“If your only tool is a hammer, all of your problems will be nails”.
Can we talk about his quote for a minute? My interpretation of this quote has multiple layers. The quote is so simple in its construction yet in my opinion has the ability to deliver layered cautionary suggestion on how to remain cognitively aware of the world around us, as well as provide a simple and meaningful suggestion on how we should utilize the proper “tools” for each situation instead of always relying on one. In my interpretation, the use case as well as the “situation” can vary from a persons personal perspective, their background, one’s experience and knowledge on subject matter, utilization of coping skills, ones comfort level in new situations, as well as ones ability to empathize or adapt to new situations.
Lets start with a quick definition of the tool in question. What is a hammer? A hammer is usually a tool with a heavy metal head mounted at right angles at the end of a handle, used for jobs such as breaking things and driving in nails. A hammer is a great tool to have in your tool kit. Its even completely necessary for jobs involving nails. You can drive nails using other objects, but the proper tool for the job is a hammer…it’s a tool that is specifically made for the purpose of breaking things and driving nails into objects. Hammers are engineered to withstand the force necessary to do both jobs. Using the back end of a screwdriver to Hammer a nail into a piece of wood may work, but eventually you will ruin the screwdriver and not to mention the amount of time it will take to perform the task. The screwdriver is not the correct tool to use in that instance, but if you only had a hammer… All those nails could be hit swiftly, precisely and your tool will stay in perfect working order because that is the job it is meant to do! I am not suggesting that tools cannot be repurposed and we can find other ways to utilize them (that is a different conversation all together). Keep in mind that the tool used to drive nails into objects has evolved as well. Construction itself has evolved to an extent. This is not to say that hammers are no longer used, but there is a time and a place for them. Not every nail driving job today requires the use of a hammer. Humans have figured out ways to increase productivity through the use of advanced mechanical tools. In a massive job requiring hammers and nails, some carpenters utilize nail guns instead of a trusty hammer. This is not to suggest that this same carpenter doesn’t have a hammer in his/her tool box. That carpenter probably has a hammer hanging on his/her tool belt at all times. It’s still a useful, necessary tool, it just has a time and place to be used.
How ignorant of me to just talk about carpenters using hammers. I apologize to any of the brain surgeons out there who use hammers on daily basis. Well, that would be a silly apology. Brain surgeons don’t use hammers, I don’t think. I’m actually pretty sure that brain surgeons would be completely irresponsible if they fixed your noodle up with a hammer. Talking about brains surgery and hammers just sounds kind of archaic. I picture two cave men. one laying down and the other standing over him with a hammer ready to hit his head. as the hammer reaches its zenith before he starts the downward strike to the other cave-mans head, he yells out “this might hurt a bit”. No shit it might hurt… wrong tool for that job buddy. congrats you just gave the grave diggers more work.
But back to the original concept, think about the carpenter whose only tool is a hammer. What tasks can he/she perform? No matter what job site this carpenter is working on, the only job relegated to this young Thor is hitting nails. The fact that he/she only has a hammer and is really only useful for one task, he/she might end up only relating TO that one task. This carpenter has only experienced hitting nails. All his/her conversations are all about hitting nails, with the occasional breaking stuff. Try having a conversation with this carpenter about cutting lumber, measuring beams, or drawing plans for a structure. with no experience in any of these field these conversations can go in a number of ways, I have 3 listed below:
- I know nothing about doing those tasks, therefore I cant really talk intelligently about them.
- I’ve seen and read about them done, so I have some knowledge and open to learning more.
- I’ve seen and read about them so I am an expert.
You may or may not be wondering at this point, when is he going to relate this to something other than the obvious use of hammers… Lets imagine for a moment a young person who grows up in a household where the adults deal with any conflicts in a violent manner. Person A does something that person B is upset/offended/doesn’t like. Person B’s response is a double down on aggression to Person A. Person A will either process the aggression as – I shouldn’t do this again because B doesn’t like it, but most likely the scenario will play out in a circular conflict where there is resentment and never an understanding, just aggression met with more aggression between both person A and person B. The young person, lets call him/her Person C, has witnessed this form of conflict resolution its entire childhood and subsequently created certain coping skills to deal with these types of situations. What type of conflict resolution or lack there of do you think Person C will use in his or her own life? I know this example is tip toeing the line between a nature vs nurture debate….sort of but not really. I understand that it is debatable regarding people forming their own personalities usually independent of their surrounding and there are people that will react to situations differently based on their own personality. Consider this example as one that is strictly a commentary on learned behavior. Confrontation can become be a default coping mechanism for this person due to the environment in which he or her lived during his/her formative years. Person C was only supplied with a “Hammer”, not any other tool.
The above situation is just one example of how a persons learned traits and limited experience can trick them into thinking there is only tool for every job. If person C happens to be exposed to other forms of conflict resolution he/she may be able to pick and choose which on works best in each situation rather than always relying on the default style of anger and aggression. Can people be super creative and use the same tool for multiple jobs with success? Of course, but also keep in mind, success is a relative term based on ones own perspective and objective.
Hammers are great and powerful tools, but if I were a carpenter I think I would want to have more than just one tool on my tool belt. Especially if I was called on to perform brain surgery on the job site one day…