Once upon a time, 2 men went to the jungle to chop some trees.

They competed on who can chop more trees by the end of the day.

They both started chopping away, somewhat close to each other.

As they were chopping, the first guy heard the chopping noise stopping.

He was like “ha! It’s my opportunity to keep going now!”. He kept chopping away.

The 2nd guy started chopping again.

After a while, the 2nd guy stopped chopping once more.

The 1st guy thought this was another opportunity to keep going!

At the end of the day, the 2 men gathered.

The 1st guy was super confident that he won.

But then he realized that the 2nd guy had actually chopped more trees!

“No way! I heard you stop chopping multiple times!” he said.

The 2nd guy replied: “yeah, I was sharpening my axe”.

This story hit me hard.

It was shared with me by a coach, making it analogous to my day to day in the office.

My typical day might have 10+ meetings. By the end of the day, my axe is dull.

He encouraged me to sharpen my axe in between meetings.

“Think of every hour as 50 minutes, and use the remaining 10 minutes to sharpen your axe.”

I tried it this week, and man, it feels good…

How do you sharpen your axe?

Your mental axe needs contrast: do something different.

If you’re facing the screen, move away from the screen.

Ideally, do something physical. Exercise moves your blood flow. Your brain is an oxygen junkie.

Go for a walk, do some push-ups, talk to someone, or stare at the wall.

Try a few different things until you find what helps you sharpen your axe best.

For me, I experimented with a mix of push-ups and pull-ups in between meetings.

Physical & mental health are 2 faces for the same coin.

I noticed that pumping my heart rate before a meeting makes me a lot more calm, somehow.

Before this, I used to feel like doing anything other than working is a waste of time.

It’s crazy how an analogy can change your perception completely.

Now I feel stupid if I don’t sharpen my axe.

This also applies to having fun on the weekend (family, friends, hobbies, etc).

Doing so also sharpens your axe in order to perform better during the week.

When you’re so obsessed with something, you want to cut anything that gets in the way.

This analogy actually convinced me that such things do not get in the way.

They sharpen my axe.

Credits to William Trubridge for sharing this concept with me.