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Among the vehicles I had or shared with my brothers, three of them had serious engine problems including “thrown” rods, cracked pistons and “busted” blocks. One summer, my younger brother, Tim, and I had spent two weeks at summer camp and, upon our return, could not wait to get on our mini bike and GO! By the time the car rolled to a stop, I had the door open and was headed for the mini bike. I pulled the starter cable a couple of times, revved the engine, and took off across the back yard. I had gone about 30 or 40 feet when it came to an abrupt stop. The engine had locked up. It seems that during the last two weeks, my youngest brother had ridden it constantly, conveniently forgetting to ever check the oil. That was our only rule about the engine: Check the oil BEFORE you ride it. Since I was riding it, and didn’t check the oil first, it was my fault. We kept the frame for a while and rode it like a “Flintstones” bicycle, pushing it with our feet, but the engine was trashed and we never replaced it.

Dad was quick to respond with a gentle “I told you so” adding the now-famous words: “You can run out of gas and you’ll just stop, but you can NOT run out of oil, it will ruin the engine.” I think he elaborated by emphasizing that if you were ever faced with the option of buying gas or getting the oil you need, get the oil.

The words came back to haunt me later with the Cushman, the English Ford, and lately with a gas-powered weed eater, but each of those times, I had some oil. (Well, maybe not quite enough with the Cushman.) I think I’m fairly unique now. I don’t know many people who have survived blowing up four engines without racing cars! Now, I always try to remember to check the oil!

Once again, it turns out (I know you’re surprised!) that people are a little like cars. Most people get their gas in the form of food and paychecks (or whatever makes them “go”). The oil may take different forms, but for everyone, there is that one special ingredient that makes them work well. A special additive that keeps them working smoothly without excess friction, keeping them from wearing down under the pressures and constant explosions to which they are exposed in life. For one person, it might be a quiet time each day that refills his crankcase. For someone else, it might be the kind words she hears from others. Still, others might need constant “oiling” in the form of praise or compliments to overcome their low self-esteem.

Whatever it takes, be sure to “check the oil” with the people you know and with whom you work, live, etc., on a regular basis. When you find it’s low, add a quart of love or a pint of cheer, whatever it takes to bring the level back up to a safe condition again. As Mr. Goodwrench might say, “You’ll get years of service out of your car when you use good preventive care and maintenance.”

And as Dad would say, “…you CAN’T run out of oil.”

Dad and my grandfather owned an electronics business while we were growing up and Dad tried very early to provide us with an opportunity to experience working for someone. I remember working on Saturdays for about 50¢ per day when I was about 10 years old. The work wasn’t hard, we weren’t expected to do a lot, and we usually got a free soda while we were there.

Later, when I was 13, I would ride the bus home from school and work the afternoons at the store, emptying trash, sweeping and generally getting in the way. For my efforts, I was paid well (probably more than I was worth), 40¢ per hour. Working two hours each afternoon and four hours on Saturday, I could earn a full $5.60 per week. I knew I’d be rich soon.

One day, after emptying an extra amount of trash, I went to Dad’s office to ask for a raise. He handled it rather well, as I recall, asking me why I thought I needed one and why he should give me one. When I had trouble answering the questions, he explained that a person could be paid more when they were worth more to the company. Further explaining, he pointed out that when I had a list of reasons that I could provide to him, including skills I had learned or increased productivity, he would consider giving me a raise. So, here’s the wizbit: “Never ask for a raise until you are worth more to the company.”

Leaving his office somewhat disgruntled, but determined, I set out to make the list. Just what I put down on the list, I can’t recall, but I did return to his office later in the week to present my case. After hearing the evidence, I was awarded a full 10¢ per hour raise. It doesn’t sound like much now, (nor did it then) but a 25% increase in pay is nothing to sneeze at!

Dad didn’t always pay me 50¢ an hour. I went to work for him after I finished college and eventually made very good money in commissioned sales. But I never asked for a raise unless I had some reason to back it up. And sometimes I even asked for a cut in pay when I changed positions to something that I knew would be less productive.

Now that I work for a large corporation, I still see the relevance of this rule. I’ve had an opportunity to ask for a raise since I’ve been here, but not without my manager seeing the reasons that backed up my request. Having been an employer, I advise managers to look for the added value that employees offer and give occasional small raises to those who show increased productivity and learn additional skills. It means a lot more to an employee to be recognized for increased value than for them to have to ask for the raise and feel that they have gotten it without merit.

To employees, I recommend that you look around you for things that are not getting done, then do them. Your manager will notice, you can include your manager in your enthusiasm and it will pay off. Do not lose faith. You’re much better off doing work that is not appreciated than not doing anything more than is expected of you.

As I mentioned, our family had a lot of fun on the river. Dad has always enjoyed having a boat with which to work and play. I don’t remember all the boats Dad has had over the years but at my best count, there were at least seven or eight of them. He had all kinds, from canoes to cruisers. All of them seemed to have one thing in common. They all leaked.

I’m not knocking Dad’s ability to care for a boat. But most of the boats were used when he got them and he inherited the leaks. I’m sure that one or two may have come without leaks, but if you spend much time with boats, you know that whether you have a leak or just get in and out of the boat, you have to bail it out sometime to keep it afloat.

We had all levels of problems with the leaks in these boats. I can remember one night late when the marina called to tell Dad that our boat had SUNK! I imagined the worst with only the top light sticking out of the water, but I’m sure now, it meant that the hull was mostly full of water. Dad and my older brother went out, with pump in hand, to rescue the boat.

Other times, rain or wet boys swimming in the river would get a lot of water in the boat. Dad taught us several ways to bail out a boat. There was the old standby method of a can or milk carton and a lot of elbow work. This is probably what you think of when you think about bailing out a boat. Just get a scoop full or water and throw it over the side. That works well as long as there is more going out than is coming in.

Another method that I found fascinating was to literally pull the plug on the boat and then head out full speed. This allowed all the water to flow to the back of the boat and out the plug hole, assisted by the flow of water that was going under the boat. When the boat was empty, simply re-plug the hole and you could stop again.

Then there was the pump method. Some of the boats we had were complete with bilge pumps. Most larger boats have them. It seems that in the boating industry, leaks are a “given.” You cannot completely prevent them. The best you can do is plan for them and be prepared. Built-in pumps do just that. As a regular part of your maintenance, you turn on the bilge pump before you make every trip in the boat. There is usually some water to be pumped out.

We’re not really all that different from boats, are we? Our lives are full of leaky spots. We fix some of them, others we never know are there. We often find ourselves in need of having our bilge pumped out. Sometimes, we may see others who are in need of the same service. What should we do? Walk away and let them sink? Or should we do the obvious and get to work helping to drain the flood of problems that are drowning that person?

In this case, I really don’t know if Dad was trying to teach me to care for others, or just for boats. Maybe I read more into things than I should. It does seem to me that it makes sense though. A boat cannot be moved through the water efficiently when it needs to be bailed out. It must be bailed out in order to do its job. If left to leak, it will sink and possibly cause deaths in the process for its passengers.

So Dad showed us that if you have a leak in your boat… bail it out! It’s the only way the boat can be functional again. People, too, need the kind attention we would give a boat. So next time you notice a leak, start bailing or turn on the bilge pump! Someone’s life may depend on it.

If you’ve never had anyone teach you the basics of hammering, you probably have had a lot of trouble with even the simplest nailing jobs. Hitting your thumb, scarring the wall, bending nails… are all symptoms of poor hammering technique. For those of you who may have missed it, here’s a short version of the hammering technique (as taught to me by Dad, of course). Bear with me for this short course and I’ll try to make it worth the extra reading.

The Hammering Technique: A few rules of hammering will make all the difference to you and your finished work if you will abide by them. They are as follows:

1) Let the hammer do the work. Too many people try to attack nails as if they have some sort of animosity toward the nail. They draw back and swing the hammer with every ounce of strength until either the nail is pulverized or there is a large, round, hammer-shaped hole in the surface next to the nail. That is the wrong way to do it. The correct way is to hold the hammer as an extension of your arm, lift it up with the whole arm, with the elbow bent, pivoting at the shoulder. Then when the appropriate height is reached, change direction and bring the hammer down by guiding it to the head of the nail, letting the weight of the hammer do most of the work.

When this technique is learned, you can start to add a little force to the downward motion and increase your effectiveness. But remember, “slamming” down the hammer will bend nails and make your arm extremely tired.

2) Get a hammer that fits your hand. If you plan to do major projects like building a deck or making furniture, getting a hammer that fits your hand is as necessary to a handyman as having a correct tennis racket is to a tennis pro. A hammer with too small a handle will make your hand wrap too far around the handle and cause fatigue. Having a handle that’s too large will do the opposite, make it impossible to reach around it properly and difficult to hold.

3) Get a hammer that is the right weight for the job. To hammer in a small nail for hanging pictures, you’ll need no more than a small hammer, even if it has a small handle. The force required is small and you’ll not be doing very much hammering at one time, so the fit is not as important. However, if you’ll be nailing four-inch galvanized deck nails, a little “puttering around” hammer will not work. You’ll need a 16-ounce or better hammer that will provide the proper force for the job. My father-in-law recently spent nearly $30 for a hammer because he wanted the right one for the job.

4) When the job demands it, get a bigger hammer. As I said, I thought this was only a joke, but as it turns out, bigger jobs need bigger hammers. That’s not all, different jobs require different hammers. Take a look next time you’re at Sears or Home Depot or your favorite hardware store. There are hundreds of different shapes and styles of hammers! There really does appear to be one for every job!

When you nail two 2×4’s together, you can use a “regular” hammer. But if you’re working with large machinery and need to break the bond of two rusted-together parts, you’ll need a small sledgehammer. The reason stems back to number 1 and 3 above: The weight of the hammer, and letting the hammer do the work for you. The force that the heavier hammer has will do the work without tiring you out.

No extra charge for this little course. I think you find it’s probably worth the price of the book even if you don’t learn anything else. It has been worth a lot to me.

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 sledgehammer 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.”

Many of the projects Dad and I worked on involved carpentry. I can’t think of anything that Dad wouldn’t undertake. We built doghouses, walls, rooms, buildings, concrete forms, swings, tree houses, bunk beds, offices, workbenches, decks, just about anything you can imagine. On every job, I learned something. Somewhere along the way, Dad began to trust me to do the sawing. If you’ve ever done much sawing, you know this is not a job for an anxious kid. It requires a certain level of skill and a LOT of attention.

On one (or ten, or twelve) of the boards, I made the cut too short. This, of course, made the board pretty much useless for this place, since a board that is too short will not reach to the other side of the space for which it was cut. That’s when Dad encouraged me and taught me to always “measure twice, and cut once.”

He explained that good carpenters (as well as other craftsmen in occupations that have to cut to fit) always make the measurement, check the raw material, measure again (to be sure), make the mark and check the mark, then make the cut. By doing this, they almost always make the cut right. Now, I’m not going to go into some long discussion of how to use a saw. You probably got your fill of that with the hammers. But this method applies to more than just sawing wood.

A lot of other sayings express some of the same sentiment as this one, like “Look before you leap”, “Consider the costs” and others. They all suggest the same thing: you should really be sure about what you are about to do to avoid making mistakes. The converse is true, of course, that if you go to the trouble to make the measurements correctly, you can be absolutely sure before moving on and thus have the confidence it takes to do a job well the first time.

If we would measure twice before we say things to others, we would greatly reduce the number of times that our words fall short. It would allow us to cut down on waste, damaged relationships, and bruised feelings. The resulting relationships would not only fit better but would be built to last and endure all kinds of stress.

Measuring twice before moving on to a new job, or a new home, or a new spouse, or any number of things, would really help us to know that we were making the right decisions. So next time you size up a situation, be sure to measure it, check your options, then measure it again. It could make all the difference in how well you fit.

One of the real learning experiences of my teenage years involved the darkroom that Dad and my older brother, Jack, put together. I was about 15 when they built it and was allowed to participate in the darkroom processes and, eventually, to use it on my own. It was so interesting to learn the in’s and out’s of the photographic process. Learning about exposure, the development process and chemicals was a real thrill.

For those of you who have not had the experience, enlarging negatives is a lot like taking a picture with a camera, only the scene is in the enlarger, light is shining through it down on the paper and you have to decide how long to expose it to make it just right. Unless you have some automatic system, you rarely get it right the first time. It usually takes a few attempts to get the exposure just right. If there is too little light the picture is all washed out. Too much and you either have all dark or the contrast is so high it looks like an inkblot.

Dad taught us a method of reducing the number of attempts it takes: When underexposed, double the time you exposed it. If that makes it overexposed, cut the time difference in half. So, if five seconds was not enough, you would then try 10 seconds. If that was too much, split the difference and go with seven and a half, and so on. By doing this, you could save several attempts from the old add-a-second-and-try-again routine.

As it turns out, this is some sort of standard mathematical process for determining a solution. I’m sure it has a name. It’s probably named after some Greek mathemetician. I’ll just call it Dad’s algorithm.

Another place where controlled correction is essential is in driving. For instance, if you accidentally allow your right wheel to fall off the pavement on to the shoulder, you have to handle the situation just right or you’re in trouble. If you jerk the wheel back to the left, you can cause the momentum of the car to result in flipping the car across the right wheel and rolling over and over. However, if you move too slowly, you’ll chew the inside of your right tires to pieces and cause an eventual blowout.

The right way to correct in this case is to travel down the road a little while you get your bearings. Next, look for a level place to re-enter the roadway. If you can’t find one, “bump” the car up on to the pavement by using a gentle, yet firm, slight, turn to the left until the wheel is on the pavement, then turn back straight.

In each of these cases, the main idea is to correct… but gently. Overcorrecting others can really cause some nasty problems. If you don’t believe me, then next time someone close to you makes a little mistake, try jumping up and down and yelling and screaming at them that they did it ALL WRONG! Then stand back and see if they point a gun at you. (Warning: First read the Wizbit about guns!)

Although it’s very hard to pinpoint exactly when and where I learned some things from Dad, it is very obvious that I did learn them. One example is the tendency I have to repair things that break. I don’t think Dad ever came out and said “If it’s broken, fix it” but he did show me that over and over.

I really don’t remember the first thing I saw Dad repair. I’m sure I was too young to notice. He probably repaired my crib while I watched. He seemed to be able to fix anything. He worked on toys, cars, houses, doors, floors, bicycles, radios, televisions… nothing was sacred. He would attempt to fix just about anything that was broken… and he usually did fix it.

So having seen with my own eyes that it was OK to take things apart, I began early to do just that. My mother was often disappointed at my over zealous curiosity that managed to destroy the toys they bought that used to work. Usually, there were no more than two or three parts left over when I finished “working” on them.

I have somehow managed to end up with Dad’s ability to size up a situation, determine what is needed and charge ahead with full steam until the problem is fixed. That’s not to say that I am always successful, or that I never have problems. However, I do usually manage to be able to make a repair that works. Sometimes it looks kind of “rigged-up” and will not last, but the item will work (at least for a while).

In my attempt to recall just what Dad taught me about repairs, I remember one thing he did say: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” (pardon my Southern). At first, this seems like the obvious, but look closer.

When you attempt to fix things that aren’t broken, you risk breaking them in the process. Many a toy had to be thrown out after I “fixed” them as a child. Carried a little farther, most things that are working are better left alone unless you are aware of some preventive maintenance that must be done.

Some things are actually made worse by repairing a part of them. An example is replacing a part that is one of a set. Brakes, for instance, have a little cylinder at each wheel that pushes the brakes into action. If you repair one of these (and not the others), then it is too strong and will cause the others to burst.

Relationships are often forced into quick “fixes” that aren’t necessary, too. People think that divorce is a fix for problems in a marriage. However, love is the only real fix. Divorces are just broken homes. You cannot really fix something without all the parts. It just won’t ever work right again.

Maybe as I get older, I’m learning more how to tell the difference in something that is broken and needs fixing, and something that is working that needs a little attention. It must be very hard for some people to tell the difference. I’m glad that Dad started teaching me early to learn that valuable skill.

Throughout my childhood, I tried a lot of things. I still consider myself sort of a “Jack of all trades and master of none.” Often, when trying something new, I would become frustrated because I wasn’t very good at the thing I was doing. Dad would reassure me with the simple phrase: “If you want to get better, you have to practice!”

It sounds simple, I know, but knowing that it is true and actually being willing to follow through to get there are two completely different things. I took piano lessons for a while when I was in elementary school. If you have taken piano lessons, or live with someone who has taken them, you know that it requires hours each week of practicing. Each little run or song has to be played over and over and over… until you get it right every time. It’s that practice that makes the difference.

The story is often told of a great pianist who was complemented by a fan. The woman, obviously overwhelmed, commented: “Sir, you play so beautifully… I would give my life to be able to play like you do!”

The accomplished pianist replied, “Madam, I did.”

Being good at something rarely comes easy. It requires really working hard at it until you get it right every time. You don’t have to look far in the sports arena to see this put into play every day. One might think that professional players have finally “arrived” when they get the multi-million dollar contracts to play for us. But if you look closely, you’ll find them on the practice field as much as (or more than) the would-be-hopefuls who plan to take their place one day.

Of course, this little wizbit comes in handy for just about everything you do. Learning to drive, play any sport or game, using computers, being a parent… whenever you’re in need of getting better at anything, practice is the answer.

Our society is filled with get-rich-quick schemes, promises of instant gratification, easy-way-out programs, and any number of promises that you can have it NOW! But most of these are just scams to get your money. What it really boils down to is the empty promise that you really don’t have to practice to get better. And it’s just not true!

It is true that there are ways to make your practice more effective, but the idea that practice is not necessary is always counter-productive. Dad knew it, and now, I know it. If you really want to learn to be good at something, you’d better get ready to practice it. Otherwise, you’ll just be another amateur who is only mediocre.

The next time you realize that you’re not as good at something as you would like to be, just remember that if you really want to get better, you have to practice.

Not all of Dad’s Wizbits about work were really deep or life-changing. There were many about work and all of them have helped me. One such wizbit came on a summer afternoon when I was about 14 years old. We lived about two miles from the Tennessee River where we tried to spend time boating and swimming as a family.

I had a friend who lived even closer to the river and had his own little boat with a motor. This particular day, he had asked me to join him in his boat to go out on the river. I was excited, to say the least, because I had never been out on a boat without adults. This could possibly mean I was growing up! I went to Mother and Dad to ask permission (or more likely, to tell them that I was going) and was confronted with a dilemma. It seems I had not yet gotten around to mowing the front yard and it was MY TURN. I begged and pled with them to allow me to do it later but to no avail. The law had been laid down.

I had to get my work done before I was allowed to play. I was crushed, but, determined! I went out and mowed that yard more quickly than it had ever been mowed before. I practically flew over the grass, bouncing the mower over rocks and roots, barely touching the grass in some places. When I was done, I presented the results to receive my “ticket” to boating and went on my way.

This was just one of the times that I was taught this valuable lesson, but for some reason, it stands out in my mind. For whatever reason, I’m glad it has stood so well. Throughout my life, it has always been difficult to keep this principle. I often consider going out to “play” when there is work to be done, but whenever I do, the work keeps me from enjoying the play as much.

Of course, there are times when play must be put before some work. There are times when we, as parents, must play with our children when there is laundry, dishes, cleaning, or any number of things that need to be done. And even children need to play sometimes when there are “work” things that they need to do. But ultimately, I think the point that Dad was making was that work is important, too, and it cannot be ignored just to please ourselves.

This world is full of the implication that we can and must have instant gratification. It simply is not the case. We neither need nor deserve this instant satisfaction. It is something that is pounded into our subconscious through television, print and radio advertising as well as from well-meaning peers. But true satisfaction and gratification only come through planning and working toward your goal.

Yes, there are ways that one can accomplish much through very little work. But the majority of these times, the success is not appreciated. The successful person often will not know how to appreciate the instant success and will “blow” it on more instantly gratifying items and end up with little or nothing. Work is an integral part of success. Even the “play” we afford ourselves is enjoyed even more when it follows a good work session.

Work is not the most important thing by any means. Neither is play, for that matter. There must be an equilibrium between the two. Dad knew that and did his best to teach us that valuable lesson.