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Nov 6, 2008 
There was a job opening for a new lumberjack and there were two candidates for the position…
Both men had almost identical resumes, with identical experience, and identical references…
The lumberjack boss didn’t know what to do, so he hatched a plan…
The boss said, “Both of you report to the woods at 6am tomorrow morning and we’ll have a contest, the one of you that fells the most trees and splits it into cord wood will win the job”…
The day arrived and the two lumberjacks—one all muscle and brawn, the other a bit smaller were set to work in adjacent parts of the forest. At 6am the boss fired a starting shot and both men started to work, and work and work…
The contest was set to run for eight hours and give each man a fair chance to show his strength and endurance. At the end of the eight hours the size of the wood piles would be measured and a winner given the coveted job…
All day long the men cut and cut and cut at a furious pace until the clock struck 2pm and the ending shot was fired to signify that the contest was over.
The boss went to the first pile and measured out “25 and a half cords!”, an amazing production for one man in only eight hours…
They went together to the second smaller man’s pile and the boss measured it and found it was an amazing “27 cords! You are the winner!”.
The first lumberjack went ballistic and accused the man of cheating, and getting help. “I was in the forest next to him and I didn’t stop a single time for all eight hours, and this guy took a break every hour or so for five minutes or more. There is no way he beat me taking all those breaks”…
The winning lumberjack said, “I don’t know what breaks you are talking about, but I did stop every hour or so when my axe got dull, and I sharpened my axe”…
I am in St Louis for a four day weekend to sharpen my axe and immerse myself into the world of Sales and Marketing at the Dan Kennedy summit. As I said previously, this next four years I am choosing to vote for myself. I can make more difference in my life than any politician. And I recommend that all business owners should take some time to “sharpen the axe”—its not all about brute force and hours, effectiveness and productivity are critical too…
Find time to sharpen your axe, even if it is just reading a good non-fiction book or listening to a tape set on personal development…
Seize the Axe, Rob
11 Comments 
Productivity, Productivity Tools
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• Nov 6, 2008 @1:23 am
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