The Hermit & The Saw

One day an old hermit came down from his cave in the mountain to buy a saw at the town’s local hardware store.

"I'm moving out of my cave and building myself a new log home," the hermit proudly announced to the young sales clerk. "I need the best saw you have got and price is not an object."

The young sales clerk disappeared into the warehouse for a moment before returning with a gleaming new chainsaw. "This is the best saw on the market," the sales clerk said confidently. "It will cut through trees like a knife through butter. I guarantee it will cut a month's worth of lumber in a day - or I'll personally refund your money from my paycheck!"

The excited hermit paid the clerk, grabbed his gleaming new chainsaw by the handle, and headed back up the mountain.

Exactly one month later the young clerk was busy stocking the shelves when he heard the hermit's voice crack through the air like a whip. "Hey, Sonny, I've come to return this saw and get my money back, like you promised."

The clerk looked up to see the old hermit. He was shocked at what he saw! The hermit looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. His clothes were shredded and stained with blood and sweat. He looked like he was ready to collapse to the floor there & and then.

"Wh-Wh-what happened to you?" the clerk stammered. "You look terrible!"

The old hermit summoned all his strength and lifted the chain saw onto the counter, grumbling, "It's this darn saw you sold me. You said it'd cut a month's worth of lumber in a month.”

“Well, I've been using this contraption for 30 days now, and I ain't even been able to cut a day's worth of lumber in a month. I want my money back!"

The startled clerk apologized and said, "Sure, a deal's a deal. Just let me have a look at this saw for you. Maybe I can figure out what's wrong.”

The clerk gave the pull rope a quick yank... and the chainsaw exploded into a roar,

”B-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R !!!!"

The hermit jumped back from the counter like he'd been shot, shouting over the roaring saw, "WHAT'S THAT SOUND?"

Can you imagine the poor hermit trying to cut down a tree with a chainsaw that wasn't even turned on? This is an important lesson that leverage is an awesome tool, but only if we put it to use.

The chainsaw is obviously a great tool for leveraging time and effort. If you've ever tried to cut up a big tree using a mere hand saw, you know exactly what it means. The irony is the hermit did have in his hands a powerful tool for leverage. However, he just didn't know how to use it !!! In other words, his failure didn't result from a lack of talent or effort. His failure resulted from a lack of knowledge to use his leverage !!!

An important lesson here for many of us.

Through the power of leverage, we can accomplish our goals in a fraction of the time with a fraction of the effort.

We can, in effect, "cut a month's worth of lumber in a day." But to take full advantage of leverage, we have to have the knowledge that it exists and can be duplicated.

Otherwise, we'll end up like the hermit, trying to get ahead by just working harder and longer, instead of working smarter by identifying and using the right leverage. ??