Importance of taking time off

Day 175 / 366

Let me tell you a little story I read when I was a kid. In a village, there were 2 woodcutters, Jack and Joe. Every day early in the morning they would go to the forest to cut down trees, and in the evening they would return with the wood, which they would then sell for money.

Jack was always able to cut more trees than Joe. In order to match Jack, Joe decided that he would start his day early and spend more time cutting trees. But he still failed to match Jack. The next day he worked harder, he even skipped his lunch break and kept chopping down trees. But at the end of the day, he found that he still made less money than Jack.

Disappointed, he finally talked to Jack and asked him his secret. Jack said that his method was simple. After spending 3 hours cutting trees, he would then spend 1 hour sharpening his axe again.

A lot of us spend our days working hard, but we never take the time to stop and relax. I know its counter-intuitive, but if you take some time off and get enough rest, you will be able to perform much better. As I write that, I realize that I have not been following this myself. I have been working non-stop, not taking the time to sharpen my axe. So that is what I decided to do this weekend. I did not work that much, I wish I wouldn’t have worked at all but stuff always comes up that I can't avoid. But still, I got some much-needed rest.

let’s see if that translates into a more productive week starting tomorrow.