Why High Performers Prioritize Thinking Time

I place a high premium on action.

If something needs to get done, I do it. I don’t spend a ton of time talking about it. I move.

That bias toward action has built most of what I have.

But here’s something I respect. A story that @andyfrisella told me in Arete.

Two lumberjacks are chopping wood all day. One of them disappears for about an hour everyday. The other keeps swinging nonstop. No breaks. Just grind.

At the end of the month, the guy who never stopped is stunned. The other guy cut way more wood.

“What were you doing?”

“Sharpening my ax.”

I think that’s one hell of a story.

Because action works. But action without reflection eventually dulls.

What’s worked for me, in life and in business, is deliberately blocking off time to sharpen the blade.

Time to think big picture. Time to improve skills. Time to strengthen mindset. Time to zoom out and ask where this is all actually going.

If I only react to what’s in front of me, I stay busy. I stay productive. But I don’t necessarily stay sharp.

You can be moving fast and still be directionless.

You can be working hard and still be inefficient.

Sharpening the ax doesn’t feel urgent. It feels slow. It feels like you’re not “doing.”

But it’s the thing that makes everything else more effective.

For me, action matters.

But the pause that makes the action sharper?

That matters just as much.