The power of taking a break

You know how we all have morning routines? Even those who claim to have none — well, maybe not having a routine is their routine. Very meta, I know.

As for my morning routine, one of the things I picked up recently is listening to a collection of speeches with powerful messages from Simon Sinek. In one of those speeches, he tells a story about two lumberjacks who chop wood in the forest every day. The story carries a simple yet powerful message, and I’ve been sharing it with several people on different occasions over the past few weeks. Every time I told it, it made people smile. Here’s the story:

Two lumberjacks go into the forest every day and start chopping wood at the same time. And every day, they stop chopping wood at the same time. In the middle of the day, one of the lumberjacks disappear for an hour. And every day, despite being away, he chops more wood than the other guy. This goes on for a while. Eventually, the lumberjack who works all day says:

"I don’t understand. Every day we start at the same time, we stop at the same time, and every day you disappear for an hour — yet you chop more wood than I do. Where do you go for that hour?

The other lumberjack looks up and says:

"Oh, I go home and sharpen my axe."

It’s a simple story, isn’t it? If we approach life as a long journey, it’s not about how much we get done in each moment, an hour, or even a day. It’s about how much we achieve over the course of the journey — whether that’s a project, a career, a responsibility, a hobby, or a lifetime.

To do that, we need to take breaks and reinvest in ourselves. For some of us, this might mean going on holiday, discovering new places, or disconnecting completely to rest and recharge. For others, it might mean going back to school or taking a course to learn a new skill or refresh an existing one. It’s important that we take the time to sharpen the axe, whatever it means for each of us — so we can come back stronger and live a happier, more balanced life in the long run.

Just last Friday, I was telling this story again to my coach, Raluca, as we were choosing the topic for this week’s writing. While smiling, she pointed out that I was about to go swimming after our session — to enjoy the last bit of warmth and sunshine this year, living and honoring the story.