Sharpen Your Axe

Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter asked for a job to a timber
merchant, and he got it. The pay was really good and so were the
working 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 18 trees "Congratulations," the
boss said. "Carry on that way!".

Very motivated with the boss's words, the woodcutter tried harder the
next day, but he could bring only 15 trees.

The third day he tried even harder, but could bring 10 trees only.

Day after day he was bringing less and less trees.

"I must be losing my strength", the woodcutter thought. 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 more trees for you.

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. We are so busy that
we neglect the truly important things in life, like taking time to read,
to exercise, to care for personal life, to pray etc.

We all need time to relax, to think and meditate, to learn and grow. If
we don't take time to "sharpen our axe", then we will all become dull and
lose our effectiveness.

So start Today, Think about the ways by which you could do your job
more effectively and add a lot of value to it. And remember any thing
which is stagnated would get rotten, would smell badly - be it air or
water or even a professional.