Sharpening Your Ax

First appeared May 2022 at https://us11.campaign-archive.com/?u=c872e6968d8a1e66c618afaa6&id=63c015ab3f

If you know Shortlist, you know we’re big on culture & values (and here, and here). One of our lesser understood values is “Act with Intention.” This one initially emerged as a counterpoint to Zuck’s “move fast and break things”, which always struck us as a bit juvenile or short-sighted. Building Shortlist is a marathon, not a sprint, and a project we care about way too much not to take the time to do things right.

One of the ways we illustrate this value in on-boarding is with the story of the “Two Lumberjacks.” There are a lot of ways to tell it, but to put it simply: there are two lumberjacks, both big and strong and skilled in chopping down trees. They have a competition to see who can cut more trees in a day. The whistle blows and they get started.

The first lumberjack gets to work, and works throughout the day, never taking a break, never tiring, and ultimately chops a lot of trees.

The second lumberjack gets to work, but unlike the first one, stops every couple hours for fifteen minutes.

At the end of the day, the second lumberjack (the break-taker) has brought down more trees. The first one is frustrated and confused: “How is this possible? I worked hard all day, never slowed down, never got tired, and yet you took all these breaks. How did you chop more wood?!?”

And the second lumberjack said: “Because I stopped to sharpen my ax.”

I was reminded of this recently as I watched a video of my dad teaching a virtual dental class. For more than 20 minutes, he instructs on the right way to sharpen dental instruments. I doubt this is a central pedagogical priority for most dental programs, but it’s one of those simple things that yields such better outcomes — in dentistry, as in life. (This also shows I really am just a chip off the old (sharpening) block…)

So as the world throws more crazy at you, be sure to keep those proverbial axes sharp!