Two short stories for Reflection

1. Story To
Reflect
Upon 149
Work and Rest Smart
A young man and some old folks were chopping down trees in a
jungle. The young man was very hard working. He always
continued to work through his break. He was disappointed to
see the older folks having to break a few times a day to drink
and chat. He thought they were wasting their time. Over the
days that passed, the young man noticed that the older folks
were chopping even more trees than he did even though they
had breaks. He decided to work harder but the results were still
the same – the older folks were more productive in their work.
One day, one of the old folks invited him for a drink during
their break. The young man refused thinking it was a waste of
time. The old man smiled and told him, “You were wasting
your effort chopping trees without re-sharpening your knife.
It’s a matter of time before you give up ‘cause you’ll be so tired
spending too much energy.” Suddenly the young man realized
that during the break times, the older folks while drinking and
chatting, were also re-sharpening their knives at the same time!
They were smart. They could chop faster than him. The old
man smiled and advised the young man, “What we
need is efficiency by making use of our skill and ability
intelligently. Only then can we have more time to do other
things.”
Reflection:
* How can one perform efficiently without sufficient rest?
* By taking a break, it is not to stop work but to rest and
re-think our strategy to go about it from another angle,
perhaps smarter.
* Think smart, work smart and rest smart.

2. Story To
Reflect
Upon 150
Refusing to Accept Failure
Sir Edmund Hillary was the first man to climb Mount
Everest. On May 29, 1953 he scaled the highest mountain
then known to man - 29, 000 feet straight up. He was
knighted for his great achievements. He even made American
Express card commercials
because of it!
However, until we read his book, “High Adventure”, we
don't really understand that Hillary had to grow in all
aspects in order to attain glory.
In 1952 Edmund Hilary attempted to climb Mount
Everest, but failed.
A few weeks later a group in England asked him to
address its members.
Hillary walked up to the stage to a thunderous applause.
The audience was recognizing an attempt at greatness,
but Edmund Hillary saw himself as a failure. He moved
away from the microphone and walked to the edge of the
platform. He then made a fist and pointed at a picture of the
mountain
He said in a loud voice, "Mount Everest, you beat me the
first time, but I'll beat you the next time because you've
grown all you are going to grow... but I'm still growing!"
Reflections
* ‘Failure’ is not really failure. One has to get up from the
fall and push on even harder.
* Patience, determination, perseverance and persistence are
the hallmarks to attaining success.