#429 Hammer. Will you swing away?

Ever notice how a nail never moves until someone swings? That’s the spark behind this fast, focused exploration of leadership, momentum, and meaningful action. We take a simple hammer and turn it into a working model for progress: contact creates change. If you’ve been waiting for clarity, motivation, or perfect timing, this conversation offers a practical reset—pick the right target, take the first strike, and learn from the rebound.

We unpack why leaders can’t outsource the hard parts: engaging uncertainty, making decisions under partial information, and setting a cadence that converts ideas into outcomes. Instead of hoping a problem resolves itself, we talk through how to choose a precise point of impact, strike with intention, and adjust with feedback. You’ll hear the difference between raw effort and aligned effort, why small consistent swings outperform rare heroic ones, and how to spot the nails that truly hold your team’s structure together. Along the way, we challenge the quiet habits of avoidance that stall careers and cultures: deferred conversations, fuzzy priorities, and wishful plans without owners.

By the end, you’ll have a simple checklist for motion that matters: name the nail, line up the angle, commit to the swing, and protect the rhythm. The hammer is only ordinary until you use it with purpose—then it becomes a framework for building trust, shipping work, and shaping culture. Ready to stop waiting and start striking? Hit play, share the nail you’re committing to today, and invite a teammate to do the same. If this message gave you a push, subscribe, leave a quick review, and pass it to someone who needs their first swing.

Chapters

• 0:00 Framing The Hammer Metaphor
• 0:31 Contact Creates Change
• 0:57 The Work Of Leadership
• 1:08 Call To Action And Reflection
• 1:52 Closing And Listener Invitations

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the Growth Instigators Hotline. I'm Aaron Havens, your host and growth coach. This is message 429. This week we are talking about a hammer, an everyday normal object that we can assign deeper meaning to, something that can grab our attention and represent something bigger. Welcome to part four of five as we dive into lessons we can glean from a hammer. Okay, let's get right to the point today. My friends, that nail does not move without contact. Yeah, the nail won't sink on its own. Leaders must engage. Change only happens when you make meaningful contact. Oh man, as much as I'd like to show up and things have already been accomplished for me, nope, not even on the best of days. This is why leadership is so important. We make the important decisions, we build, we go into the unknown, we strike the nails. So, what in your life have you been hoping would happen without your effort? Gosh, wouldn't that be nice? As hard as it is, that thing, that thing needs you to pick up a hammer and swing to go for it. So, will you go for it? Don't wait any longer. Only you can make that decision. The question is, will you? That, my friend, is how a common everyday object can instigate growth. I'd like to hear some more of your observations. What growth lessons can you apply to a hammer? For those of you calling the Growth Instigators Hotline, I'd love to hear your thoughts after the beep. For those of you listening in on our podcast, visit growth instigators.com and send me your thoughts. Let's never see a hammer the same.