They say that give a woodcutter 10 hours to chop a tree, and he will spend 8 hours simply to sharpen his axe. That’s preparation. With serious efforts on readying, the actual action itself can be a breeze.
This is cannot be more true in academics. To excel, preparation is of utmost importance. Talent or brute chopping strength may boost a little, yet unlikely to make up for a blunt axe. Hence, most may jump quickly to conclude that timber chopping is like completing final examination, while the axe sharpening is about thorough practice. Think otherwise.
Let’s look at the bigger picture. Or think about first principles. The examination itself is not the objective. It is, at most, analogous to counting or recording the harvest. Sharpening the felling axe should not refer to mindless practices on papers, but the mental processes of questioning and comprehending concepts or principles. Likewise, bringing down the tree, in context of learning, should really stand for application of what is learned.
In sum, preparation in learning is sharpening the mind to learn quickly, not about the relentless bashing which sometimes steals the limelight. After all, with each passing term or lumber season, the examination is over and timber is collected at the sawmill. Only the sharpened axe or our enlightened mind stay with us for the next challenge ahead. Now that’s the real difference between an apparent “fast learner” and average woodcutters.
It’s not talent. Nor strength, nor speed. It’s the hard work of grinding the axe behind the scene which most people don’t see.
