here is an old story of a boilermaker who was hired to fix a huge steamship boiler system that was not working well. After listening to the engineer’s description of the problems and asking a few questions, he went to the boiler room. He looked at the maze of twisting pipes, listened to the thump of the boiler and the hiss of escaping steam for a few minutes, and felt some pipes with his hands. Then he hummed softly to himself, reached into his overalls and took out a small hammer, and tapped a bright red valve, once. Immediately the entire system began working perfectly, and the boilermaker went home. When the steamship owner received a bill for $1,000 he complained that the boilermaker had only been in the engine room for fifteen minutes, and requested an itemized bill.

This is what the boilermaker sent him:

Many of life’s problems can be solved just by knowing where to tap. Sometimes the smallest of changes can have the greatest effect. Other mechanics might have tried to replace part and do all sorts of other crazy things when all that is needed is the right knowledge of the problem. I wonder sometimes if I am doing all these crazy things trying to fix myself, when all I need is to make a small change.

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