Self Motivation
The two lumberjacks
It was the annual lumberjack competition and the final was between an older, experienced lumberjack and a younger, stronger lumberjack
The rule of the competition was quite simply who could fell the most trees in a day was the winner
The younger lumberjack was full of enthusiasm and went off into the wood and set to work straight away
He worked all through the day and all through the night
As he worked, he could hear the older lumberjack working in another part of the forest and he felt more and more confident with every tree he felled that he would win
At regular intervals throughout the day, the noise of trees being felled coming from the other part of the forest would stop
The younger lumberjack took heart from this, knowing that this meant the older lumberjack was taking a rest, whereas he could use his superior youth and strength and stamina to keep going
At the end of the competition, the younger lumberjack felt confident he had won
He looked in front of him at the piles of felled trees that were the result of his superhuman effort
At the medal ceremony, he stood on the podium confident and expecting to be awarded the prize of champion lumberjack
Next to him stood the older lumberjack who looked surprisingly less exhausted than he felt
When the results were read out, he was devastated to hear that the older lumberjack had chopped down significantly more trees than he had
He turned to the older lumber jack and said: "How can this be? I heard you take a rest every hour and I worked continuously through the night
What's more, I am stronger and fitter than you old man"
The older lumberjack turned to him and said: "Every hour, I took a break to rest and sharpen my saw"
