All posts by Keith Thompson

Because, blue is my favorite color

Life

There are special moments that you will remember all your life. If you are too busy to notice, you may miss something special.

Elaine and I had our two granddaughters up at the lake house last week. Our youngest is three years old and let me tell you, she is a communicator. She uses all her words every day. She wants what you say to be said correctly, and she will tell you if you said it wrong. She reminds me a lot of her mother when she was little. Ha.

So, last Thursday we get to the lake house to hang out for a while and decide to go eat dinner at the local Cracker Barrel. During dinner, she tells us she wants to go to the store and buy a little blue undershirt. Well, I don’t even know what an undershirt is. Elaine knows what it is, but I am clueless. She proceeds to tell us the reason she wants a blue undershirt: blue is her favorite color. After she has told us this about five times, we decide we better go find a blue undershirt. Just so we could hear her say it again, we would ask her why she wants a blue one. She would tell us as though it was the first time, that blue was her favorite color.

Well, we go to the first store and they don’t have any, and we end up going to Target to see if we can find the blue undershirt. We ask this lady who has her own grandchildren and she shows us this rack of these little camisoles and it was exactly what she wanted. We get the blue one because blue is her favorite color and you have never seen a child more happy. She wore that little camisole to bed, the next day and the next day after that. She wouldn’t take it off except for a bath.

The point is that these moments are precious and you want to make sure you are present when they take place because it is these moments that you will carry with you the rest of your life. Now every time I hear the color blue, I will remember our little granddaughter saying that blue is her favorite color. KT

Stepping into it

Life

Many issues with life can be more easily resolved if we stepped forward into the problem rather than waiting until it is a real problem.

In high school, I played middle linebacker for the Morrow Mustangs football team. I absolutely loved the game. It is a wonder I don’t have head issues because we were taught to tackle using our helmet first. Ha. There is this one offensive play that requires a trap block on the middle linebacker. Basically, the center blocks down and the two guards pull and hit you from the blindside. As a linebacker, if you stand and wait until the play if fully executed before you react, you will almost always find your face in the dirt. In order to counteract the trap block, the linebacker has to step into the opening before the two guards know what’s happening. You have about a second to read the play and outsmart the guards. I remember one fine game when we were playing Newnan and I didn’t read the trap quick enough and it was the only time in high school ball that I literally saw a few stars. Needless to say, I didn’t make that mistake again.

In hand to hand combat (Army, Marines, boxing, wrestling, martial arts, etc.), if you let your opposite get set before you react, you most likely just lost the fight. There is nothing that disrupts an opponent more than steeping in close before he can get set.

It is called being offensive versus defensive. If you are having trouble at work, in your marriage, in your relationships, your finances, on your taxes, with your neighbor . . . many times if you move first before letting the situation become a real situation, you stand a much better chance of disarming the other party and getting it resolved. KT

No one can imagine

Career, Life

I watched a movie over the weekend about the true story of the Englishman Alan Turing and how he broke the German code during World War II. Fascinating story and also very true. He was a loner and didn’t have many friends because he was an introverted mathematician. He wasn’t popular, didn’t get invited out with the group, spoke quietly and basically had no qualities that indicated he was leader. He had no experience with breaking codes, yet Winston Churchill put him in charge of the unit tasked with breaking Germany’s code. Long story short, he broke the code and saved England from the destruction Hitler had planned. Millions of people then and today owe their live to Alan Turing. Without him, many believe the world today would look vastly different.

One thing stood out to me in the story: Alan had the mindset to hire the brightest minds regardless of race, gender or religion. One of the people he hired was a woman named Joan Clarke who tested far superior than any of the men. He didn’t care that she was woman in a world at the time that was controlled by men. When she asked why he wanted to hire her, his response made me pause because it is so very true. He said, “Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine.” I have thought about that statement for the last two days.

If you really took the time to look at history from the disciples to modern day success stories, what you will find is that in many cases the very people that have all the capabilities, looks, brains, dress, education, and personality are not the ones who do great things. It is usually the ones no one expects anything from that go on to change the world. I think of the unpopular kids, and in many cases the ones that dropped out of college, that went on to invent Microsoft, Apple, Chick-fil-A, Coke, IBM . .  . I even think about Charles Henry Dow who invented the Dow Jones Industrial average and the Wall Street Journal who had no formal education and left home when he was 16 years old. It’s usually the people no one suspects that change the world.

Just because you may not have all the opportunities or abilities others may have, don’t think God cannot do a great work through you. KT

Ballet class

Family, Life

This week I was on the road for three days and drove a 1000 miles and saw 5 hotels. I was beat. When I got back yesterday afternoon, my oldest granddaughter was spending the afternoon at our house with Elaine and our youngest granddaughter had ballet practice later that afternoon. When the time came we loaded up and went to watch ballet class and go out to eat afterwards. Fun time together.

It was the sweetest thing watching a room full of 3 year olds with their ballet outfits on learning what to do. There was joy, laughing, dancing, crying and bathroom breaks all rolled up in the one hour session. Ha. It was so very precious.

It was one of those times when I didn’t take any phone calls, look at emails or answer any texts. I was in that moment with my two granddaughters. I don’t suppose I will ever forget yesterday at ballet class as it was that precious to me.

I do not know this to be true but I suspect it is. When you get close to the end of life, if you were asked, what the most important things are, I would guess it doesn’t involve work. I would guess you would say, my family and my relationship with God. As a dad I think men want to know that their family is ready for life without them and to know that you did life right and were the example your children needed to see. Also for men, I think it is knowing you had the courage to do what was right and stand up for what you believe.

So often we don’t realize what a gift time is until we are out of it. The most valuable thing you own, is time. It is the one measurement that cannot be replaced. Once it is gone, there is not enough money in the world to buy more.

This week, when you see your family, be there in the moment and bank those memories. Tell them you love them and kiss them whether they want you to or not. Do not let the moments of life slip away over anger, pride, jealousy and strife. Look them in the eye, tell them you love them, squeeze them and put a big sloppy kiss on their cheek. Let there be no doubt of your love. KT

Deciding what to do tomorrow

Career

One of the greatest business lessons I ever learned was at the end of each day writing out a list of things that need to be done tomorrow and then writing a number of priority beside each one. When I start the next day I look at the written list and I know where to start. I start on item number 1 and get that item either resolved or as far to being resolved as I can. Then I go to item number 2 and so forth.

What this little organization list does, is it prevents me from getting to the office and just doing busy work that does not accomplish the objectives for the day. Examples of busy work is cleaning out your inbox, clutter files, arranging the things on your desk, standing in the hallway shooting the breeze with people and basically doing things that do not help me accomplish the objectives.

I find that the greatest thing I have is my time. I also find that if I want to have a personal life outside of work, I need to leave on time and if I want to leave on time, I need to organize the day so I get started quicker. I read a book years ago by Zig Ziglar and the example he used in the book was of a person that was going on vacation the next day and needed to get everything done before he left. The idea is that it is amazing how much real meaningful work you can get done if you know you are leaving on vacation tomorrow. There is no busy work, talking in the hallways, taking a long lunch etc. In this situation you are focused on the goal and work toward the objective of getting all the things done before you leave.

I have often said that the average person can do three days of work in one if they have a written organized plan. Putting the plan together the day before helps you leave work on time and enjoy your family life. It even helps you sleep better because your mind is not running a flip chart on all the things you have to get done.

This simple business idea of a written plan has worked for many business leaders for many years and it does not involve any technology other than a piece of paper and a pen. Old school at its best. KT