(A) Once, there were two woodcutters ― a young, strong one and an old one ― cutting down trees in a jungle. The young man was very hardworking. On his first day, (a) he worked through his break time and complained that the old man was wasting time, taking several breaks to eat and drink. That day, the young woodcutter brought 15 trees to their boss. “Fantastic!” the boss said. “Keep up the great work!”
(B) It was as if the old man worked through the break time just as (b) he did. So, the young woodcutter decided to work harder the next day. Unfortunately, the results were even worse. “I must be losing my strength,” the young man thought. One day, the old man invited him for a drink during the break time. The young man refused and said he had no extra time. Then, the old man smiled and said to him, “It is a waste of effort to keep chopping trees without resharpening your axe. Sooner or later, you will have to give up because you’ve spent too much energy.”
(C) Highly motivated by his words, the young woodcutter tried harder the next day, but (c) he could only bring ten trees. The third day he tried even harder, but he was only able to bring seven trees. Day after day, he was bringing less and less trees. As time went by, (d) he noticed that even though he worked through his break time and hardly took a rest, the old woodcutter was cutting down the same amount of trees as him ― and sometimes chopped down even more.
(D) Suddenly the young woodcutter realized that during break times while the old man was having a drink, he was also resharpening his axe, which the young woodcutter never did. That’s how (e) he could chop more than the young man in less time! The old man said that we all need time to relax, to think and meditate, and to learn and grow. If we don’t take the time to sharpen the “axe,” we will become dull and lose our effectiveness.