Category Archives: Life

Waiting too late to start

Life

Let me give you a silly example of what I am talking about. Let’s say you are a skinny, weak, young man at the beach with your girl friend and a big strong guy comes and steels your girlfriend away. That is not the time to go get your barbells out of your car and start working out to get strong. Ha

I know this is a silly example, but my point is that we shouldn’t wait until there is trouble with our marriage, finances, relationships, jobs, health, etc. to start fixing the problem. It is better if you prepare in advance for the problem so when and if it happens, you are ready.

Many people can see a storm (literal) from a long way away and get prepared but in some of life’s most important situations, that same person will see the storm and dismiss it and just hope it passes by. Then they get upset to find themselves getting rained on simply because they refused to do anything about it in advance.

I find in life, there are very few (even though we won’t admit it) situations that catch us completely by surprise. Most times we have already thought about and have chosen to dismiss it and hope it will just blow over.

So, some metaphoric advice to be applied to the important areas of life. if you are a slightly ugly, knock kneed, 135 lbs., bone skinny dude that has a pretty girl friend, don’t take her to the beach. Ha. KT

Routine day

Life

The term, routine day, sounds terrible, right? Well, I believe we need to look at this term and what it means a little closer.

A routine day is one in which you basically do the same kind of things you usually do. No events, no excitement, no variations, nothing different and nothing special. Just a normal day in your life. I am not saying a routine life should always be our goal. We all need some change, variation and adjustment ever now and again. What I am saying is to not always have the need for change. Sometimes going about a daily routine is a good thing.

In life, there are times we don’t appreciate what we have until we lose it. Sometimes we don’t know how blessed we are until an event or a conversation happens that changes everything. If you received a bad diagnosis from your doctor, would you want to get back to a normal uneventful routine day? Sure, you would. If you had an unplanned job change or a loss in an investment or a family member passed unexpectedly, would you long to have back that routine day? Therefore, take an inventory today of your blessings and yes, you may be changing diapers, washing clothes, making sales calls or just simply doing the same thing you did last week but sometimes understanding how quick things can change helps us appreciate what we already have.

I sell hotels and I thought this morning, how many times I have traveled to a city to sell a hotel and it is probably thousands. There will be a day, sooner rather than later, where this part of my life is over, and I won’t be able to do what I currently do for a living. Life seems to go by quicker than you think. If you are a young mother who is sleepy from being up last night or a young father searching for significance, as hard as it may seem, embrace these moments because they will not last. One day, you will long for and wish you could have just a normal, routine day. 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