Kevin Bemel ·
How Downtime Makes You More Productive
Lumberjacks are known for their outsize egos. It seems one day a bunch of them were sitting around telling tall tales about how much wood they had chopped in a day. A little man sat listening to their boasts. After a while he stood up and declared that he would challenge the best among them to a contest. Whoever chopped the most wood in a 24-period would win. The lumberjacks roared with laughter at the thought of this puny man’s proposition. But he persisted. So the match was set to begin at sunup the next day.
By mutual consent, the camp foreman was appointed official timekeeper and judge of who won. A few minutes before sunrise the two contestants came walking up, each with an ax slung over his shoulder.
Clang, clang, clang went the sound of the triangle signaling the start. They were off and chopping. From the get go the lumberjack’s ax bit into the wood at a furious pace. He chopped and chopped like a machine. The little man swung his ax steadily. After 50 minutes of chopping he shouldered his ax and walked into his cabin.
Ten minutes later the little man came out again and resumed chopping. The lumberjack sneered at him. His chopping continued unabated the whole time. After another 50 minutes of chopping the little man shouldered his ax and went into his cabin, emerging 10 minutes later to start chopping again.
Having not let up for a moment, by midday the lumberjack’s pile was clearly larger. He kept chopping at his unrestrained pace while the little man chopped for 50 minutes, went into his cabin for 10 minutes, then began chopping again.
As sunset approached, it was evident that the rate at which the lumberjack enlarged his pile was slowing. He chopped more frantically while the little man never wavered from his 50/10 minutes pace.
By midnight the lumberjack’s lead was shrinking. His arms felt as heavy as lead. At the next morning’s sunrise, when the foreman clanged his triangle signaling the end of the contest everyone could see the little man had won.
Enraged he lost, the lumberjack screamed at the little man, “HOW COULD YOU HAVE BEAT ME? YOU DIDN’T EVEN CHOP WOOD THE WHOLE TIME! WHAT WAS WITH YOUR GOING INTO YOUR CABIN ALL THE TIME?
The little man replied, “I was resting and sharpening my ax.”
Question – What do you do to sharpen your ax?
Please comment on this question or ask another question below.
