All posts by Keith Thompson

Looking back

Career, Family, Life

Sometimes it is healthy to look back at your life. You don’t want to dwell there too long, but looking back in many cases brings a new appreciation to the present.

In my office, I have five little pieces of paper over my desk that were the 90 day goals for the five people involved with our company when I came on full time in May of 2007. I had just left my real job with a large company and loaded up my boxes and came to our little office on the McDonough Square. At the time, it was a pure land sale business, but we had dreams of starting a small hotel brokerage firm. Selling hotels was all I knew, and when I joined full time, we started the process of shifting to hospitality sales. That time was very scary for me, but it was also very special. We met for lunch the first day and I asked each person to list out their personal objectives for the next 90 days.

As I look at those five pieces of paper today, it almost brings tears to my eyes at the humble beginnings of Hotel AG nine years ago. I knew what I hoped the company would look like but getting all the pieces in place was a difficult undertaking.

What I am saying is that to go back and look at pictures or writings of your past can help balance you and can many times give you the needed perspective for your future. You do not want to dwell on the past to the point of losing your hope for the future by thinking all the best of your life has passed. Rather, looking at where you came from to get to where you are today can many times be a healthy exercise. Keep in mind that many of the inventions, start-ups, concepts and business ideas we use today were invented by people later in their life.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself.” KT

What story do you want to tell?

Family, Life

We all will have a story to tell about our life, and we get to choose how simple or how complicated we want that story to be. When I think of this subject, I think of athletes, pastors, public figures, politicians, movie stars and even friends I have had in the past that have destroyed their own story. See, when you are holding your grandchildren and telling them about your life, you would like to tell the truth and not have to leave parts out of the story.

There are so many stories of people who had great lives, great wealth, great recognition and great reputations that just could not hold it together. I think of two well-known evangelists from the past that not only messed up their life, but also the lives of all those around them. They literally made what the Bible calls “fools” of themselves. They had the anointing and favor of God and squandered it. In addition, we all know stories about politicians, movie stars, and athletes that had it all and then lost it all.

I believe the big four caused most of their failures: jealousy, greed, lust and strife.

Many times when these desires and emotion are in you, it causes you to make large life-changing mistakes. When I think of how many people I have seen that destroyed their lives, I also think of great examples I know. There is this one prominent male actor in Hollywood who has been married to his high school sweetheart for 35 years. He has four grown daughters that still look up their daddy as their hero. That is the kind of people that inspire a generation and leave a legacy after they are gone. So many today leave a wake of destruction that affects the people in their life and all those associated with them; it is all because they could not hold their life together.

When you see people after the fall, the one thing they can never buy back is their reputation. I remember one athlete who was at the top of the top of his professional sport when he was caught in a life-altering embarrassment. I remember telling the guys I work with that he will never get it back together in his sport. See, he was respected and looked up to, and I believe it was the respect he had for himself that enabled him to accomplish such great things. Once he lost the public’s respect, he lost self-respect and his professional career never got back on track. He simply lost his way.

The problem with this situation is you don’t know what you have lost until you can never get it back. I have seen many people try late in life to get respect back that they have lost. It breaks your heart to see them longing for and striving for something as simple as what they used to have for free.

Be aware of the decisions you make because they have a much more broad effect than just you. Many times it is the difference of your children gladly telling people you are their mother or father or being ashamed of it. There are way too many good examples to follow than to follow a bad one. KT

What is your handicap?

Life

In golf, the term handicap means the number of strokes you need to add to par to effectively equal out the playing field. Say that you normally shoot a 90 and you are playing with a scratch golfer that usually shoots a 72. Your handicap would be 18. That means that you can play with a much better golfer and be able to compete on score. So if the scratch golfer shoots a 74 and you shoot an 89, you would win the round of golf because after you added your 18 stroke handicap to the scratch golfer’s round of 74, that would equal 92. Assuming you shot an 89, you would win by 3 strokes. Complicated right? Well, that is golf.

In life, we all know what a visible or mental handicap looks like. The handicaps you cannot see are the ones hidden on the inside like fear, anxiety, intimidation, etc. These are just as much a handicap as an outward one. In some respect, the inward handicaps are almost as hard to overcome as the ones that present themselves in outward appearance.

Last night, I was watching the Barrett Jackson auto auction, which by the way, is the best show ever invented for guys. My lovely wife comes home and she wants to watch Dancing with the Stars, which is the best show ever invented for ladies. Because I love my wife, I was watching (and playing with the dog) Dancing with the Stars and they began to talk about this young man named Nyle DiMarco. He is a very accomplished and successful model, actor and activist. He actually reminds me of myself. . . Just kidding! Many believe he will win this season of Dancing with the Stars. The thing about Nyle is he is deaf and speaks through a sign language interpreter. His parents, grandparents and sibling are all deaf. What an amazing young man.

When you think about dancing you think about music and the beat of the sounds. He cannot hear any of this, yet he is perfectly on beat with his dancing, and it is amazing to watch him. He is so fluid, confident, smooth and accomplished in his movements. He literally brings the crowd to tears each time he dances. I suspect one of the reasons is because many people in the crowd (and maybe reading this blog) have let inward handicaps like fear and intimidation hold them back in life and they are witness to someone dancing who refused to be held back because of his handicaps.

The first and biggest decision we all have to make regarding handicaps, and yes, we all have them, is the decision to not let them hold us back in the show of life. KT

Your purpose

Life

Have you ever wondered where am I going and why am I here?

These are deep questions that I believe everyone asks from time to time in our life. We usually ask these questions when it seems life is in a routine and each day is like another.

I want to talk about this just a little. Routine, usual and common days are not always a bad thing. Many times these are the days of rest between changes we have just came through or changes we will be going through. Sometimes they are just a sweet life. I have had days of no rest because of stress, and I can tell you that I would rather have routine, usual and common days as compared to stress days.

Many times the greatest thing we can do is take an inventory of our current life. I find that when life is stressful, the only thing you want is to get back to routine days. Life can change in a blink, and we all know how fast it can happen. I have lost friends to sudden death and had friends get bad reports from doctors that changes the course of their life. Being truly thankful (not faking it) is a key component to the enjoyment of life.

Finding your purpose in life doesn’t nearly mean complicating every day with stress. I like to think that being where God wants you to be is peaceful and carries with it the joy of knowing you are where you are supposed to be. I believe if we ask God, he will show you the way and the place he wants you to be. Many times we do what we want and then ask God to bless our decision when it may not at all be where he wants us to be. Finding your place in life helps us rest easier knowing we are on the right road of life and trusting that God has our future in control so we don’t have to worry about it.

When we have a normal, routine day, it is common to wonder am I doing what I should be doing, going where I should be going, and living the life I should be living. I hope you have those kind of routine days because they are precious and priceless, and I hope you recognize them for what they really are. They are a gift from God, the gift of rest. KT

The measure of a man by Summer Sandercox

Life

I attended a funeral yesterday for a gentleman in our cycling club. He was my age. On the back of the service program was printed the following poem authored by Summer Sandercox. When I read the poem, I thought about where I was, why I was there, and all the lives that were suddenly changed that week. I thought about when you are humbled at the idea of mortality, how the words in this poem take on a real meaning. I wanted to share this.

The measure of a man by Summer Sandercox:

Not how did he die? But how did he live?

Not what did he gain? But what did he give?

These are the units to measure the worth of a man as a man, regardless of birth.

Not what was his situation, but had he a heart and how did he play his God given part?

Was he ever ready with a word of good cheer, to bring back a smile, to brandish a tear?

Not what was his church? Nor what was his creed?

But has he befriended those really in need?

Not what did the sketch in the newspaper say, but how many were sorry when he passed away?

KT