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\u2019m not sure, but I think that on every project, Dad would find at least one opportunity to tell his favorite \u201ctool joke.\u201d 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: \u201cDon\u2019t force it, get a bigger hammer!\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now I realize that \u201cDon\u2019t force it, get a bigger hammer\u201d is a lot deeper than it sounds at first. All of the physics involved with hammering enter into the phrase. It\u2019s more than a lesson in hammering, it\u2019s a lesson in life itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 \u201cregular\u201d hammering away at a problem, we\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having the right size, weight and fit of hammer will make your job easier. You\u2019ll 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\u2019t hammer a nail with one blow? If you can drive it straight down and finish the job, that\u2019s what is important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2019ve done for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So when you get ready to do a job, whether it\u2019s with lumber or people, make sure you have the right hammer for the job. If you can\u2019t do the job with the hammer you have, you may have to consider getting a larger, more \u201cconfident\u201d hammer. Otherwise, you may end up pulverizing the stubborn nail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lately, when I get to work on something with Dad, we\u2019ll come up to a difficult situation and one of us will say: \u201cDon\u2019t force it…\u201d and the other will reply: \u201c… get a bigger hammer.\u201d Then we both smile or laugh and go on working. It\u2019s at that time, I think: \u201cThank you again, God, for Dad. I love to work with him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\u2019m not sure, but I think that on every project, Dad would find at least one opportunity to tell his favorite \u201ctool joke.\u201d It would usually … Continue reading “Don\u2019t Force it, Get a Bigger Hammer”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wizbitsfromdad.com\/wizbits\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wizbitsfromdad.com\/wizbits\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wizbitsfromdad.com\/wizbits\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wizbitsfromdad.com\/wizbits\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wizbitsfromdad.com\/wizbits\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wizbitsfromdad.com\/wizbits\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48,"href":"https:\/\/wizbitsfromdad.com\/wizbits\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions\/48"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wizbitsfromdad.com\/wizbits\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wizbitsfromdad.com\/wizbits\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wizbitsfromdad.com\/wizbits\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}