{"id":44619,"date":"2022-04-29T10:53:31","date_gmt":"2022-04-29T14:53:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/?p=44619"},"modified":"2026-05-12T09:47:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T13:47:45","slug":"sharpen-your-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/2022\/04\/29\/sharpen-your-edge\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharpen Your Edge"},"content":{"rendered":"<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><p><em>By Devin Fedor, AVP, HR Operations &amp; Organizational Effectiveness at Mary Washington Healthcare<\/em><\/p><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"longdesc-return-44620\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-44620\" src=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2022\/04\/knife-1383834_640-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"knife and sharpening tool on wooden cutting block\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" longdesc=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw?longdesc=44620&amp;referrer=44619\" srcset=\"\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2022\/04\/knife-1383834_640-300x199.jpg 300w, \/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2022\/04\/knife-1383834_640.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">Years ago, my husband gifted me a set of high-quality kitchen knives. The first time I used them, I could tell they were superior.&nbsp; The knives had a good weight, a sharp edge and cut any food with ease if I picked the right one for the job.&nbsp; Over time they lost some of their shine and started to become dull.&nbsp; The knives still cut well, but not like that first day.&nbsp; So, I took out the sharpening tool and voila! The knives just needed some time and attention with to reach their full potential.<!--more--><\/p><p>The same holds true with people.&nbsp; We are all born with certain talents.&nbsp; Things we are naturally good at, require less effort for us than others, and are worthwhile for us to develop or strengthen.&nbsp; There are many assessments you can take to help you uncover your talents. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gallup.com\/cliftonstrengths\/en\/252137\/home.aspx?utm_source=google&amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;utm_campaign=us_strengths_branded_cs_ecom&amp;utm_term=strengths%20finder&amp;gclid=EAIaIQobChMIweeWmrW39wIVR8vICh3BMg42EAAYASAAEgJrAvD_BwE\">CliftonStrengths<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marcusbuckingham.com\/gift-of-standout\/\">StandOut<\/a> are two of my personal favorites.&nbsp; &nbsp;Even without an assessment, a little self-reflection can reveal what you are good at and enjoy most.&nbsp; Still struggling?&nbsp; Try these reflection questions:<\/p><ul>\n<li>What do others say you do well?<\/li>\n<li>What do you love doing?<\/li>\n<li>What activities bring you energy?<\/li>\n<li>What are you doing when you feel most in &ldquo;flow&rdquo;?<\/li>\n<\/ul><p>Understanding your talents is the first step.&nbsp; Next, comes making the investment to develop those talents and maintain them as strengths.&nbsp; Just like the knives, you must continuously sharpen your edge. Here are some ways to build intentionality into that process.<\/p><ul>\n<li>Set personal and\/or professional development goals for yourself. Bonus points if you make them SMART.<\/li>\n<li>Set up a support system. Sharing your goals with other people and leveraging tools to track them builds accountability.<\/li>\n<li>Seek out opportunities to practice. Repetition builds skill and confidence.<\/li>\n<li>Find inspiration in new and unique places. Learning from other people and experiences keeps things interesting.<\/li>\n<li>Reward yourself for accomplishments. Even small achievements deserve recognition and help you stay motivated.<\/li>\n<\/ul><p>Talent alone is rarely enough.&nbsp; As high school basketball coach Tim Notke famously said, &ldquo;hard work beats talent when talent doesn&rsquo;t work hard&rdquo;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Devin Fedor, AVP, HR Operations &amp; Organizational Effectiveness at Mary Washington HealthcareYears ago, my husband gifted me a set of high-quality kitchen knives. The first time I used them, I could tell they were superior.&nbsp; The knives had a good weight, a sharp edge and cut any food with ease if I picked the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":44620,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"umw_cb_additional_links":[[]],"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"sidebar-content","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_advisory_expires_time":"","_advisory_meta_include":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-44619","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-blog","8":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sharpen Your Edge - Leadership Colloquium at UMW<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/lcpw\/2022\/04\/29\/sharpen-your-edge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sharpen Your Edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Devin Fedor, AVP, HR Operations &amp; Organizational Effectiveness at Mary Washington HealthcareYears ago, my husband gifted me a set of high-quality kitchen knives. 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