The Wood Cutter

Lesson learned 20 years ago...

I sort of lived this story long ago...given the opportunity to become the creative director at a large family estate winery here on the Central Coast of California, I dove in with both feet and was determined to do my best! Following the owner’s directions, I managed to make an enemy of the owner of another long-term family-owned business in the area...introduced me to the local “good ‘ol boy network” right quick! As an outsider, and then “low man on the totem pole” I was sacrificed to keep the peace between the two family businesses! It still hurts...at the time, it was the highest paying “job” I had ever held, at a beautiful, peaceful, sprawling winery, with an awesome short commute through beautiful scenery! I wanted nothing more than to retire from that business! Years later, I ran across that other local business owner, as he attempted to take over the sign shop I managed as my next job...😡 I HAD by that time “learned my lesson”, and was able to help block that guy out from destroying the sign shop!

Sharpening

I forget that I am doing enough. Working enough, praying and meditating enough, enough meetings, therapy etc. Sometimes I only see what I’m not doing. I forget to just Be. This is a wonderful story.

Stop n smell the roses

No matter how hard to try you you need to smell the roses. Sleep enjoy your hobbies and take vacations.

Sharpening my axe

I could relate to this story not because I’ve been working too hard, but because I have been spending too much time Not working. That, too, can leave little room for learning and appreciating the important things in life. It was good to come back to Aura after so many months.

Sharpening the Axe

After listening to Cassandra’s “Woodcutter” story, I realized that I need to be more intentional about “sharpening my axe.” Grateful for this reminder. 💫🙏💫

Sharpen

We need to remember what is important in life other than all the busyness. We need to use and grow our minds, be with those we love, spend time honing our skills to be more viable and valuable in the world today. Good thoughts.

Finding Balance

I have such a bad habit of getting lost in the daily grind, the never ending to-do list, and taking care of everyone else that I don’t take that time out to focus on what is truly important to me such as friends, hubby, and my own health and well being. It’s a pattern I have been in for years. So right now I’m working on making my health and well being a priority to fill my bucket up. I really appreciated listening to this short story on my lunch break. It’s just what I needed to hear.

Sharpening

I finally understand why people take vacations. I hadn’t taken any time off work in 3 years, except for the occasional long weekend. A friend called me up and said hey we are going to Mexico for 5 days and you have to go. So I went and every day I had to tell myself it was ok to rest and take time for myself. Anxiety would jump in and say your not safe or your going to go broke, I would tell myself: what would you be doing if you weren’t afraid? It was a good trip and I came back rested. I also know that my higher power has me no matter what!

Inspiring

I learned that everyday we must take just a little time to appreciate the really important things in life. Our families. And time for ourselves to relax and be mindful.

Taking time to regroup and reflect is key

I loved this!!!

I use this everyday to help me sleep and this story reminds me of one of my habits from school habit 7 sharpen the saw

First expireence

My favorite part was the story and the lesson inside the story I think I like the story’s best

The wood cutter

It is good to take time away from being busy and focus on yourself and things you want to prioritize like family and walking the dogs and reading a book

The wood cutter

I learned that you need you take a break every once and a while, you are not machine, you have feelings, you have needs.

Taking Time to yourself

I learned that while there might be a lot of things you want to do, it is important to take some time off to relax and take care of yourself.

The Wood Cutter

“You cannot fill someone else’s cup if yours is empty.” Time for ourselves is essential to our success elsewhere.

The Wood Cutter

I have to be at my best to preform and be at the best level for my family. If Mama is at her best, she can give her family her best

The Wood Cutter

Take time to care for yourself. If you do not take care of yourself and your tools, you will not be able to do your work effectively. Self care is the first care

Wood cutter

I learned that it’s ok to take a break and focus on you. You need to be your best self first before you can be your best for anybody else.

Wood Cutter

I learned that you need to take a break sometimes. You need to focus on yourself...you need to sharpen you axe once in a while. This really helped me I was really feeling horrible so I tried the app to see if it could help and it did it took out some stress some of my anxiety some of my everything..thank you..thank you so much I really needed this know that I know my family is hiding something from me this is we’re I will come from now and on on the daily!

Wood cutter

I always feel a sense of anxiety when I’m not doing SOMETHING. But I also feel anxiety when I am doing something by wondering if it’s the “right” something to be doing; like I need to constantly be working, thinking strategically, figuring out my path, etc. Not sure of the exact phrase used, but it went something like, “we’ve never been more busy then we are now as a human race, yet we’ve never been more unhappy.” How true. I fear not being busy/productive all the time. I fear losing my job, falling behind, etc. I think what I’m learning in my own process is figuring out what truly sharpens my axe, the things that rejuvenate and restore me; and I’m so grateful for that!

Sharpen your axe

I learned that you need to take time out of your busy life to breath and take care of yourself have some me time! Love this!!💞

The Wood Cutter

Remember to not become so busy that you neglect yourself. Take time to restore and you will be better for it.

wood cutter

I remembered something that always we forgot ,our healthy mind , i remembered that i need to stop sometimes to reflect in my mind to relax and to tell myself it’s going to be ok.

Wood Cutter

If you don’t stop to sharpen your axe, you will become ineffective. Remember to stop and enjoy life and the people in it!!...

Incredible Story

This story perfectly represents life and how rushed each and everyone of us feel we have to work. Definitely one of my favourite practice I’ve ever done.

Dull & Ineffective

I truly have become dull & ineffective. I can see that clearly now, as it gives clarity to some of my problems. I must sharpen myself to be genuinely happy!

I need to take time for myself too in order to be okay and stay positive

I need to take time for myself too in order to be okay and stay positive

Myself

I should take some time for myself.Neglecting my own needs because of others can make me bitter and ineffective

Self care

I’ve realized (actually I’ve always known) that I have a very difficult time allowing myself personal time to focus on just me. Not friends, family, homework (needs balance), work, etc. The list could go on. I need to prioritize my health and sanity.

Wow, this explains it

This explains why working so hard round the clock during work from home can make us less effective. I’ve been more productive this week than ever before by doing less work and mediating more, reading more and spending time with loved ones. I look back to the week before and I was burning myself out trying to work 20 hours a day and getting worse results.

Recharge

If we don’t slow down from the daily stressors in life we lose the ability to stay sharp and live a more fulfilling life with family and friends.

Learning to relax

This story reminds me that if I don’t take time to relax the work I perform will be a much lower quality. I am in the process working on my masters thesis proposal it is a log rating it is a lot of riding and I remind myself and hear the warnings of other to take breaks and enjoyed life I’m not good I major in knowing when I need to chill and sometimes even have to rely on the end but rather to make this assessment to make this assessment this serves as a good reminder that I need to relax in future when I am tempted to push myself beyond my limits I would try to think of the story and scale back thank you for this reminder of the importance of living a balanced life. To summit up the metaphor of the Wood cutter and Zach’s

I realized...

Hi,I’m new here and this was the first story that I listened to! I Loved it! I realized how similar I am to it and how we do need to take more time to ourselves.Have a good day!!

I realize the point of this story, but as someone who forgot to sharpen his ax, this didn’t bring me calm. It brought up sadness at what I had cased.

Can’t all be winners. This forced journaling stuff sucks. Sometimes short phrases are enough.

The Wood Cutter

Remeber to stay sharp and you can't do that by working yourself to dullness! A very important reminder

Wonderful lesson

So simple yet so important. This put a smile on my face right away.

Confirmation

It was so nice to hear these words. I have always believed this to be true and tried to live by it. Living a BALANCED life of FAMILY…WORK…FUN…has allowed me to enjoy a WONDERFUL EXISTENCE!!!!!

Wood cutter story

A classic story that can be used so many ways. Increase productivity with less effort; prioritize correctly or you will burn out; or take of yourself before trying to do something with just effort! Love it!

How to deal with anger

I need to discover the Practical steps to take in order to serve and love and support and care for and be kind to everyone in my life.

Woodcutter

I must remember that in order to work effectively, I must take care of my tools. The most important tool is myself. I am working on getting more sleep, having a sleep schedule and eating right

I know the story about wood cutter so it wasn't new. I also try to sharpen the saw everytlday according to Mr Covey

I learned that I need to tell the story toy little son so he also remember about sharpening his saw.

self care

i really enjoyed this story. this just reminds me to take care of myself even when times get really busy :)

Very true

I am at my most productive when I’m rested and have been taking care of myself and been kind to myself