Empty Mental Toolboxes
Letter Zero 23
Dear friend,
A couple months ago I nervously went to check on the progress of an irrigation specialist in my back yard.
“All done,” he claimed.
Apparently my face held hints of the horror I was trying to suppress as I looked at the pipes protruding from my house at odd angles. A project that should have taken a couple hours had collapsed like a crushed can. I never thought it was possible to physically feel the pain of pipes, but for two days I was tortured as this worker inflicted more abuse on that copper than any sprinkler system should ever have to endure.
I’ve reflected on this project often. Why did it go so horribly wrong? How could a man with half a century of experience remain so incapable of quality work? Here’s what I’ve come up with...
Tools. No, I am not going to suggest that better tools would have helped save my sprinkler system. And yet, the answer is there in the tools, hiding in plain sight. The important thing isn’t the tools themselves, it is the concepts they represent. Get that right and a person can weave quality into their work with even the most primitive of instruments.
We get hung up on tools, mistaking the abilities of our accessories with the capabilities of our minds. That’s how my repair man can run a seemingly successful landscaping business despite lacking a grasp of basic principals. And if that guy doesn’t understand tools, there’s a chance you could use a refresher, too. So today’s letter is a tutorial. I’m not going to tell you how to use these tools, everybody knows that. No, I am going to explain, why. And that’s really the most important part.
Regardless of the project, you really only need to master five types of tools. Learn to master the following concepts and your mental toolbox will never be empty.
1. Tape Measure and Level
When you are starting a project, you should evaluate the current variables with accuracy. The range of this tool typically goes from 1/16th of an inch to 25 feet. Any bigger and the scope of your project is probably too large. Any smaller and you are wasting time measuring things that won’t make a difference.
While the measuring tape confirms the inner dimensions, a level calibrates the object to its surroundings. Nothing is self-contained, there are always external forces whose gravitational pull require alignment. Get it wrong and you will be stuck with something that meets the technical requirements but forever nags at you because it feels slightly off.
2. Pencil and a Small Notebook
It may seem old-fashioned, but a small book for taking notes is a valuable tool that often gets overlooked. As you take measurements, jot them down. Make a list of the parts you need. Draw a crude sketch of the project, noting the critical points that will require extra care. People get intimidated by drawing, thinking that an ugly sketch reflects poorly on them. But the point of a sketch is not to demonstrate your draftsmanship, it is a way to quickly capture the key parts of your plan. If you can do that with a square and squiggly lines, all the better.
This is the creative phase and it tends to be the most enjoyable part of the work because your mind is free to explore. You solve mysteries. You create castles and cathedrals in your mind, rebuilding and remodeling until your awareness settles on something that might work.
At the end of the project you can use your notebook to cross off your to-dos, double check that you’ve completed all the steps, and perhaps make a note about what you would do differently next time.
3. Screwdrivers and Wrenches
As you get deeper into a project, disassembly is usually required. Screws and bolts tend to be under-appreciated because they can feel like obstacles between you and the inner-workings of the machine. As a result they get ripped out and thrown aside. Then when it is time for re-assembly, the wrong screw gets put in the wrong holes, washers are forgotten, and you inevitably have one more hole than you have remaining screws.
Because of their ubiquity, you can forget that screws are extremely precise machines by themselves. The precision of wrenches and screwdrivers are designed to match the precision of nuts and bolts. Someone who shows up to a job without a good set of screwdrivers and wrenches probably won’t respect the tiny parts he will encounter on the job.
Note that I didn’t say “power tools.” An amazing thing about your body is your ability to extend yourself into your tools. When you are working on a screw, you can feel the pressures at the tip of the screwdriver. You sense the elasticity of the metal and the resistance it is experiencing. An electric drill strips you of finesse just as it strips the screws and precise edges of whatever it touches. Master the screwdriver first, then move on to the power tools with caution and a desire to retain the sensitivity of touch you have honed.
4. Hammer and Pliers
As odd as it may sound, the hammer and pliers are inverse versions of each other. Impact and compression are how we move things that require more strength than our hands possess. And what is a tool really, but an extension of your hand, a machine that amplifies your ability to push, pull, and twist objects? They appear to be blunt instruments, but they require surprising dexterity. Swing the hammer too hard or squeeze the pliers with the wrong pressure and you cause damage. The magnification of a clumsy movement will blow holes right through your walls or strip the grip right off your steel.
Unlike when you are working with screwdrivers and wrenches, the hammers and pliers operate outside the realm of precision and delicate pressures. Here you are responsible for the form that the machine takes as you bend and pound the materials in a dance that ends when your mind is satisfied with the shape you have forced into existence.
5. Sharp Blades
There comes a time in every project where you need to make cuts, points of no return, moments of truth where you only have one chance to get it right. These are the situations where you need absolute confidence and sharp blades. The best advice any father can give his children are the four words, “measure twice, cut once.”
When it is time to cut, there is nothing more energy-draining than a dull blade. You’ve done all the measuring, built enough confidence that you are ready to cut, then you have to stop everything to sharpen or replace your blade. Often we proceed anyway hoping the dull blade doesn’t become an issue. As a result we end up with rough, inaccurate cuts or perhaps injury. Keep spare blades handy and make it a habit to replace dull blades the moment you recognize them.
6. A Small Toolbox
I was going to leave this as optional but it’s really not. If you respect your tools and the ideas they represent, they will have a permanent home in your toolbox. You will never be caught unprepared. The person who doesn’t have the right tool handy resorts to misusing whatever is nearby, banging on things with rocks, and prying things open with sticks.
Tools are easily misplaced or lost, especially in the rush to leave the worksite. At the end of the project it is important to put your tools back in their cases. Take inventory. Replace the dull blades. Wipe off the grease, mud, blood, and sweat that has accumulated. This ritual may seem unnecessary, but it resets yourself and prepares you for the next project.
Today your toolset is probably digital, but is it really all that different? You still have equivalents to these physical tools. You still need to assess the project before you start working, measure the important elements and make a loose plan. You need to work on the materials, pushing and pulling until the mechanisms match your intention. You need to work with precision, feeling the surfaces bend to your will. You have to make cuts. These are all activities that happen in your mind first, not in the software.
Okay, so let’s say you’ve mastered these mental tools. How do you know when your work is done? As I stood there, dumbstruck by the shoddy work that the sprinkler repairman was willing to put his signature on as, “All done,” I thought of the many projects I helped my dad with as a boy. At certain points in a job we would stand back and evaluate our work. Most of the time, with a little distance and through squinted eyes, you can see flaws. You go back and refine your work, fix the rough edges that nag at your sense of pride. No matter how good you get, there is always room for improvement. Even the most basic of tools require a lifetime to fully master.
To his credit, the sprinkler repair man saw the dissatisfaction in my expression. Reading my mind, his next words were, “I’ll come back Saturday and recut a couple of those pipes so they don’t look so bad.” I paid him and thanked him for his effort. We both knew I would never see him again.
Tools don’t do the work for us. They are extensions of our mind, and without the proper mindset we can have the latest expensive gear but we might as well be banging on pipes with sticks and stones.
I’ll write again next Sunday. Stay creative.
Your friend,
Adrian
P.S. Here’s a bonus piece of advice. Once you realize you are working with someone who hasn’t mastered the basic mental tools for the job, pay them for their work and let them go. Don’t keep hiring them to bungle additional projects. If the person is young and sensitive you might consider mentoring them, but otherwise you should find someone who cares deeply about the quality of the work.