How to get everything you want-Faster than you ever thought possible
When should the axe be sharpened, and how sharp should it be?Yet another variant of the Woodcutter/Axe story:
A man was walking in a forest one day, and he met a woodcutter. It wasa hot day, and he sat down for a smoke and engaged in friendly banterwith the woodcutter - things about the weather and such. 5 Marlboroslater, he asked, "Mr. Woodcutter, you've been making little progresson chopping down the tree the last half hour. Perhaps your axe is tooblunt, why don't you sharpen it?"
"That's the truth! The axe has not been sharpened for a long whilenow, I could make far better progress with a sharp axe!" said thewoodcutter.
"Then why not you take some time to sharpen it now? You'd make goodprogress!" said the man.
"I don't really have time for that, you know. I gotta chop down allthese trees, I don't have the luxury of sharpening my axe," repliedthe woodcutter.
Everybody I know identifies with this story to some degree, and I seea good number people I know, including myself, in the shoes of thewoodcutter at times. What is perfectly clear is this: the axe wouldeventually have to be sharpened or it will be blunted to such anextent that even minimal progress will be impossible. Questionsabound: When do we need to sharpen the axe? How many times do wesharpen? Would a partial sharpening do, or do we need to sharpen it tofull keeness?
The principle is clear to me - just sharpen the axe sufficiently, asan when would serve to accomplish your work in the minimum time, withminimal effort expended since effort per unit time is assumed aconstant. Draw a crucial distinction between work and effort - work iswhat you're tasked to do, effort is that which you expend to performthe work.
Abraham Lincoln suggested that 60% of the time budget for choppingdown a tree should be spent sharpening it.
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http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgf23xv5_8gct3pdd4
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgf23xv5_11f3s9gmgz
Wilfred Stanley
A man was walking in a forest one day, and he met a woodcutter. It wasa hot day, and he sat down for a smoke and engaged in friendly banterwith the woodcutter - things about the weather and such. 5 Marlboroslater, he asked, "Mr. Woodcutter, you've been making little progresson chopping down the tree the last half hour. Perhaps your axe is tooblunt, why don't you sharpen it?"
"That's the truth! The axe has not been sharpened for a long whilenow, I could make far better progress with a sharp axe!" said thewoodcutter.
"Then why not you take some time to sharpen it now? You'd make goodprogress!" said the man.
"I don't really have time for that, you know. I gotta chop down allthese trees, I don't have the luxury of sharpening my axe," repliedthe woodcutter.
Everybody I know identifies with this story to some degree, and I seea good number people I know, including myself, in the shoes of thewoodcutter at times. What is perfectly clear is this: the axe wouldeventually have to be sharpened or it will be blunted to such anextent that even minimal progress will be impossible. Questionsabound: When do we need to sharpen the axe? How many times do wesharpen? Would a partial sharpening do, or do we need to sharpen it tofull keeness?
The principle is clear to me - just sharpen the axe sufficiently, asan when would serve to accomplish your work in the minimum time, withminimal effort expended since effort per unit time is assumed aconstant. Draw a crucial distinction between work and effort - work iswhat you're tasked to do, effort is that which you expend to performthe work.
Abraham Lincoln suggested that 60% of the time budget for choppingdown a tree should be spent sharpening it.
Download Power of 5 files
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgf23xv5_8gct3pdd4
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgf23xv5_11f3s9gmgz
Wilfred Stanley
posted by Wilfred Stanley @ 8:57 PM
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