Two Woodcutters

[PureInsight.org] A young
woodcutter was cutting wood in the mountains. In a short while, an old
woodcutter came to work in the mountain as well. At nightfall, the
young woodcutter was surprised to find out that the old woodcutter had
cut more wood even though he came later. The young woodcutter made a
decision secretly that he would come to work in the mountains even
earlier the next morning.



The next day, the young woodcutter indeed came to work in the woods
very early. He thought, "I will certainly win this time." Unexpectedly,
when he carried his wood back, he found the old woodcutter had beaten
him again.



On the third day, the young woodcutter decided that he would not only
arrive early, but also leave late. He thought he would definitely win
this time. However, the old woodcutter beat him again on that day. The
same thing happened on the fourth and fifth day.



On the sixth day, the young woodcutter could no longer stand it and
raised the question to the old woodcutter, "I start working earlier
than you and stop working later than you. How come you beat me every
time?  Besides, I'm also younger than you"



"Alas, young man!" The old woodcutter patted him on his shoulder and
said, "After I get home every day, the first thing I do is to sharpen
my axe. While you are sleeping your fatigue off, your axe is getting
duller and duller. Therefore, even though I am older than you, start
working later than you, and leave earlier than you, my axe is sharper
than yours. A tree will fall after I chop five times, but only after
you chop more than ten times." The young woodcutter understood
completely.



The old saying says, "An artisan must first sharpen his tools if he is
to do his work well." If one wants to do his job well, he must first
sharpen his tools. It a student wants to get a good score, he must
first enrich his knowledge. If a company wants to increase its share of
the market, it must first be well organized internally. If a person
wants to obtain others' respect and attention, he must first behave
well.

The young woodcutter was only paying attention to the results but
ignoring the axe-sharpening factor of the process. That is why he only
got half the results with double the effort. However, the old
woodcutter enriched his own self, which is the key for success!



Translated from:

http://www.xinsheng.net/xs/articles/gb/2007/12/8/42004.htm