Category Archives: Life

Extra helpings of life

Family, Life

Life changes people and experiences change people. None of us are who we were years ago. Many times, the shy one is now the outgoing one. The insensitive one is now the hypersensitive one. The timid one is now the bold one. The uncaring one is now the one who cares most. The least likely to success is the one who succeeded the most and the showboat whose daddy always bought them the hottest cars, is no longer driving the hottest cars. The carefree one is now the careful one. The computer nerd is now the CEO of a tech startup. These examples could go on for pages, but you get the point.

The most perfect and comical example of this is high school class reunions. I want to be gentle when I say this, but the most beautiful and popular girls in school, well, let’s just say they no longer hold that title at the class reunions. I saw the head cheerleader of our high school a few years back and she said hello to me.  God as my witness, I didn’t even know who she was until she started talking. Ha

The point is we never remain the same person as we once were. We all evolve and grow into being who we choose to be. Not where we were heading, rather where we chose to head. See, life is about decisions and as Andy Stanley once said, we never really know what hangs in the balance of each decision. Meaning, how that decision we make will impact the ones we love most.

Therefore, we need to choose well and redeem the time we have and do the most with the opportunities we encounter today. We just never know where the simplest opportunity will lead us and the person, we will become because of it. KT

Getting the files in order

Family, Life

Several weeks ago, I completed something I have needed to do for years. I have many files in my home office regarding financial accounts, insurance policies, estate, wills, personal information etc. I personally know where everything is at and how to find it, but should something happen to me, it would be very complicated for my family to understand and access everything.

Years ago, I planned to put together one file with all the overviews, details and contact information so should the lord call me home, Elaine can pull that one file and know everything she would need and have access to.

Since I have had more time on my hands lately (ha,) I decided to tackle this objective. It took me several days to get everything down into one document that is easy to understand and tells where everything is at.

This is estate planning as its finest. The last thing I want my family to struggle with should something happen to me is where everything is at and how to find it. Regardless of the size of your estate or the simplicity or complexity, it makes sense to get all your affairs in order. It helps you feel more in control and will help you rest easier. KT

From Density to Distancing

Career, Life

Ten short weeks ago, business was about packing in as much density with as many people as possible. From hotels, conventions, sports venues, air travel, resorts, retail, and office buildings – down to going to a Costco.

Now, ten weeks later, it is all about staying separate and distancing yourself from other people. How can this be possible? Because COVID-19 (‘CV”) has caused a shift in the paradigm of personal life and commercial life that no one saw coming. Ten weeks in, we now judge every face to face interaction differently than we used to.

Behind closed doors, almost every company is fearfully asking themselves, “will life as we knew it ever go back to the way it was?” The scary answer is maybe not. The most advantageous answer is it will come back but not at the same levels as pre-CV. Every company from a sandwich shop, hotels to sports venues, and entertainment are projecting different economic modeling because of the long-term effects on their industry. I was on a conference call recently discussing the various aspects of reopening the office workplace on June 1. Everything was discussed from ingress-egress, ice machine, copier to directional walking patterns in the office. The mandates and guidelines will change how people feel about in-office work, and that will be reflected in dining, travel, hotels, retail, entertainment, conferences, and so forth.

Working remotely has, for several years, been a discussion topic for many companies, but was mostly regulated to the back burner regarding its immediate need. As of 10 weeks ago, the need to implement and fully understand how to work remotely became the only focus. The results are enough to shake any industry and any company because the world was forced to learn how to make it work, and they did. Now companies are looking at everything from travel, office space, client engagement to liability insurance for potential changes in their financial modeling, possibly long term.

The actual result of the past ten weeks of CV will not become fully known until later this summer and fall. The potential changes to how businesses operate and the effects on the idea of dense groups of people in the same place will likely affect almost every commercial real estate segment going forward. For those segments where density was the objective 10 weeks ago, there may have been a longer-term shift in the way people think about it and how it affects personal movement. This shift could have lasting effects on almost all commercial real estate segments. KT

Green River

Family, Life

When I was 15 years old my neighbor let me borrow his CCR (Creedence Clearwater Revival) album and the title song was Green River. I put that album on the turntable (there is an old school term for you) and cranked up Green River and I absolutely fell in love with that song. I had heard all the other rock bands but had never heard CCR. Well that day, I became a fan and have never stopped.

We have lake house with a ski boat in the dock that has a kicking stereo that is quite impressive.  Since I bought that boat 15 years ago there has only been one CD we listen to. Creedence Clearwater Revival and the title song that plays first, is Green River. It never loses its touch to take me right back when I was 15 hearing it for the 1st time. There is nothing more exhilarating than being on the lake and honking down on that V8 engine and cranking up some CCR. KT

The Great Realization

Career, Family, Life

I heard a guy yesterday refer to this pandemic as the great realization instead of the great recession. I started thinking about what good (because there is plenty of bad) we may have learned during the COVID situation and I would like to share some of those thoughts with you.

Speaking for myself, before COVID, I was consumed with email, text, calls, advertising, marketing, management of staff and all means of communication. I would come in the office every day and promise myself I would not spend all day answering and responding to email. For me it had become obsessive to keep my inbox cleared out. I made myself a promise a few years ago to only answer emails during certain times of the day and therefore allowing me to focus on things in front of me. Well, that was a great idea but very hard to manage. Many times, I would open my email in the morning and look up two hours later and realize I have not taken time to think, focus, plan, strategize, and lead the company.

Many people (like me) just went to work and did the same things over and over and week to week and took very little time to see the world around us.

Well, COVID changed all that. Now I have more time on my hands than I believe I have ever had. Emails, texts, calls, social media etc. have all slowed down. The first week of social distancing was kind of a novelty but by week three we all knew something had changed, possibly long term. People were settling into being with their children, playing in the yard without a cell phone, taking picnics, planting gardens, going for walks, loving on their dogs, reading, telling their children stories and planning their day around simple old school living.

It is almost like people hit a reset button in their life. They began to enjoy simple pleasures and simple things again. With technology our lives had become consumed with connectivity and instant responses. In the old days people would call your house on a rotary phone and if you didn’t answer they would call back the next day. People would take drives in the country, read a good book, sit on the porch after dinner and talk to each other. Before COVID, it seemed everyone had a cell phone with social media and instant internet and entire families would sit around with their sole attention on a phone.

Many heartbreaking things have happened due to COVID, but just maybe there has been a realization that has emerged where people are doing more simple things and enjoying simple pleasures and being involved with family and seeing the world differently around them. KT