Between a wood chopper and his axe

I once read this story in one of my favourite motivator , Dr H.M Tuah in one of his book . For those who don't know him , you can see his website in here  (it's in Malay language though) . But for now, I would like to tell you a brief story of a chopper and his axes , plus explanation on the connection between this story and reality .

Once upon a time , there lived a wood chopper and his axes . He was very poor , but due to his determination and his strength , one rich man then offered him a job . The rich man then said to him that if he can get many woods , then he shall be paid handsomely . Without no further ado , he chopped the trees and at the end of the day , he got many wood .

The second day , he was back to his work and still result the same as first day.On his third day, he managed to chop twice as much as the first day and the number had increased day by day . Nevertheless , after a month, the number of woods that he managed to chop began to decreased each and every day onward.

He thought that it was him that grew weaker , so he told his employer that he no longer couldn't work for him as much as he used to be . Out of the blue, the rich man asked one question that he never thought of .

When was the last time you sharpen your axe? 

He gone into silence and looked at his axe . He never did . He never sharpen his own axe , what's why he couldn't chop more than the first week .


You can choose to work real hard or just work smart , because in the end , maybe your effort are worthless.  Less productivity and wasting your energy only - total loss .In this story , he only blames himself that he was unable to see what's wrong and giving up rather than checking what's the problem and generating solutions to overcome the problems .

By means , not necessarily hard work doesn't needed , but it MUST be combined with knowledge, strong will , courage, determination and creativity to create an advanced productivity for your job , maybe earn some boost in your career as well .