Sometimes it’s hard for me to take a large chunk of a day for reading a book or taking an online course. 
All that time spent reading and learning is time I could be working! 
Producing! 
Making something! 
The classic metaphor is that, when chopping down a tree, most of your time should be spent sharpening the axe, not hacking at the trunk with a less-than-optimal instrument. 
The problem with our prevalent being-productive mindset is that the resulting production, no matter how great, is not optimized. 
When we’re working, producing and staying busy, whatever results is something less than our best. 
If you sleep four hours one night, then play basketball and score 20 points, you may feel you played a great game.
Maybe you’d have scored 40 points on 8 hours of sleep. 
Sharpening your axe is more of a mindset than it is a habit. 
You have to believe, emotionally as well as intellectually, that time invested in making yourself better is worth the opportunity cost of your ever-elusive “productivity.” 
Most people don’t have this belief or understanding. 
They work, work, work, without ever bothering to sharpen their tool. 
They’re chopping away at an oak tree with a dull axe. 
The worst thing that could happen to this person: successfully chopping down the tree. 
???
… Because their success will fool them into thinking they don’t need to change. 
They'll believe they’re great on four hours of sleep, so who needs eight? 
They can chop down a tree with a full axe — why waste all that time sharpening it? 
They hypnotize themselves into forever being less than their best. 
There are a lot of “axes” that we could sharpen in our lives. Where should you begin? 
I suggest you start with your Mental Game. 
That’s why the Bulletproof Bundle — my four best books on Discipline, Confidence, Mental Toughness & Personal Initiative — exists. 
Order your Bulletproof Bundle here: http://WorkOnMyGame.com/BB 

Order Your Bulletproof Bundle Here