Pulling Out All the Stops

This is just a short, cute one. Not a ton of persuasion or communication here—other than my recommendation to write things down. Check it out!

“Pulling out all the stops” is an idiomatic expression. (A phrase where the individual meaning of each word does not match the understood meaning of the phrase.) If you are pulling out all of the stops, you intend to devote 100% of your efforts to an endeavor.

Stops are Not Roadblocks

There is a lot to learn as you examine this expression. Most people think the “stops” are circumstances that might “stop” the plan. Makes sense! If you are planning and actually list every possible challenge that could derail or stop your plan from becoming successful, you can focus on eliminating those pitfalls by pulling out all of the stops. Smart!

As I touched on in my book, How to NOT Lose Friends and Fight with Other People, Ben Franklin would list those stops, or negatives he could foresee. He’d write them down. He also listed all the positives. Seeing his lists written out offered a different perspective. He had more information to fuel his decision making, and success was often the result.

Here’s where the expression was born:  

The Hammond B-3 Organ had all the bells and whistles one would expect in a church organ, including drawbars. We called them stops. It was small and light enough to be found onstage in live performances. I played in a club band with Tony Aiardo. He had a Hammond B-3 that weighed well over 300 pounds. There were times with 4 of us carrying Tony’s B-3 up a flight of stairs I felt my arms coming right out of their sockets.

The Hammond B-3

The organ had 2 keyboards, a full set of foot petals, and could be connected to a Leslie amp and speaker that rotated to create unique organ sounds.

Each of the two keyboards had 18 stops, or drawbars. When all the drawbars were pushed all the way in, pressing down the keys would generate no sound. Pull out one drawbar a little and a faint sound of the note being played could be heard. With each stop or drawbar that was pulled out, more frequencies were added—and it got louder! For the most possible volume and sound you would pull out all 36 stops. All organists pull out all their stops if they want the most volume and sound possible. That is where the phrase, “Pulling out all the stops,” was born. If you are pulling out all the stops in a venture, you are about to make a big noise!