills.  It was what I felt led to do.  When I approached my wife about this move she had already arrived at the same conclusion.  I resigned my teaching position.  The question of "how good can I get if all my time is given over to the development of my art?" is the problem that I seek to solve.  I have no idea why I am driven to do so.  I just am.   This has nothing to do with ego.  I am a humble man, but I feel when I work on something I should do the very best job I possibly can. 

This brings me to sharpening the axe.  I heat my studio with wood heat from a wood burning stove.  I enjoy splitting the wood and stacking it.  It is an important form of light exercise that I can do while I recover from being ill.  The long term goal is to heat my studio and work in comfort.  The short term goal is to seperate one half of the log from the other for burning.  Set the goals and get the job done. Simple, right?  Maybe not.  (Remember my goal is to improve my art skills.) 

When tackling any task I like to first do an inventory of my tools and resources and then evaluate their efficiency.  I could select a spoon to separate the log but that would take a tremendous amount of time and effort.  You might think that is a foolish notion but how often do we set goals in our lives and fail to select the best tools to complete the task?  I once saw a photo of a man living in Jamaica cutting a small patch of lawn with scissors.  He did so because he did not have the means to buy a more efficient lawn grooming device.  I doubt that he really wanted to spend hours cutting grass that could have been mown in minutes with the proper tool.  If a person wants to make a fortune in the stock market then decisions made by flipping a coin are not going to produce the same results as doing the research and wisely and patiently making investments utilizing the tool of knowledge.  Choose the right tool for the right job.

My choice to use an axe is a logical one for splitting wood.  Selecting the tool is only stage one; I must know how to use it. Swinging it backward and striking the wood with the blunt end would be futile.  I could beat on the log all day and with luck I might split the log in half.  I would be exhausted and discouraged because of a lack of progress. I might find myself staring at the stack of logs needing split and I might just quit. If you wisely inform me that I should turn the axe over and strike with the other side I may have less frustration.  If I prepare my axe by sharpening it then I will discover that the axe effortlessy cleaves the log.  You might think this is a "straw man" analogy but bear with me.  

I recently heard a man puzzling over why he could not sale his art.  The answer was obvious to me.  His work was greatly in need of improved craftsmanship (sharpen the axe).  He was unaware of this fact.  Certainly if he saw me striking a log with the blunt end of an axe in an attempt to split it the problem would be obvious to him.  He may shake his head and wonder about my state of mind.  The only possible explainations for using the axe improperly would be ignorance, insanity or masochism.  To me it was clear that this man was ignorant of how much work he had to do to improve the quality of his art.  The result of time invested in practicing his craft would begin to produce his desired sales (splitting the log). When I exposed him to the quality of work that gets attention from buyers he immediately saw the differences between his work and that of the other artists.  This was the first step in his journey. He was able to take an inventory of his "art skill tools".   To his credit he realized he had a lot of work to do.  Shockingly I have heard artists decline my workshops because, "They have painted the way they do for twenty years and they have no interest in changing."  Their cup is full and they have no desire to make room for improving.  Perhaps they think they know everything there is to know about creating art.  Their axes will remain forever dull.  Consider the story of the accomplished portrait painter John Singer Sargent.  He was well known for his portraits and commissioned by the social upper class of the time to paint their loved ones. It was considered very chic to have Mr. Sargent paint your portrait. He and his contemporary, Anders Zorn, were hired to paint portraits of the same person.  When Sargent saw the portrait done by Zorn he conceded that Zorn had done a superior work.  The legend goes on to say Sargent destroyed his first attempt because it was inferior and painted a second version. If we are to reach our goals we must acknowledge our strengths and weaknesses (assess our tools) and then develop a plan of improvement.  

So, I invite you to set an achievable short term goal in life. It can be anything from getting the closet organized to writing a letter to a friend. Make it bound to a period of time (keep it simple and make it two days), then assess your tools (skills) needed for the task and move forward.

Good luck.

Join me next month for "Sharpening the Relationship Axe."

Self Portrait by Anders Zorn     Self Portrait by John Singer Sargent