Once upon a time there was a very strong wood-cutter. He asked for a job from a timber merchant and he got it. His boss immediately gave him an axe and showed him the area in the forest where he was to work.
During his first day in the mountains he worked hard and cut many trees.
The second day worked as much as the first, but its production was scarcely half of the first day.
The third day was proposed to improve its production. From the first moment he struck the ax with all his fury against the trees. Even so, the results were worse.
When the boss realized the poor performance of the young wood-cutter, he asked: "When was the last time you sharpened your axe?".
"Sharpen my axe?" the wood-cutter replied. "I have never sharpened my axe. I have been too busy trying to cut down enough trees."
Source: Anonymous.
Effort and hard work don't guarantee success on their own, they should always be accompanied by preparation. Sometimes, like the wood-cutter, we can try with all our strength to cut more and more trees, we can do it until we become fatigued and even more, however, we will only show our stubbornness, and instead of improving our results, we will make them worse.
I hear many people complain because their hard work does not bear fruit, they spend themselves since the sun rises until it hides pursuing their goals, and even then, they can not get them. Others, on the contrary, seem never to work hard, but with a majestic ease they manage to break through to get what they want. This is not due to injustice of nature or of divinity, but on the contrary it is precisely to nature working with his fair hand to give each one what corresponds.
Hard work without learning is suffering without benefit, and it is a behavior that instead of making us advance makes us go back. Many wise people manage to move astutely without having to spend themselves, because due to their intelligence, they have been able to observe the mistakes of others to avoid them.
Don't misunderstand this, everyone must cut the trees, but those more wise can learn from the techniques of others.
Something I have learned in life is that all things, absolutely all, have a positive side, even the worst and most painful situations bring us in turn the most magnificent opportunities, those of learning. If we go through very bad situations, and we are wise, we can learn from the mistakes made to avoid them, if on the contrary we only complain and victimize ourselves, we will find that we have suffered in vain, and there is nothing worse than suffering without knowledge, because it is useless, and it condemns us to live it again.
Remember that whatever you want your goals to be, you will not achieve them with hard work and effort alone, because although these are necessary, they are not everything, preparation makes the difference, you must be willing to learn more than to suffer, and you must be willing to learn from suffering.
Also doesn't waste a lot of time sharpening the ax if you never plan to use it, because that would be even worse, there should always be a balance. Sharpen first, cut later. Success does not lie in acting or being prepared, it lies in acting and being prepared at the same time.
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