Sharpen your Axe
In a classic story, a strong, young man was hired as a lumberjack. The first day he cut down ten trees; the second day he felled eight; but the third day he could finish-off only two. When he went to apologize for his unexplained loss of strength, his boss asked him “when is the last time you sharpened your axe?” His answer: “I’ve been working too hard, I haven’t had time for that.”
As Abraham Lincoln once said: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
On September 1, I will engage a new job that will present a rather steep learning curve for me…I know I’m going to have to work hard. As I was thinking through how I would prepare for this assignment in August, I was given some really good advice.
A leader I respect told me that I needed to “pre-hydrate” my soul before I jumped into this role. He’s a cyclist, and he explained that when he set off on a long bike ride, he made sure he had plenty of water in his body first; that if he got thirsty on the ride, it meant he was already approaching dehydration. This new ministry, he explained, was like that—if I approached it without proper soul preparation, I would quickly run out of internal resources and reach the point of depletion too fast.
So I decided to spend some time sharpening my axe. I spent 7 days with my family, and with Jesus. I took a week and stopped trying to do the work of my future, and got my heart and soul in a place where I would be prepared for an intense season of labor. I’ve realized now that without the prep time, I could have quickly been overwhelmed. It wasn’t easy to decide to do this; I’m sure there are people who didn’t understand or even agree with the time I was taking. But it was valuable, and necessary.
When you’re facing a big task, look for extended time—probably more time than others think you should take (“4 hours sharpening the axe”)—and prepare yourself to make an effective impact. Without pre-hydrating, you’ll dehydrate too quickly, and without the sharpening, the job will wear you out.
“If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success.” Ecclesiastes 10:10