Once upon a time, a long time ago in a far off land, there were two woodcutters.
These two woodcutters were good friends but also very competitive.
One day Toby, the first woodcutter, challenged his friend Peter to a ‘chop-off’.
The one to chop the most wood would be crowned the king of the axe wielders.
Peter gladly accepted the challenge.
The next day the two friends took up their position in the forest and started chopping as if their life depended on it.
After about an hour, Toby realised that he was the only one chopping.
“Ah-Ha!” He thought, “He must be tired already!”
And so he continued to cut down his trees with double the enthusiasm.
A while later Peter started chopping again.
Another hour passed and Toby was starting to tire, but then he heard Peter’s axe go silent once more…
This motivated him to redouble his efforts.
With a smile, Toby started to dream about the bragging rights coming his way due to his persistent effort.
This pattern went on for the rest of the day.
Every hour, Peter would stop chopping for fifteen minutes while Toby powered on.
By the end of the day, Toby was 100% confident that his extra effort would confirm once and all that he was the best woodcutter in town.
The woodcut was duly measured and Toby was shocked to find that Peter had cut more wood than him.
And not just a bit more, a whole lot more!
He was convinced his friend MUST have been cheating somehow.
How could he be taking all those rests and yet still cut down more than him?!
More than a little miffed, he strode over to Peter and asked him;
“How the bloody hell did you manage to beat me with all those rests?”
Peter smiled and replied, “Well, it’s really simple. Every time I rested, I was sharpening my axe.”
I think I first heard a version of this story when I was a child, and back then it didn’t really hit home.
As I got older, however, this concept of taking a break from time to time to ‘sharpen your axe’ made more and more sense.
(Is it just me, or does the expression ‘take time to sharpen your axe’ just scream out euphemism?!).
Let’s face it, there is still this macho belief held by many that if you are not working your buttocks off for 14 hours a day, you aren’t going to get anywhere.
The old ‘lunch is for wimps’ bollocks!
One of the reasons I became my own boss and created an online income is so that I could stop and smell the roses from time to time.
So that I could watch my kids at their various school events.
So that I could go for weekday long lunches with my wife.
So that I could volunteer to sell tickets for my local hospital League of Friends (which I’m doing with my dad next Tuesday 🙂 )
You will often hear me talk about ‘consistent effort’, but this shouldn’t be at the expense of all else.
We all need time off.
Time to recharge the batteries
Time to LIVE your life.
And apart from that, time away from the matter in hand will often give your subconscious time to work on the problem at hand.
Making you, like Peter the woodcutter, more efficient and effective at what you are doing.
Have a great day, and don’t forget to stop chopping from time to time.
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