By Linda Conlin, Pro to Pro Managing Editor

Happy New Year to our readers and contributors! Every New Year I think about how to make this year better than the last, and I was reminded of an anecdote about a lumberjack.

A lumberjack was new to a camp and wanted to prove his worth. He attacked the trees with vigor and brought in 18 trees the first day. But even though he had the same energy and worked the same hours, he brought in fewer and fewer trees each day. Finally, he went to the boss to try to find out why his productivity was dropping. “When did you sharpen your axe?” the boss asked. The lumberjack replied, “Sharpen my axe? I was too busy cutting down trees.”

It’s easy to get caught up in how busy we are in our work and personal lives. There never seems to be enough time for all we want to accomplish. But what if we could work smarter instead of harder and longer? Like the lumberjack, having a sharper “axe” of knowledge and skill will improve our productivity.

This year, try taking a little time each week to step back and see where we can improve our practices and our skill sets. Put simply, find what’s broken and fix it! The time taken to do that will surely be less than the time wasted finding workarounds. If someone on staff needs training in a particular area, I’ll bet the time spent training will be more efficient than always having to find someone else to take over the task.

Education like what you find here in Pro to Pro provides the CE credits you need, as well as information and insight into every facet of our profession. Topics include: Trends, Technology, Retailing, Insights, Optics, Eyewear, Contact Lenses, videos and more.

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