How Sharp is Your Ax?
There were two lumberjacks that worked together up in the Pacific Northwest. One was the perfect stereotype of a lumberjack – big, burly and strong as an ox. The other was a rather small, almost frail man.
Friday was their payday. This particular Friday, the larger man bet his paycheck against the smaller man’s paycheck that he would chop down more trees by day’s end. The smaller man hesitantly agreed. They both started immediately.
The larger man, because he was stronger and had more stamina, swung his ax all day long. The smaller man had to stop every hour or so to take a break.
At the end of the day, they counted the trees each had chopped down. To their utter amazement, the smaller man had chopped down more trees.
The larger man was confused and shouted out “How can this be? You had to stop often to rest and I didn’t.”
The smaller man just said “Well, while I rested, I sharpened my ax.”
It turned out that the larger man had been swinging a dull ax for a large part of the day, requiring more swings to get through each tree.
We all too often believe that to succeed we must continuously be working. In reality, we must plan some downtime for ourselves. This holiday season make sure you take a little time to rest, and come back swinging a sharper ax.
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Excellent advice!! Too many times we are so relentless to achieve and forget the “law of diminishing return.” Taking time for ourselves is extremely rewarding as it refreshes and regenerates moving forward.
Great analogy for this time of year!
Hi Steve,
The lumberjack story is one way of saying “Stop and smell the roses”.
Another way of sharpening your axe is to expand your knowledge. KCM is one way to keep the sales edge well honed.
Thanks for the updates.
MPH