Work smart, not hard

Take time to sharpen your ax!

There once was a woodsman who had a new ax. The first day he was able to chop down twenty trees in only 8 hours. On subsequent days, however, although he worked just as long and hard, he found he was chopping down fewer and fewer trees.

One evening he was discussing this problem with a friend and the friend suggested, "Why don't you sharpen your ax?" The woodsman replied sadly, "I'm too busy. If I stop to sharpen the ax I won't get today's quota of trees chopped down."

I like this little story, mostly because I'm way too much like that woodsman. Actually, I can be a lot worse than this. In many cases, I actually realize the dull ax is the root of my problems, but if the process of sharpening my ax is a tad bit on the tedious side, I will decide I'll put up with "one more" long work day, and after that, "some other day," I'll sharpen the ax. Because this "some other day" never comes, I will actually go to great lengths in order to avoid the tedious task of sharpening my ax. I'll rather spend the whole day chopping down one tree than take the time to sharpen my ax.

I realize this is very irrational and it'll have to change, but like everything in this world, it's easier said than done. Well, at least I recognize my problem. That's the first baby step towards victory, right?