IT'S TIME YOU SHARPEN YOUR AXE

Sharpen Your Axe..!
His name was Cyril. I enjoyed the rare occasions when we met because he seemed to know a lot. "He's a bore!" said a friend of mine. "He's not!" I said, "he seems to know plenty!" Then one fine day Cyril and I were thrown into each other's company. I found out he had spent a good portion of his life studying to be a priest, then he suddenly left the seminary and got into business. Cyril spent the greater part of that evening with me and it was with great difficulty I finally managed to get him out of my house. He was one of the biggest bores I had ever met. "Didn't I tell you he was a bore," said my friend the next day as I recounted the disastrous evening. "Yes," I said, "and I know why. Cyril is a very intelligent man, but he stopped learning many years ago" "What d'you mean?" asked my friend curiously. "Cyril stopped reading books, stopped listening to the news, stopped widening his knowledge after he left seminary. All he talks off is based on what he knew in his formative years; after that he stopped feeding his mind. All that he blabbers about is stuff that was known during the Second World War and he thinks its gospel truth!" "And things have changed a lot since then!" laughed my friend. I smiled as I remembered the story of John. John, a woodcutter worked for a company for five years, but never got a raise. The company hired Bill and within a year Bill got a raise. John was furious. He resented the fact that Bill had got a raise within just a year. He decided to go and talk to his boss about it. The boss said, "You are still cutting the same number of trees five years ago. We are a result oriented company and would be happy to give you a raise if your productivity goes up." John went back, started hitting harder and putting in longer hours, but he still wasn't able to cut more trees. He went back to his boss and told him his dilemma. "Go and talk to Bill about it." "Talk to Bill?" "Yeah! Maybe there's something he knows, that you don't." So John went to where Bill was doing his cutting. "Hey Bill," he said, "tell me how you go about cutting more trees than me?" Bill stopped for a moment and beckoned John to him, "John," he said, "after every tree I cut, I take a two minute break and sharpen my axe! When was the last time you sharpened your axe?" Yes my dear friends, when was the last time you took time to sharpen your axe? I know doctors who are still steeped in old theories and methods; businessmen who run their businesses the old fashioned way; presidents of companies who use ancient, out dated theories of management; men and women who won't go near a computer: They wonder why their colleagues are doing better despite toiling hard. If they would only take time off to sharpen their axe; to feed their minds with the latest in technology, study the newest methods. If only they would read newspapers and journals. If only Cyril would read this piece and be less of a bore..! It's time to sharpen your axe..!