Sharing a story I had read somewhere a long time ago...
Once there was a woodcutter who went to the King and said "I can cut 20 trees in a single day whereas your employed woodcutters can cut only 8-10 trees in a day".
To check his skills, King asked him to cut a tree with a huge trunk. Woodcutter brought down the tree in few minutes.
King was impressed and employed him.
Everyday, the woodcutter would cut around 20 trees. He used to feel proud and his other fellow woodcutters used to feel jealous of him.
After few days, the count started declining to 18, 16, 14 and so on. And his fellow woodcutters started laughing at him and teasing him.
Woodcutter started to spend more time in the woods and work even harder and longer to get the count to 20... Still it didn't help.
Eventually the daily count came down to 8!
Dejected and disappointed with his performance, he went to the King seeking his advice about this matter.
King (supposedly intelligent as always :)) asked him one question "When did you last sharpen your axe?"
Moral: No matter how busy you are, sharpen your skills and tools periodically! These are your primary weapons. Hard/Smart work comes later :)
