A Productivity Secret According to Abraham Lincoln Melvin Feller a longtime admirer and reader of Abraham Lincoln, has known what a just and wise man he was! In fact, one of my favorite quotations comes from Abraham Lincoln when he said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Melvin Feller feels that not only was that a metaphor for how we might approach all the work in which we engage, but it also represented his philosophy as a skilled woodcutter. He spent much of his early life working odd jobs including rail splitting. As Melvin Feller points out, that history shows that he is considered as one of the top three presidents in American history, but Melvin also feels that this same philosophy was applied to his political career as well. Therefore, Melvin Feller points out that we can take his quote both figuratively and in a literal sense as well. Melvin Feller thinks of Lincoln’s quote often. It is so simple, efficient and wise to apply it to any project we undertake. After all, how many times do we bring the wrong tool to the job, only to waste countless hours or days trying to avoid the certain purchase of the right tool? As a boy, Abe Lincoln owned a hatchet and skill at using it. I could guess he knew intimately what the difference in outcomes he could expect when he used a dull hatchet when compared with a sharpened one. He knew the dull ax lacked efficiency; it made the work harder and resulted in less consistency in outcomes. When the hatchet is dull, the job is long and tiring. It is even more dangerous because a dull hatchet has a tendency to bounce, resulting in a wild chop that can fling it into your leg. However, when it is sharp, the job can take as little as a few minutes and it is actually more fun. However, how do we “sharpen the ax” when it comes to our goals and our projects? We may set a goal to manage our money better and keep more careful track of our budget. Some of the steps include collecting all of our bills into one location, write them all down, enter them into a spreadsheet, balance our checkbook and add up our monthly expenses. In addition, it would be smart to write down what we spend every time we buy something. This would involve keeping a pad of paper in our pocket and a pen so we could record them.

1. A Productivity Secret According to Abraham Lincoln
Melvin Feller a longtime admirer and reader of Abraham Lincoln, has known what a just and
wise man he was! In fact, one of my favorite quotations comes from Abraham Lincoln when he
said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
Melvin Feller feels that not only was that a metaphor for how we might approach all the work
in which we engage, but it also represented his philosophy as a skilled woodcutter. He spent
much of his early life working odd jobs
including rail splitting. As Melvin Feller points
out, that history shows that he is considered as
one of the top three presidents in American
history, but Melvin also feels that this same
philosophy was applied to his political career as
well. Therefore, Melvin Feller points out that
we can take his quote both figuratively and in a
literal sense as well.
Melvin Feller thinks of Lincoln’s quote often. It is so simple, efficient and wise to apply it to any
project we undertake. After all, how many times do we bring the wrong tool to the job, only to
waste countless hours or days trying to avoid the certain purchase of the right tool?
As a boy, Abe Lincoln owned a hatchet and skill at using it. I could guess he knew intimately
what the difference in outcomes he could expect when he used a dull hatchet when compared
with a sharpened one. He knew the dull ax lacked efficiency; it made the work harder and
resulted in less consistency in outcomes.
When the hatchet is dull, the job is long and tiring. It is even more dangerous because a dull
hatchet has a tendency to bounce, resulting in a wild chop that can fling it into your
leg. However, when it is sharp, the job can take as little as a few minutes and it is actually more
fun.
However, how do we “sharpen the ax” when it comes to our goals and our projects? We may
set a goal to manage our money better and keep more careful track of our budget. Some of the
A ProductivitySecret byMelvin Feller

2. steps include collecting all of our bills into one
location, write them all down, enter them into a
spreadsheet, balance our checkbook and add up
our monthly expenses. In addition, it would be
smart to write down what we spend every time we
buy something. This would involve keeping a pad
of paper in our pocket and a pen so we could
record them.
If you are like me, what can happen is I will sit down, start the writing down the bills and “oops!
I forgot one, I need to get up and go get it.” I go into the other room, grab the bill and sit back
down. After I am there for a while, I remember, “Hey, I need my car registration, oil change
receipts, and car mileage so I can record what I pay for that every year.” Therefore, up I go
again, this time so I can go out to the car and rifle through the glove compartment. As you
might guess, I would be lucky not to find something to distract me from my task.
Therefore, Melvin Feller illustrates that in order to sharpen the ax in this example, it would be
far better to start out by thinking. Grab a sheet of paper and make a list of all the items we
need to start and everything we need to see our goal through to completion. Thus, the list
might look something like this:
1. Spend 10-15 minutes collecting every last bill and receipt I need to record in the ledger
2. While I’m up, grab a notepad, pen and calculator
3. Collect my wife’s checkbook and my own
4. Gather all of our credit cards, banking passwords and account numbers.
5. Think through whether I need Quicken, or if I can use Excel to perform my budgeting
needs
6. If I need Quicken, go up to Wal-Mart and buy it, bring it home and load it
7. Clear everything off my desk except for my computer, notepad, stack of bills and
invoices
8. Might I need a drink of water? Go get a glass.
9. Will I want some music playing in the background? If so, turn it on
10. Shut the door for privacy
A ProductivitySecret byMelvin Feller

3. 11. Unplug, or turn off my network connection – no e-mail, web browsing.
12. Unplug the phone in my office
Starting with everything I need is so much more efficient, because the excuse to get up and
become distracted becomes more difficult. In
fact, it becomes easier to work on the project
than it is to have to get up repeatedly and get
a missing piece of the puzzle. When we have
everything we need within arm’s reach, we
finish faster. Progress will be steady and we
will succeed more often.
Think about some of your top goals on your list for a few minutes. Do you have everything you
need to keep the progress rolling along? Sure, we may have some big goals that requiring we
achieve smaller goals ahead of time. Therefore, you could start with a sub-goal or “step”. Think
through everything that you need to carry out that step.
Another side to sharpening the ax is educating yourself. Think of it this way. When Lincoln said
the first four hours of a 6-hour tree cutting activity, he would spend the first four sharpening
the saw. How can we apply this to our continuing education?
In my coaching and business ventures, I can sometimes “paint myself into a corner” if I do not
first research what I am trying to do before I start. A client may ask me to add a feature to their
business that sounds great, but I do not necessarily know how to do evaluate how it would fit
without first dissecting their business. My tendency is to plow right in, with a dull ax and try to
force the feature to work. You see, it is much more fun to get started. Yet, several hours later,
I find I’ve got a headache, my idea isn’t working and I’ve got a big mess on my hands. There
have been more days than I care to reveal where I have messed up so bad that I have had to re-
evaluate their whole business from the beginning – costing sometimes days of progress.
The alternative to this inefficiency is to make the first task of any project to carefully plan the
enhancement. For me, writing a “mockup” or “ghost business” of how I was going to add the
A ProductivitySecret byMelvin Feller

4. feature or service. Finally, using my rough draft as
a guide ask what I need to read and research to get
that job done. It might not be fun to face the fact I
do not know something. I like to think of myself as
smart. However, by admitting, I do not know it and
then seeking out chapters of books or articles
describing what I want to do and then compiling it,
I learn.
Why do we avoid sharpening the ax? This usually is because we want to begin our projects
right away. We want to get moving so we can complete the tasks as quickly as
possible. Unfortunately, like the examples above reveal, going to work with a dull ax usually
takes longer and makes the task less enjoyable.
We can motivate ourselves to sharpen the saw is to remember we face several risks for not
sharpening:
 We risk extending the time it takes to complete our goals.
 We risk frustrating ourselves by having to stop several times midway through and
having to sharpen.
 We risk damaging the work and tools we already have
 We risk decreased enjoyment of working through the project.
We want to enjoy what we are doing don’t we?
Like everyone, I have to struggle with the fact ax sharpening is not as fun as whacking away at
the tree. Collecting the sharpening stone and ax takes time. Running a wet stone over hard
steel gets boring after just a few minutes. Nevertheless, as Lincoln said, the simple ax
sharpening can decrease tree-cutting time by hours.
However, I challenge you to take some time to review your goals and look for “ax sharpening”
opportunities you can take with some of them. If you are just starting out on one of your goals,
ask yourself if you have everything you need to complete it. If you are missing something, what
A ProductivitySecret byMelvin Feller

5. is it? Are you lacking
information/education? A tool or some
software? Do you have the right
materials? If you are in the middle of
completing a goal, then it is not too late to
assess whether you have everything you need
and to write it down. Whatever you are
missing, go out and get it.
Melvin Feller is known as “The Entrepreneur’s Mentor” because Melvin walks his talk. Melvin
Feller has been there and done that and more importantly, Melvin Feller knows how to transfer
the skill set for success. This is main reason that he has been the sought after coach to
hundreds of small business owners, entrepreneurs, Realtors, real estate investors and service
professional internationally. Melvin Feller’s main talent is to show you how the step by step
process to build and enjoy a successful 6-figure plus business while having a balanced life.
Melvin Feller maintains offices in Texas and Oklahoma.
MelvinFellerMAis inTexas and inOklahoma. MelvinFellerfoundedMelvinFellerBusinessGroupin
the 1970s to helpindividualsandorganizationsachieve theirspecificVictory.Victoryasdefinedbythe
individualororganizationare achievingstrategicobjectives,exceedinggoals,gettingresultsordesired
outcomes.He has extensive experience assistingbusinessesachieve topandbottomline results.He has
broad practical experience creatingWINNERSinmanyorganizationsandindustries.He hashands-on
experience inexecutive leadership,operations,logistics,sales,programmanagement,organizational
development,training,andcustomerservice.He hascoachedteams
to achieve resultsinstrategicplanning,businessdevelopment,
organizational design,sales,andcustomerresponseandbusiness
processimprovement.He haspreparedandpresentedmany
workshopsnationallyandinternationally.
MelvinFeller MA Business Consultant, Business
Owner, Entrepreneur andMBA
A ProductivitySecret byMelvin Feller