Dad would often let us help him with projects that he was working on, giving us the opportunity to try new skills with hammers, screwdrivers, even drills and saws. I’m not sure, but I think that on every project, Dad would find at least one opportunity to tell his favorite “tool joke.” It would usually come right after a particularly difficult nail had to be straightened out to be re-nailed into the wood. Seeing the difficulty, Dad would quip: “Don’t force it, get a bigger hammer!” and we would all smile and work around the problem. For years, I thought it was just a joke… until Dad taught me the basics of hammering.
Now I realize that “Don’t force it, get a bigger hammer” is a lot deeper than it sounds at first. All of the physics involved with hammering enter into the phrase. It’s more than a lesson in hammering, it’s a lesson in life itself.
How many times in life do we enter into a situation with the wrong hammer? A small child makes a little mistake and instead of shaping the metal of their delicate minds, we charge in with a full sized sledge hammer and make a dent halfway through their sensitive ego. Or, when the situation calls for some “regular” hammering away at a problem, we’re sitting by tapping at the problem with a toy hammer designed to knock those little wooden pegs through the imaginary shoe, making no progress at all with the situation.
Having the right size, weight and fit of hammer will make your job easier. You’ll still have to put forth an effort, but the job will make continuous progress as you work. That is success: Progress toward your goal. So what if you can’t hammer a nail with one blow? If you can drive it straight down and finish the job, that’s what is important.
The heavier hammers have what I call quiet confidence. It is the type confidence that we have when we just know we can do a job. There is no reason to brag, or draw attention to ourselves… just do the job and do it right. People have great respect for those that do just that. You may not hear it from them, but when they need something done right, they will seek you out and truly appreciate the job you’ve done for them.
So when you get ready to do a job, whether it’s with lumber or people, make sure you have the right hammer for the job. If you can’t do the job with the hammer you have, you may have to consider getting a larger, more “confident” hammer. Otherwise, you may end up pulverizing the stubborn nail.
Lately, when I get to work on something with Dad, we’ll come up to a difficult situation and one of us will say: “Don’t force it…” and the other will reply: “… get a bigger hammer.” Then we both smile or laugh and go on working. It’s at that time, I think: “Thank you again, God, for Dad. I love to work with him.”