Stop Chopping. Start Sharpening.
Why the Most Productive People Spend Less Time "Doing" and More Time "Preparing"
Stop Chopping. Start Sharpening.
By Chris Daily
Why the Most Productive People Spend Less Time "Doing" and More Time "Preparing"
Abraham Lincoln allegedly once said, "Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax."
Whether Lincoln actually said this or not (historians debate it), the wisdom stands: Preparation is more valuable than effort.
Yet most of us do the opposite. We grab a dull ax and start hacking away, wondering why we're exhausted, frustrated, and barely making a dent.
The Dull Ax Syndrome
I see this constantly in my work training professionals in AI and technology:
The executive who jumps into ChatGPT without learning how to prompt effectively, then declares "AI doesn't work for me." The educator who spends hours creating lesson plans manually because they've never invested 30 minutes to learn templates and automation. The entrepreneur who churns out content daily but never stops to study what's actually working.
They're all swinging dull axes.
The result? Burnout. Mediocre results. The frustrating sense of working harder while getting nowhere.
What "Sharpening Your Ax" Really Means
Sharpening your ax isn't about working less — it's about working smarter by investing in the systems, skills, and strategies that multiply your effectiveness.
In practical terms, this means:
Instead of just doing tasks, build systems. Don't manually send 50 emails — create templates. Don't repeatedly search for the same information — organize your resources. Don't reinvent the wheel — document what works.
Instead of just working, keep learning. Read for 20 minutes daily. Take a course. Watch a tutorial. Join a community. The person who stops learning stops growing, and the dull ax gets duller.
Instead of just pushing through, pause to reflect. What's working? What's wasting time? What could you stop doing? What skills would 10x your output? The answers are obvious — if you create space to ask the questions.
Instead of just moving fast, move with intention. Speed without direction is just chaos. Clarity about your goals, processes, and priorities is the sharpest blade you own.
The Paradox of Preparation
Here's what stops most people from sharpening their ax:
It feels like you're not making progress.
When you're learning a new tool, studying a framework, or setting up an automation, you're not "getting things done." Your inbox isn't shrinking. Your to-do list isn't getting checked off. It feels inefficient.
But here's the truth: Sharpening your ax is the most efficient thing you can do.
That hour you spend learning to use AI for content creation? It saves you 10 hours every month going forward.
That afternoon you invest building an automation? It eliminates a task you've been doing manually for years.
That 30 minutes of strategic planning? It prevents you from wasting days on work that doesn't matter.
How to Know When Your Ax Is Dull
Ask yourself:
Are you working harder but seeing diminishing returns? Do you feel constantly busy but rarely productive? Are you solving the same problems over and over? Do you envy people who seem to accomplish more with less effort? Has it been months (or years) since you learned something new?
If you answered "yes" to any of these, your ax is dull.
Five Ways to Sharpen Your Ax
Schedule "sharpening time" on your calendar. Block 30–60 minutes daily or a half-day weekly for learning, systems-building, or strategic thinking. Treat it as non-negotiable.
Invest in the 20% that drives 80% of results. Not all skills matter equally. Identify the high-leverage areas where improvement would transform your work — then focus there ruthlessly.
Learn from people ahead of you. Find mentors, take courses, join communities. Don't figure everything out alone when someone else has already solved your problem.
Document as you go. Create templates, checklists, and SOPs for recurring tasks. Your future self will thank you.
Embrace the compound effect. Small, consistent improvements stack up. Reading 15 minutes daily = 100+ hours yearly. Automating one task = thousands of minutes saved. Mastering one tool deeply beats dabbling in dozens.
The AI Connection
This principle is especially critical in the age of AI.
Right now, AI tools can amplify your effectiveness 10x — if you know how to use them.
But if you just start "chopping" with AI without sharpening your prompting skills, understanding workflows, or learning best practices, you'll get mediocre outputs and declare AI "overhyped."
The people winning with AI aren't necessarily smarter or more technical. They're the ones who invested time sharpening the ax.
They learned prompt engineering. They studied automation. They experimented systematically. They built reusable frameworks.
Now, they're cutting down trees while others are still hacking away with dull blades.
Stop. Sharpen. Swing.
Lincoln (or whoever said it) was right.
The most productive people aren't the ones who work the longest hours. They're the ones who sharpen their tools, refine their skills, and build systems that work for them.
So here's my challenge to you:
This week, spend less time chopping and more time sharpening.
Block 30 minutes to learn one new skill. Automate one recurring task. Create one template or checklist. Read one article or watch one tutorial. Ask yourself: "What's the dull ax I keep swinging?"
Because the truth is, you don't need to work harder.
You need a sharper ax.
Sharpen your ax with us
Automate with AI is where "sharpening time" turns into an actual system — prompting skills, workflows, and reusable frameworks, not just the pep talk.