All posts by Keith Thompson

Intense Focus

Career

In life there is a very small percentage of people that can truly focus on multiple ideas and projects at the same time.

Years ago, I was meeting with a construction contractor who ran a very large commercial construction company and he built many office buildings, apartments, retail centers, restaurants etc. all over the United States. I had been to many construction offices before and they were all a mess with stacks upon stacks of papers and files all over the office, on the floor etc. So, I walk into this guy’s office and there is not one paper clip on his desk. It looks like it has been spit-shined. On his credenza, he had a picture of his family and a calendar and that was it. Everything was buttoned up tight, clear and completely clean and organized.

I ask him how he keeps his offices so straight. He said, “well, I believe in focusing on one thing at a time until I have done all I need to do with it for that day. Then I file that away and take out another project. In doing this, I find I am able to oversee a lot of projects and get more done.”

That is why to this day, everything I am working on has its own file and its own place and my desk (usually) is clean. I realized that day in that contractor’s office that I performed better when I could focus on one thing at a time versus thinking I was able to work on multiple projects at the same time.

Andrew Carnegie (died 1919) was one of the wealthiest men in the history of the US. His net worth in today’s dollars was 372 billion. We think Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos etc. are so very wealthy, and they are, but they are worth about 1/3 of what Andrew Carnegie was worth. He owned the largest steel company (Carnegie Steel) in the world. Every night he would take out a card and list the things he needed to do the next day. He would put a number of importance by each task. When he got to the office the next day, he would start at number one and stay on number one until he had completed that task to the best of his ability and only then, would he move to number two on his list.

See, he realized the importance of organization and the ability to focus on one task at a time. Organization is a funny thing and many times difficult to get started with, but the objective and goal is clarity of thought and mental focus. KT

Consistency

Career, Life

In business, life, finances, relationships and many other life situations, there is probably not a more important word or more important goal than consistency. Consistency means among other things, evenness, stability, regularity, orderliness, steadfastness.

In money, business, life and health it’s the consistency of what you do that means more than the occasional effort. See, it like exercise in any form. Staying with the program is the only way to see the results. You could be a long-distance runner but if you stopped for month, when you start back it takes some time to get back to the same level as before.

I had this friend of mine who decided when he was 50 years old, he wanted to run a marathon. He did one and thought maybe I will do another. Then he ran two, three etc. and kept going until he had run almost 80 marathons while in his 50’s. He found out what I am talking about in that once you get to a level and remain consistent, it is much easier to keep going that to start and stop.

We have one of our brokers at the firm that makes five cold calls every day, every week and every month. Other brokers ask him how he gets so much business. Well, the answer is it certainly is not (trust me) because of his looks, intellect or education. He is a pretty homely looking guy, but it is his consistency of making calls that results in his business. It is that same way with your spouse, your child, your saving account etc. If you tell your wife you love her only one time a year, you will probably soon be in an apartment all alone eating potato chips on the couch in your underwear. In much of life, it is the consistency that means more than just a little effort here and there. KT

Three greatest words

Family, Life

Regardless of age, gender, race or nationality, the three greatest words in any language is, I love you. Probably the second three greatest words in any language is, I forgive you. When our savior died on the cross, he said, I love you and I forgive you.

When my dad died, the last act of his life was to tell his four children that he did not love them. It wasn’t his words that told us that, rather his secret last will and testament in which he names us all and told us that we had no part in his inheritance. What kind of a father does that? The answer sadly enough, was he was never told enough in his own life that he was loved.

The words, I love you, transcends to the soul of a person. It speaks of safety, security, belonging and a knowing of who you are. It is probably the single greatest gift a parent can give to a child. Those words teach the child how to live and that they are needed and wanted. It gives them the security, boldness, confidence and the bedrock with which to build a life.

Even with my granddaughters, I whisper to them that I have a secret I want to tell them and when they lean in to hear it, I whisper “I love you.” They giggle and say, “papa you always say that,” but when they get older, they will remember those little whispers of love. Maybe one day they will even lean down and whisper the same words to their grandchildren. KT

The moments that change our life

Life

I was at lunch the other day with a young lady and we started talking about the moments that change our lives. Through the conversation we agreed that you only began to recognize these moments as being special, years down the road when you look back at it. I have often said that in an average person’s life they will have only a few (3-5) life altering moments and it is only after the fact that you realize how very special, they were.

Clearly marriages, births, deaths etc. are remembered as life altering, but I am talking more about events and decisions that change where we end up in life. A few examples would be career change, financial change, health change, investments that either turned out good or bad etc. One I remember very vividly was in 1990. We were broke after buying some fast food restaurants in 1988 and the only way out seemed to be bankruptcy. I called a friend of mine that sold hotels and asked if he would teach me how. It never crossed my mind that that phone call would change what I did for a living and and the economic future of my family. See, its only when you look back that you really recognize the significance of those moments. When it is happening you just see it as another day.

Take a moment and think back on your life and you will see clearly the events that shaped who you are and where you belong and changed the course of your future. Obviously, for all of us, there are memories and events that led down the wrong path (hopefully brief) but it is my hope that you can also see the good events of your life that helped you turn directions toward a better future. Life is full of memories and the older I get the more I am aware of this. Its important to tell your children about your events because it will help them have some basis to lean on when they are faced with big decisions. KT

Inside or outside

Career, Life

When you start a new project, the question becomes, do I start building from the inside first or the outside first. Do I start with how it looks or how it functions?

I will give you several examples to ponder. Let’s say you want to get in better physical shape and drop a few pounds. You probably shouldn’t buy new cloths (outside look) until you get in shape (inside look) first. If you are fixing up a house, you probably should start on the inside changes first and paint the outside last. If you are an automobile designer, they always start with what the outside will look like first and then create the inside interior, engine etc. after they have established the outside design. If you are an architect designing a new building, you always start with the exterior renderings first and then layout the interior. If you are a clothes designer, you start with what the dress will look like before you start picking out the type of thread you will use.

So, my point is that in some situations you start on the inside first and other situations you start on the outside first. If it is a new vison, idea, design of some type, the starting point is usually the final look (outside) you are going for. Whatever you are planning, it is important to know where to start. If you are fixing something that already exists, (like a house) you probably will start on the inside first and paint the outside last. So, the difference is if you are fixing or changing something that already exists or if you are creating something from scratch. The smart play in whatever you are doing is to know where to start. KT