The most unconventional piece of advice that I’ve heard came from my college professor on the first day of an advanced class on the physics of static structures.

My professor, an old British guy who had been teaching forever, was clear to point out that the textbook is a great resource, and that the complex math we would learn has its place, but that his single most important piece of the advice was the following – shove on things.

He recommended that we got in the habit of testing the response of the everyday items around us. Push on a table and see how far it flexes. Slowly put your weight on things to see if they can support you. Break sticks in different ways to see if you can predict where, and how, it will snap.

We all laughed when he said it, but that piece of advice has proven to be one of the most important things I learned in college.

When I’m building something now, I never calculate the weight limit based on the geometry and the strength of the materials. No one does for DIY projects. We make judgements. We use intuition.

And that skill can only come from practical experience. After pushing on enough wooden surfaces, you get a good feel for how well something can support weight. Sure, an understanding of the fundamental physics is helpful, but that’s not what translates to everyday life. It’s all about the shoving.

-Brandon