About

Have you ever had a time when you realized that you’ve been doing something wrong all along? That happened to me with constant learning.

I have always been learning at least because of my work as particle physicist and then software engineer, two fields in constant evolution that require you to learn. The issue is that I was mostly learning to solve the problem of the day. I was sharpening my axe for 10 minutes to quickly chop down the tree in front of me so I could get to the next one.

Eventually one day I realized the importance of constantly learning to prepare skills and knowledge that I may not need today or not ever. Also I found out the value of daily marginal gains and how they compound to deep and extensive knowledge. So no more cycle of bursts of learning followed by no learning at all.

This is what Sharpening the Saws is all about: Constantly and consistently learning and practicing.

My primary goal for this blog is to learn to write for a general audience as opposed to the technical writing I have done in the past. But I also want to learn about the topics I am presenting. After all there is no better way to learn than to teach (see Feynman Learning).

The blog is called Sharpening the Saws and not Sharpening the Saw as the saying goes because we now live in a complex world. A skill set is much more useful than one perfect skill. Indeed Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. So the topics for the posts on this blog are about everything and anything I find interesting or want to go deeper into.

Finally I hope that I can inspire you to start your constant learning journey or help you in your on going journey. Don’t think that it’s too hard or too late for you.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

Chinese proverb

My son and I taking our first steps on our learning journey