All posts by Keith Thompson

Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you

Career, Life

That title is quite the tongue twister. It simply means to not go out of your way looking for trouble.

A perfect example of this is what some people seem to say on social media. I was taught years ago to never put something in writing that you would be ashamed to read aloud in open court. Ha. That is probably one of the best pieces of personal and business advice I have ever been given.

Today you have colleges students getting kicked out of school and booted from college teams for what they say in writing on social media. There are company executives for large corporations getting fired over things they put in writing on social media. Where did the idea come from that you could say whatever you want to say (in writing) on social media and not worry about any consequences. It is literally absurd that there are educated people that think this is how to behave.

How many times of late has some famous person said something wrong and get called out for it in the media? The media then demands the person apologize and when the person does, they blister him/her again. How dumb do you have to be to do this, especially when you have seen the last 100 people who made that misstate. It is like a music artist going political knowing that they will lose half of their customers. Ha. It makes no sense to me but hey, I am just an old school guy with old school manners.

Looking for trouble where none exists is like standing in the street hoping no cars will come by. Common sense is just that, it should be common for everyone to know it. Clearly even that term escapes many of the well healed, well-educated politicians, leaders, actors and music icons of our day.

Proverbs says in 11:27 (Christian standard version) The one who searches for what is good seeks favor, but if someone looks for trouble, it will come to him.

Many people think the bible is outdated, old fashion and not relevant today. I would argue that it is more relevant today than it was when it was written. KT

Greatest era of music (in my opinion)

Life

In my limited opinion, the greatest music groups of all time are simple: Three Dog Night, Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR,) The Doobie Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

That is really all you need to download because it’s all there, love, lost love and life in the late 60’s and early 70’s.

When I was in the 8th Grade, my buds and I had a rock band, and our main song was “Joy to the World” by Three Dog Night.  We performed the song in the 8th and 9th Grade talent show but got beat out by some little girl who sang the song, Sugar Sugar by the Archies. I think the little girl’s daddy was one of the judges, which had to be the only reason she won. Ha.

You should have seen us. I sang lead on the 3rd verse and it makes me laugh just thinking about those lyrics, which today would get you in trouble. Ha. The good news was that we didn’t even know what they meant, and you couldn’t understand what we were singing anyway. Given the seriousness with which we practiced and performed, you would have thought we were cutting an album.

Anyway, if you ever need a good lift, go listen to Shambala, Up around the Bend, Call me the Breeze, Down on the Corner, Bad Moon Rising, Never been to Spain, Listen to the Music, China Grove and Takin’ it to the Streets. Those are some of the greatest songs of all time,,,, in my opinion that is. KT

Are you contented or just faking it?

Life

There are many people who at first glance, appear to be happy and content but really are not. On the surface, they act like they have it all together but upon close inspection, they are crumbling on the inside. The questions are, what causes this and how do you change it?

Finding joy and contentment is not some complicated, rare, illusive thing and only found through some secret map. Finding something to be thankful for is were it all begins. I know this sounds cliché and you might roll your eyes, but the core to finding joy is in fact finding thankfulness. If you can find that, you will find one of the greatest single reasons for living. If you want to get honest with yourself, what are the first three things you think about when you first wake up in the morning? If they are filled with strife, envy or anger, you need to find a new path forward.

My grandfather, Verla Thompson was one of the most contented men I have ever known. He was a farmer and was not wealthy. He never bought a new car and would be considered very average by today’s standards, but he loved life and shared that love with everyone around him. He always seemed to be at peace in life and as a little boy, he always took the time to explain things to me and share a little about life and he was never in a hurry. Morning, noon and night, he was contented and at peace.

The eyes never lie. They are the window to the soul. A person that is content, happy with a healthy self-esteem, it will show through the eyes. When my girls were in college, we didn’t have face time or Zoom so we relied on just a phone call. I would ask them to give me a number from 1-10 with 10 being, “I am great.” Many times, their answers were in the 5-7 range and I knew I needed to dig a little deeper to see what was going on. If God ask you (he already knows the real answer) what would you tell him? Where are you really at on a scale from 1-10?

Whatever your circumstances in life are, there are still aspects and areas of your life to be thankful for. If you want to help yourself or someone else, that is the place to start. So, if you struggle with finding contentment and true joy, get in a quiet place, be honest with yourself and really take an inventory of your life. When you let all the pettiness of life go and really look at your life, you will find some areas to be thankful for. Then whisper a quiet prayer of thanksgiving to God for letting you see it. Open your eyes and you may find that you are beginning to find balance, contentment and a deep peace. KT

Move over Darling

Career

In the world of hotel real estate, the best markets and the best investments 120 days ago are now among the worst markets and the worst investments. The blog title is “move over darling” because what were the darlings of the industry are now the duds of the industry.

One market in particular is Nashville Tennessee. 120 days ago, everyone wanted to own a hotel in Nashville and now many of the hotels in Nashville are closed and the ones that are open, are running less than 8% occupancy. Some of the Florida Beach markets, 120 days ago were known as the redneck riviera and very few investors wanted any part of it. Now, those markets are running the best numbers in the country because people can drive there.

Who would have imagined in early February that the world of hotel real estate would literally turn upside down? It has been the most significant shift in the industry in my 30 years.

The point is that we should always recognize that things change, shift and evolve and very few things in life stay the same. Look at transportation as an example. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s cities were building lavish train stations all over the country because it was viewed as the future of travel. Well, now most of them are just old dilapidated mothballed buildings. The world changed with automobiles and airplanes and train travel became less and less of a factor.

There is no industry, no market, no business model that is immune from change. The best you can do is hope you see it before it gets there. KT

Risky business

Family, Life

My granddaughters get on to me all the time for being overly protective. It is because when you get older (like I am) you have visions of all the things that could go wrong. Mostly these concerns are based on things that happened to me (ha) as a kid. I probably had more stitches than a sewing machine and more mishaps than the All State commercial.

It amazes me sometimes that any of us lived through the 60’s and 70’s. No seat belts, no bike helmets, no anti-lock brakes, no airbags, toys that could kill or maim you, no cell phones to stay in contact and the list could go for pages etc. In the summer I would leave home in the morning on my bike (riding on the main roads) be building a tree house five miles from home 20 feet in the air with three 2×4’s and five nails. We played full contact football with no pads or helmets, rode skateboards backwards down steep hills and felt good if there was a little blood on our shirts. Went swimming in the river (wide and fast flowing) with no supervision. It’s just amazing we did not break our neck, have brain injuries or drown. We simply did not know the risks that everyone understands today. As long as I came home for dinner, my mom had no idea what we were doing. ha

I could tell you some pf the dumb things I did as a boy but and teenager, but it might make you think less of me. We just lived life in the most simple and innocent way you could. There wasn’t video games. social media and the internet, yet we lived life rather than sharing it on Facebook. Sometimes the best “likes” are analog, meaning we were there in the moment not watching other people’s moments. We lived it and somehow lived through it.

Much to my granddaughters’ chagrin, I will always be overly protective when they are with me to keep them from harms way as much as I can. Maybe when they are grown, they won’t have as many healed body injuries as me. Ha. KT