A woodcutter started a new job at a timber（木材）company. The pay and work conditions were quite good. Since the company was treating him well, the woodcutter worked as hard as he could.
His boss gave him an axe and showed him where he was supposed to work. On his first day, the woodcutter cut down 18 trees. "Congratulations," his boss said. "Keep going!"
Encouraged by his boss' words, the woodcutter worked even harder the next day, but could only cut down 15 trees. The third day, he tried even harder, but only cut down 10 trees. Day after day, he was cutting down fewer and fewer trees.
"I must be losing my strength," the woodcutter thought. He went to his boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on.
"When was the last time you sharpened your axe?" his boss asked.
"Sharpen? I have no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut down trees."
Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don't take time to sharpen our "axe". In today's world, it seems that everyone is busier than ever, but also less happy than ever.
Why is this? There's nothing wrong with activity and hard work. Probably it is because we have forgotten how to stay "sharp". We have forgotten to continuously improve our skills so we lose our efficiency. Then we leave ourselves in a busy state and become stressed. We will feel less happy.
So remember, always take the time to sharpen your "axe" and don't become "blunt".
