The story of a woodcutter ,Author: Stephen Covey

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Once upon a time, a very strong
woodcutter asked for a job in a timber
merchant and he got it. The pay was
really good and so was the work
condition. For those reasons, the
woodcutter was determined to do his
best.

His boss gave him an axe and showed
him the area where he supposed to work.
The first day, the woodcutter brought 18
trees.

“Congratulations,” the boss said. “Go on
that way!”

Very motivated by the boss words, the
woodcutter tried harder the next day,
but he could only bring 15 trees. The
third day he tried even harder, but he
could only bring 10 trees. 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
trees…”


Reflection:
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 that 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
get close to our Creator, giving more time
for our family, taking time to read etc.
We all need time to relax, to think and
meditate, to learn and grow. If we don’t
take the time to sharpen the “axe”, we
will become dull and lose our
effectiveness.
Author: Stephen Covey
From: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People