Sharp saw

A story (paraphased) from Stephen covey in his book published years ago called "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People".
In the days of handsaws, two men were in a forest sawing away at two huge tree trunks. After some hours one of them stopped, sat down and began sharpening his saw. The other man told him to get back working. there is no time for that.
Guess who cut down the tree first.
So often we keep going and going at some task even though our productivity is seriously slowing. Usually it is quicker and better to pause and attend to our productive capacity. It may be just pausing to get more energy or to focus better. It might be to prepare our tools or improve our skills before returning to the task.
When we get busy and productivity is slowing it could be a good time to ask "Should I stop and sharpen the saw".