Author: msommella

“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:

1. I know nothing about doing those tasks, therefore I cant really talk intelligently about them.
2. I’ve seen and read about them done, so I have some knowledge and open to learning more.
3. 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…

 

Work a job you love and you will never work a day in your life.  We’ve all heard this old adage, I personally think this statement couldn’t be more wrong. Well, maybe it just needs some refining.   I understand the utopian theory behind the statement but there should be a caveat added to it to make it relevant, or maybe even an entire rephrasing.  Lets try this phrase instead- If one performs a task with the intention of obtaining money then it is money that is the only objective.  Instead, perform tasks (work, job, chores) because you want to and figure out how to make money another way.  lets discuss…

A fair amount of people today work to obtain money to afford the lifestyle they want, need, or are accustom to (the idea of what shapes these lifestyles is an entirely different set of thoughts..)  Bottom line is we need money to survive if you want to participate in today’s societal norms.  I know there are outliers that are self sustainable and have figured out how operate outside of societal norms without (or with very little) money, but I am not talking about them.  The objective of this commentary is not how one obtains money or what they do with it, but the fact that it is a necessary evil today.

Once obtaining money is the objective of any task, that task becomes a job, a job with the sole purpose of obtaining money; and that is never truly fulfilling.  Some folks use a coping skill in which they convince themselves they are doing something they love, and the work they perform on a daily basis is challenging, rewarding and gratifying!  This may be the case for some, I am not disputing that.  When this coping skill is employed, in order for the job to remain a positive experience, the end user must experience those emotions at least 20% of the time.  Think of the song by Lady Ga Ga ” million reasons”  she talks about the majority of the time her boyfriend sucks, he’s given her a million reasons to leave him, but he just has to give her one reason to stay.  Same thing (kind of) with a job that kinda sucks (btw they all do)… why does a job that sucks 75% of the time retain people and those people hold on to the minimal redeeming qualities as reasons to stay?  Well, that job provides money in return for sucking out your soul.  Money that is needed to pay for stuff.  What stuff?  mortgage/rent, food, medical needs, material things (stuff you want or need), vacations (which are needed because your everyday life sucks due to your job most likely).  I know by now if you have read this far you are thinking, this does not accurately depict me (I mean you).  You might have a job you love, you work in a field you’re passionate about, its super rewarding, you even get paid a shit load of money to do it.  It doesn’t even feel like work because you’re so passionate about the work you do.  This commentary might not be about you… or maybe it is and you just haven’t gotten the point yet….

So being you have this amazeballs job that provides you with this sense of fulfillment and challenges your intellectual mind daily, hourly, fuck it every minute!!  This job also pays you stupid amounts of cash, so much that you work your balls off so hard (mental work, not physical) that you need serious R&R and vacations (lots of them).  These vacations are necessary to reground yourself and repurpose on the things that really make life worth living, like family, friends, activities you love, sunsets, sunrises, nature, etc…hold up.. you love the job, but need time away to focus on the really important things in life?  You find it hard to do both at the same time?  why because this job you love so much is paying you to shut them out and focus on the work.  secondly, what happens if you are replaced for some reason at this job or it goes away for some reason.  You created this life (that you are accustom to) that requires a decent amount of MONEY to sustain.  Think your really doing the work because you love it?

Still not you?  another scenario- you have this fucktastic business, it pays you great, fulfills your needs, best part is you own it.. its your business!!  you can work when you want, you employ people, you are responsible for others making a living!!!  hold up, you’re responsible for other peoples reliance on money now.  That’s a lot of responsibility….I am not saying that responsibility is bad, quite the opposite, I think people should run toward responsibility not away from it. The point I am making is that money is still the objective even if you own a business that you are passionate about. The difference is that now you are responsible for you’re employees and their familes too..  this of course only holds true if you actually have a soul and care about people.  It’s funny how so many businesses make decisions about laying off, becoming efficient, downsizing, etc.. based on the bottom line (how much PROFIT/MONEY THEY MAKE!) , not taking into account the fact that people will ultimately lose their source of income.  yay for me (business owner) sucks for you (jobless worker).

let me get back on track, I started veering off in another direction…

I will rephrase the purpose statement again and read it slowly.  Perform a task with the intention of obtaining money and it is money that is the only objective.  Perform tasks (work, job, chores) because you want to, figure out how to make money another way.

I don’t have an answer on how to do this… its merely an observation.  not even sure if its accurate.  But its how I feel about doing work.  Please allow me to get personal for a moment.. I left a job where I worked for a very stable company.  Was there for about 14 years and held various positions.  The Job paid well, nice retirement plan (company match on IRA contributions) and decent amount of vacation time.  It checked a lot of boxes when evaluating job favorability by todays standards.  there was something missing though.  None of my coworkers were happy, I wasn’t happy.  the mission statement of the company put employee happiness and fulfillment at the center of the all its decisions!  how can this be?  as in most companies, that is not the case in reality.  Putting people at the center of all decisions is not possible when the goal of any corporation is profit.  its impossible, just cannot happen.  In truth it would be fiscally irresponsible to manage a business that way!  I am not condemning the company or corporate structure, I just made a decision one day to not be a part of it any more.  so what did I do next?  I went to work in a place I spend most of my time outside of working hours (and sometimes during working hours), at an ice rink!!  I play a lot of hockey and I’m crazy passionate about the sport, culture and the people I have met through the game.  I made my first decision to leave my last job (the good stable unfulfilling one) based on personal happiness, not monetary.  I made my next decision, to go work at an ice rink based on personal happiness, not monetary gains as well.  This was a lifestyle change.  A big one.  I cut my household income in HALF!  I consider myself a logical thinker as well as a planner, so before I made this decision I understood that in order to make this work I would have to be ok with modifying my lifestyle (spending habits).  I needed to be able to make spending decisions based on value to which it brought to my happiness not frivolous spending.  I have modified my expectations and have found I’m ok with eliminating the things I have ultimately done without!  The first observation I made when altering my spending habits is that money is a drug… a powerful one.  we feel we need to make more money so we can buy things, buying these things help fill a void in our life.  If your not happy, just buy something! it makes you feel better for a moment… this is a consumer culture.  this culture is engrained in the fabric of our society.  we are force fed it from birth!  we are also told that we should be a part of it.  Its normal, everyone is doing it!  I’m gonna put a bow on this commentary right here.  I’ll  pause for a moment and let this sink in, actually I need to get ready to go to the rink on my day off, I’m playing hockey.. I actually playeveryday now.  I also happen to get paid when I go to the rink, but that’s not why I go. I go to the rink because I love being around a place that brings me enjoyment.  Also  I get fulfillment through the job I do because I can elevate the quality of the rink itself through proper maintenance of the place.  The maintenance of the facility is a tangible thing that translates into enjoyment not only for me and my friends, but for the many people that use the place year round.  I do it because I enjoy it, they just happen to pay me…ill start to worry when I think to myself “I wish I got paid more…”