The tool used for the wrong job can make strength compensate for a poor choice.

Force is good at hiding a wrong decision. With enough effort a blunt blade still cuts, the wrong spanner still turns the bolt, and the job gets done in a way that looks like competence rather than a warning. What you paid was strain, time, and sometimes damage you will only find later. The effort feels virtuous, which is what keeps the underlying choice from being examined.

When something is unexpectedly hard, pause before pushing harder and ask whether you are holding the right tool. The same question works away from the workbench: for the difficult conversation held in the wrong medium, or the task done at the wrong hour.