Once upon a time, a woodcutter applied for a job at a wood company.
The woodcutter wanted to make a good impression. On his first day, he reported to the foreman, who gave him an axe and assigned him a specific area in the forest.
Enthusiastic, the woodcutter set to work.
In a single day, he felled eighteen trees. "Congratulations," said the foreman.
"Keep it up."
Spurred on by the foreman's words, the woodcutter decided to surpass his work the next day.
So he went to bed early that night.
The next morning, he got up before everyone else and went into the forest.
Despite all his efforts, he failed to fell more than fifteen trees. "I must be tired," he thought, and decided to go to bed right after sunset that day.
At dawn, he awoke with the firm resolve to surpass his mark of eighteen trees today.
He didn't even manage half. The next day, he only cut seven trees, and the day after that, five.
He spent almost his entire last day felling a second tree.
Worried about what the foreman would say, the woodcutter approached him, explained what had happened, and swore up and down that he had worked until he dropped.
The foreman asked him,
"When was the last time you sharpened your axe?"
"Sharpen the axe?
I didn't have time; I was too busy felling trees."
A story by Jorge Bucay
