Mindset story: The woodcutter who gave up

It was the finals of the national high school basketball game and for the first time in their history, a team from a small town was facing the last year’s champions and this year’s favorites. It was a “David versus Goliath” match-up. Everyone was talking about the two teams and how the small-town team already pulled off a miracle and even if they gave up now as they faced such a superior opponent everyone would praise them for what they have achieved. Even the parents and other teachers from the small town high school were trying to “calm down” their players by telling them they had achieved enough and it doesn’t matter if they win or lose. In other words, they were quietly giving the team permission to give up. On the other hand, the coach kept on emphasizing that they can win and that they should never give up. He tried to motivate his team by pointing out that what they had achieved was earned with their hard work and was not something they were given and in no way should they ever give up until the game is over. But when the game started the team from the small town was not playing as they knew how to. It was like they gave up before the game had even started. So it was not long before they fell far behind and when it was halftime they were already 20 points behind. At the halftime break, everyone on the team was expecting the coach to yell at them, but he did the opposite. He calmly talked to them and explained that he understood the pressure they are under. But despite that, they were still playing the same game they did versus previous teams. No matter what he said the team looked like they had given up and were now waiting for the game to be over. Then he remembered the story of the woodcutter who gave up and decided to use the rest of the time they had before the game started to share the story with his team.

Once upon a time, there lived a man who was very afraid of getting life-threatening illnesses, but above all, he was most afraid of the day when he would have to die. He was full of rather unusual quirks in this regard. One day it occurred to him that he might already be dead and since he saw in the movies that dead people don’t know they are dead he decided to ask his wife: “Tell me, am I already dead?” The wife laughed and told him, to touch his palms and feet. “See, they’re warm! That means you’re alive. If you were dead, your hands and feet would be ice cold.” The husband found the explanation reasonable and calmed down. A few weeks later on a cold winter’s day, the man went out to chop trees for firewood. When he got to the forest, he took off his gloves and put them on the sleigh so he would have a better grip on the axe and started chopping the tree. It was hard work and even though it was snowing he broke a sweat. After some time he unconsciously ran his hand over his forehead and noticed that his palms were cold. He remembered what his wife had told him, so he took off his shoes and socks, and walked over to the sleight to put the socks and shoes on it so as to not get them wet as the snow was everywhere. He sat down, touched his feet, and realized with horror that his feet were also completely icy. At that moment there was no doubt, he realized that he was dead.

“It’s not good for a dead man to go around cutting down trees,” he thought to himself. So he laid his ax beside the mule and lay down on the frozen ground. He crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes. After he had been lying like that for a while, a pack of wolves approached his food bag. Since no one chased them away, they tore open the bag and ate everything that was in it. The man thought, “They’re really lucky I’m dead otherwise I would shoot them before they could eat anything.” The pack sniffed around and found a mule tied to a tree. She was easy prey for the sharp teeth of the wolf. The mule burped and resisted, but the man only thought about how nice it would be if he could defend her. But unlucky for the mule, he was dead and couldn’t do anything about the wolves. Within minutes, the wolves had finished off the mule, and soon only a few were left gnawing on its bones. The insatiable pack was still prowling around. It wasn’t long before one of the wolves picked up a human scent. The wolf looked around and saw the woodcutter lying motionless on the ground. The wolf slowly approached the woodcutter and after a few moments, all the wolves surrounded the woodcutter. “Now they will eat me,” thought the woodcutter. “If I wouldn’t be dead I would take that gun and shoot you all,” the woodcutter continued with his thoughts. The wolves were now right next to him, and when they saw that he wouldn’t do anything, they ate him.

As the coach finished the story everyone on the team started yelling and arguing about how foolish the woodcutter was. Everyone agreed that he should have fought until the end be it “dead or alive”. As the team argued about the woodcutter’s actions and how foolish he was that he just gave up the coach stopped them and pointed out that they have been acting like the woodcutter since the start of the game. He continued that the wolves are the opposing team that is “sniffing” around and waiting to pounce on them. The halftime break was over and they needed to get back on the court. Just before they left the locker room the coach asked them, “Do you want to be remembered as the woodcutter who gave up?” And with that question alone the fire in the team spirit lit up and for the rest of the match they played their best game yet. When the final buzzer went off the small-town team won the game and with it the championship.