Article: Too busy

Once upon a sustainable forestry enterprise there worked an industrious lumberjack. He worked with many other lumberjacks but because of the far-sighted felling strategy of the forest managers the lumberjacks were spread out through the forest and were only aware of each other as the sound of their chopping carried through the trees.

Our industrious lumberjack was very focussed on his work and highly motivated by results. He was also dissatisfied with his performance. After work each day the lumberjacks would be paid according to the mass of timber they had felled.

When he asked around he discovered that he was below the performance of most of the other lumberjacks. Not far behind but far enough to trouble him. To ensure he didn’t slide further behind he began to work harder – he increased his strike rate. He discovered after a few weeks that this was working and that he was now just above the average performance figures. The extra work was wearing him out however and after a few more weeks he learnt that he was slipping behind once more.

He decided that the only way he could keep from falling farther behind was to work longer hours. So he did. And it worked. For several weeks. Then he noticed that his output was falling again and became distressed once more. Plus, the overtime was draining him of energy. It must be down to skill he thought and so he began thinking about his technique. He refined his swing and by doing so he once more increased his output to above the site average.

One day, on his stagger home from work to see his wife whose name he could sometimes remember he decided that he didn’t like his job. He certainly couldn’t keep it up for much longer. Then he thought about one of his colleagues who, quite frankly, annoyed the checked shirt off him. He was much older than the industrious lumberjack and had been felling trees for several decades. Even though he would often go home an hour before the industrious lumberjack his stats were consistently above average and he could remember the names of all of his children. What’s more he seemed to enjoy his work. The industrious lumberjack resolved to find out what was going on.

The next day the industrious lumberjack deliberately chose a spot adjacent to his colleague. He had often worked within earshot of his colleague but in his own quest to achieve hadn’t paid him much attention. He listened to his colleague at work. He was amazed at his steady rhythm, much slower than his own. What’s more his colleague stopped work and rested for at least ten minutes every hour. He became highly frustrated, stopped his work and made his way though the forest to find his colleague.

He found his colleague sat on a freshly felled tree, a steaming brew at his side.

“What is going on?” asked the industrious lumberjack. “I just don’t get it. I’m working harder than is healthy, I’m a skilled lumberjack and still I’m not achieving as much as you – even though you spend ten minutes every hour resting!”

“Resting?” said his colleague, “You think I’m resting?”. The industrious lumberjack looked confused. Then he noticed the steady movement of his colleague’s hands as he worked the edge of his axe with an oilstone. After a few moments the industrious lumberjack turned and with a mixture of embarrassment and relief began to walk away.

“Thanks” he said over his shoulder as he left.