Lessons In Motivation With A Sharp Knife

Through the odd recommendations that come my way on YouTube, I found myself intrigued by the hobby of whittling and hand-carving wood. I found the simplicity of the 5-minute wizard really engaging and tempting but I don't have stacks of wood lying around or really any tools to speak of so put the idea away. I've also never really done anything like this since I got streamed out of woodwork, metalwork and technical drawing when I went to High School.

And then the other night I was preparing some carrots for dinner and it occurred to me that I could have a go at a wizard with a kitchen knife and a carrot. With some black peppercorns for eyes, the above was the result. I was quite pleased but I couldn't bear to eat him or just throw him on the compost so I put him outside under the rosemary bush, surrounded by strawberry leaves for nature to take its course.

When I found some sturdy but short sticks while gathering chestnuts yesterday, I thought I'd have another go - it was much harder but still fun and so I remembered a valuable lesson in leadership (wait for it...):

"the carrot is much easier than the stick"

It's going to take a lot more practice, but then that's what those long dark winter evenings are for.