Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice – Henry Ford

This is a beautiful quote by Henry Ford that talks about the importance of hard work. There are 2 parts to this quote – one about the hard work of chopping and the second about taking the initiative and ownership. We all know that hard work is romanticised in motivational quotes – however hard work for the sake of work is pointless. We need to support this hard work through strategy, smart thinking and above all ownership and self-reliance. This is where we can start making the difference that Henry Ford alludes to.

When we chop our wood, we take responsibility for all tasks associated with it. No task is small or big – when we take this full responsibility, not only do we enjoy the rewards, but we also gain the benefit from the work itself. This also talks about being self-reliant in the world and making sure that we continuously work hard.

Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice – Henry Ford

Our work is our own – we take both the positive and negative outcomes of our actions. For something as precious as our life or work – we bear the ownership of its efforts and outcomes. This is the meaning of chop your own wood. It will warm us twice – once when we are making the decisions. The other time is when we are acting on these decisions. Life doesn’t stop at any stage – we ought to take care of the things that matter to us. This means that we take full responsibility for our actions and their results.

Whether we decide to do something or not, is still a decision. We are responsible for these types of decisions and the results coming out of them. We are responsible for everything that happens to us. This quote by Henry Ford is all about responsibility and ownership – it is also about taking control of our lives. We can’t control the circumstances and the outcomes. But we can control our effort, hard work and focus. This quote is a reflection on making sure that we are conscious of these decisions and their impact on us. There are some things that are in our control and we have to take ownership of them to give ourselves the best chance at success.

Hard Work Quotes

As an extension of this quote, here are a few quotes that talk about the power of hard work. When we think about hard work, the first image is of toiling in the sun – however, work needn’t be manual or physically hard work. It needs to go to the next level of being intentful, learning to grow and improve our odds at success. These quotes inspire us to think about hard work as one of the strategies. We all have to do this hard work and there’s no escaping it. But if we’re clever, maybe we can improve our chances of success while doing this hard work.

References:

About Henry Ford: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford