Sharpen the Axe

Once there was a woodcutter who requested for a job with a merchant. Merchant gave him the job with a very good salary for which Wood cutter felt very happy. He decided that he will do his best in his job.

Merchant assigned his work area and the axe.  On the first day, with great enthusiasm, the woodcutter brought down 20 trees. Merchant was very impressed and gave him a "promising wood cutter" award. Very motivated by this, wood cutter worked harder the next day, and brought down 15 trees. On third day, he brought down 12 trees only. Every day his performance kept on decreasing. Wood cutter thought to himself “am I becoming weak” . One fine day he went to the merchant and confessed his problem that he has become weak and unable to cut more than 10 trees, a day.

Merchant asked him “when did you last sharpen your axe?”.
Wood cutter had never thought about this. He gave an excuse that “oh! I have been so busy cutting the trees and I never found time to sharpen the axe.”

Does it appear familiar to our life?
We become so busy in our schedules and activities that we forget that we need time to sharpen and invest in ourselves.

We tend to forget real important things of our life like sharpening our skills, taking time for our hobbies and interests, spending time with family, contribution to society etc which helps us to revitalize our energy. We get so much engrossed in our daily "To Do" activities and tracking lists and we are more worried about activities than anything else and not even the outcome of the activities. 

If we don't take time to sharpen the axe, our life will be similar to the woodcutter whose performance kept on reducing day by day. As human beings, we all need time to relax, indulge in hobbies, learn and grow.

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