Once upon
a time, there was a very strong woodcutter. He asked for a job
from a timber merchant, and he got it. The pay was really good
and so were the work conditions. For that reason, the woodcutter
was determined to do his best.
His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was
supposed to work. The first day, the woodcutter brought down 18
trees. The Boss was very much impressed and said,
"Congratulations. Go on that way!"
Very motivated by
the boss' words, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but
he only could bring down 15 trees.
The third day he
tried even harder, but he only could bring down 10 trees. Day
after day he was bringing down less and less trees.
"I must be losing my strength", the woodcutter thought
to himself.
He went to the boss and apologized, saying that he could not
understand what was going on.
"When was
the last time you sharpened your axe?" the boss asked.
"Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very
busy trying to cut trees."
Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don't
take time to sharpen the axe. In today's world, it seems that
everyone is busier than ever, but less happy than ever. Why is
that? Could it be that we have forgotten how to stay sharp?
There's nothing wrong with activity and hard work. But we should
not get so busy that we neglect the truly important things in
life, like our personal life, taking time to read etc. We all
need time to relax, to think and meditate, to learn and grow. If
we don't take time to sharpen the axe, we will become dull and
lose our effectiveness.
So starting
from today, think about the ways by which you could do your job
more effectively and add more value to it.