Keith was 35. He had been a joiner/carpenter for 20 years.
The roof-trusses were in position and we set about strapping them together with long, 4”x1” straps and lots of 4” nails. In less than an hour my arms were too weary to be of any use in terms of knocking in 4” nails and so I resorted to following Keith around, supplying fresh batches of nails, providing the odd limb as prop or clamp and making sure I laughed heartily at all the jokes. I watched Keith knocking in 4” nails the rest of that day and most of the next.
His technique was thus: hold the nail in position, tap it just hard enough so that it goes in just deep enough to holds its position; follow this up with two mighty swipes to send the nail home; finish it off with a hit that sent the head of the nail just below the surface of the strap. Four hits; sometimes five because before the big hits he would occasionally take two to make sure the nail was safely held in position.
He hit the nails from every conceivable angle; sometimes hitting horizontally, sometimes vertically and all angles between; sometimes stretching, sometimes bending, sometimes on one leg or kneeling. He hit those nails all day long with just the normal rest breaks and the jokes never stopped coming.
His “timing” was pure. Always just enough force for the type of hit required, delivered smoothly with the minimum effort required and with unceasing accuracy: barely a nail missed all day. To look at, his hammer stroke was elegant and natural. Although no sort of athlete, he hardly tired through the whole day.
Later that day we were playing snooker and I asked him where he had learnt to play snooker. He had been taught by the old men down at the Institute when he was a teenager. I asked him where he had learnt to nail. He had never been taught: he’d been nailing for over 20 years, it was just part of his job. His cueing action was one of the worst I had seen.
We learn to “time” when two conditions are apparent: 1. we have to apply a specific force for a desired outcome and 2. we have the opportunity to do it over and over again.
Applying a force is an energy using activity and so our bodies are designed to find the most energy efficient method of applying force because to the body energy is a precious commodity. To find the most efficient way of applying force – “timing” – our bodies simply need us to repeat the action enough times. In other words, to learn how to “time” naturally we need NOT to be taught.
The world seems to divide into two sets: those who “time” naturally (about 10%) and those who don’t. Those who don’t, can learn to “time” naturally under certain circumstances – Keith and nailing, and can be prevented from ever learning how to “time” by well intentioned coaching – Keith and snooker.
Those who “time” naturally can lose their “timing” when they start to believe that hitting something with an accurate force is achieved by NOT doing what they have always done – lots of professional golfers and putting.
