When the chainsaw was first developed, a salesman traveled through the great logging territories of the northwestern, so the story goes, selling one or two saws at each of the camps. This was to create demand for greater sales on a future trip. One month later he retraced his steps and sales were going through the roof at each of the camps because the loggers were completely replacing their old methods and buying chainsaws for everyone. Then he came to one camp where the new saws were not in evidence; the old manual methods of cross cut saws and axes were still in use. This was a completely different experience than every other camp. He was mystified. He asked the leader of the camp if he did not find the saws to be a great multiplier of productivity. The leader answered that no, they actually slowed the productivity and his men preferred the old methods. He asked if they had a chainsaw handy and the leader produced one. The salesman quickly checked it for fuel and oil. Everything was in order so he flicked the switch and pulled the handle, thus cranking up the loud engine. The leader and his men looked at each other and said, “What’s that noise?”
While we can understand that an uncranked chainsaw is not as efficient as a manual tool that is designed for that use, and although the story is funny it does beg the question, what are each of us capable of doing that we have not accessed… not really even tried… not considered what we could do? Each of us is capable of so much more than we ever access. At a deep level, we know it is true. A commitment to courageously process and analyze what we are capable of and what would motivate us to reach much deeper, hold ourselves more accountable, become more disciplined and to honestly revisit our progress in the efforts with regularity can propel beneficial change that begins to feed on itself. Few have the “guts” to do it, but the ones who do bless us all. Crank your chainsaw in some way this week.
