“When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.”
Most of us have had occasion to (or even reluctantly needed to) put a hammer to a nail, which makes the above analogy so relatable. However, as the phrase suggests, there is usually more than one way to skin a cat, or more accurately, there is an impulse to turn to solutions we are comfortable with or that have worked in the past, even if these solutions have become outdated, flawed or inappropriate in trying to solve the problem. To complete the analogy, imagine using the same hammer when you now need to drive a screw.