Be the Hammer in Life, not the Nail

One of the best pieces of advice I had gotten in the last 4 years was to think of myself as the hammer rather than the nail. Let me explain with a personal example:

It was the same 1pm hour each Thursday. I would be training David, a 65 year old gentleman during one of the busiest loudest hours at the facility. This hour drove me crazy sometimes because a)he was hard of hearing b)didn’t like the music being played c)I am not the loudest person to yell over what was very loud music and d) to make it worse, he had a list of injuries needing attention that required a high level of communication through speaking. Each week I felt like I was giving him a disservice because of the communication barrier. I began to become frustrated during the hour and I know he sensed it. This was not a good situation to be in because I let the frustration get the better of me and after each hour I would be disappointed for letting myself become that impatient and angry.
I spoke to my manager Curtis at the time and told him how I could not do that hour anymore. He simply said that in each situation that life presents we have the choice to be a hammer or the nail. This made total sense. I can be beaten each and every Thursday by the situation making me the nail or can turn the situation around and be the hammer and making Thursdays my nail. It was all about creating SOLUTIONS. My choices were: Turn the music down, go outside for the hour or change his time to a less busy time. These were such simple ideas that I should have thought of long ago. After a few weeks David and I found another time that was less busy and actually suited his personal schedule much better than Thursdays at 1pm. Less people, lighter music, we go outside sometimes and we have both benefited from the change. He enjoys the quiet, I can coach him effectively and I look better than that person who was frustrated all the time.

What situations have you been in lately where you felt as though you were a nail? What solutions can you come up with to make you the hammer? An important thing to take away from this lesson is that each one of us in life has the ability to make a CHOICE. Choose not to be the nail. Choose to be a hammer making each negative situation under your control. You will experience a greater level of satisfaction and be more effective with moving yourself forward in life.