Sharpen Your Axe

Once upon a time there were two lumberjacks who lived in a small village. One of the men stood 6’6, had big broad shoulders, and was close to 300 lbs of pure muscle. The other lumberjack was nearly half the man, weighing only 120 lbs at barely 5’6.

All day long the two men would use their giant axes to cut down trees in the forest in order to gather wood for their small town; the big strong man swinging his hatchet handily as the weaker man often struggled to raise the weight of his axe.

Three times a day the smaller man would take a break. After several hours of chopping wood, at 9:00 am, he would take a brief coffee break. At 12:00 pm, he always made sure to have a small and healthy lunch. And finally, as the day started to wind down, he’d take one last break before the day’s final push.

Each time he left he would invite his co-worker to join him. And each time the big strong man would decline. “I have to keep working!” he’d shout.  And so the smaller man would go by himself.

As the weeks went by something peculiar began to happen. The large muscular man noticed at the end of each day, the smaller man’s pile of chopped wood was equal, and often greater than that of his own. This not only confounded the larger lumberjack, but infuriated him. Still, he kept his head down, did his work, and failed to utter a word until one day he could take it no more.

Finally, at the end of a long work day, the large man threw down his axe and demanded to know, “How is it at the end of each day you have cut more wood than me?! I am bigger. I am stronger. I work much harder. And yet, each day you leave to take not one, not two, but THREE breaks, while I stay and work! How can this be? I demand to know!”

The smaller man sat quietly and listened for the stronger man to finish. Then he spoke up and said, “True, you are bigger than me. Yes you are much, much stronger. You do in fact work harder. And you’re absolutely right, I leave for not one, not two, but THREE breaks throughout the day while you continue to toil away,” he said. Now the large man waited breathlessly to hear his explanation.

The smaller man looked him in the eye and said, “ But you never take the time to sharpen your axe.”