Category Archives: Life

Going for it

Career, Life

In business and in life, you sometimes just have to go for it. Not always, but sometimes. For example, if you are driving down the interstate, you shouldn’t go for it and drive as fast as you can. If you do, the po-po will show you your lodging for the night. If your child comes to you for advice, you go for it and give them all you have.

For many years my family would go on this annual camping trip the 4th of July week to Vogel State Park located in the blue ridge mountains. My wife’s family started going when she was just a child and our daughters grew up expecting to camp at Vogel every 4th of July. The last several years we haven’t gone but some of the dearest friends we have ever known, we met them at Vogel.

One thing that was always a constant at Vogel, was nightly softball games. The name of this blog is “going for it” and was named after those softball games. The game always reminded me of life in that there are times to play it safe and then there are times you (metaphorically speaking) just go for it.

We had this friend who would play sometimes named Andy. If you could copy anyone in softball, it would be Andy. He looked like a normal guy who could probably play well and get by, but when it was his turn to bat, he was a whole different person. It was like be became someone else.

The ball field had a creek that ran across the outfield that was about 225 feet from home plate. If the ball made it to the creek in the air, it was a home run whereas if it bounced in, it was a double. The first time I saw Andy bat will be forever in my memory because it was a lesson in life as well as softball. I remember he swung at the ball so hard, his left shoe came off.. I looked up at the ball and it was not only over the creek, but it landed another 150 feet beyond the creek in the camp ground. It was the farthest I had ever seen anyone hit the ball on that field. To top that off, the ball was one we had been using for several games and was already mushy. If it had been a new ball, we probably wouldn’t have been able to find it.

At the time Andy hit that ball, I vividly remember thinking about life and what it means to try as hard as you can to do something. I can name several times in my life where I literally tried as hard as I could to do something. When you do that, those feelings never leave you and become part of who you are and may even play a role in who you become. It is very rare to see people who are good at many things. It is much more common for people to be good at only a few things. It doesn’t matter if you are a full-time mom, dad, business person, speaker, author, sales person, teacher etc. What does matter is that you choose to try as hard as you can at something. It doesn’t have to be a life changing, rather it can be as simple as being a good listener or a friend who can be trusted.

The great thing is it is your choice. Using a golf term to make the point, sometimes you must choose between laying up and playing it safe or going for it. I say, with family, you should go for it and try as hard as you can to be the very best example you can be. Regarding our work life, try as hard as you can to be found faithful, honest, hard-working and trustworthy. I believe the rest will take care of itself. KT

Jesus in the boat

Life

There is a story in the bible (Mark, 4: 36-41) about Jesus being in a boat with his disciples when a large storm comes up and threatens their safety. There have been many sermons preached on this passage of scripture and a person can garner many insights and revelations from these six simple verses.

Have you ever felt alone, sad or feel lost? Maybe your family has issues, or your job is weighing you down or financial stress seems to be overwhelming. It could be as simple as you got passed up for a promotion or someone said something that hurt you or they took advantage of you.

In the passage of scripture, Jesus was in the boat with them (this is important) but did not act until they called on him. He was aware of everything happening, yet he waited until he was invited to help.

Every time something happens in your life that threatens to steal your joy or peace, it may help to realize (and accept) that Jesus already knows what is going on, but he is just waiting for you to call on him. He is in the boat of life with each of us and is fully aware of every simple thing happening around you.

I believe Jesus uses his hands (spiritually speaking) in two ways to direct our life. He either places his hand on your chest to stop you from going through the door or he puts his hand on your bank to lead you through the door. When big or small decisions present themselves in your life, pause a minute and ask him if you should go through the door or not. He will let know what his will is. KT

When things aren’t going well

Career, Family, Life

What do you do when things don’t seem to be going well?  There are times and cycles in life where things go well and then there are times when it seems like everything is a struggle. So, the question is what do you do?

The simple answer is to keep going. There are more sports examples than we have pages to write on but most of them have one thing in common. The athlete just keeps going forward and doesn’t quit. Two weeks ago, Tiger Woods won the Masters after 10 years of not winning a major tournament. He just kept doing what he was doing.

Success books will tell you to wash you face, pull up your pants, lace up your boots and keep going forward. They also tell you that many many times you don’t need to make significant changes, rather, just keep doing what you have been doing. I believe that over the course of a career the most significant factor to success is consistency. Simply keep going.

I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in DC and the one thing I can tell you is that along the 26.2-mile course you will experience many moments of strength and many moments of weakness where you fell like quitting. The key is push through the exhausted moments when you feel like quitting and keep going forward till your chest crosses the finish line.

Lastly, one important thing we should all do is to take a moment and look at our life (family, health, friends, God) and take an inventory of the good. My guess is that anyone reading this blog is still alive (ha) and have unfathomable blessings if they will just acknowledge it. KT

Zig Ziglar

Life

Last week, my brother in-law gave me a little book of quotes from Zig Ziglar. For those of you who don’t know who he was, Zig, was a world class motivational speaker who corporations would ask to come in and speak to their leadership. During the 60’s 70’s and 80’s, Zig gave lectures to most of the major corporations and sales organizations in the US.  He passed away in 2012.

One of the very first business books I ever bought (still have it in my office today) was titled “See You at The Top” by Zig Ziglar. When he started writing the book, he was overweight, and he wrote into the book what his weight goal was when the book was to be published. In the book, he had calculated how many ounces he needed to lose each day to achieve his objective and the result was that on the publishing date, he had achieved the weight he had already printed in his book.

Another story Zig told was how a friend of his was a Cadillac salesman and how Zig always (we are talking in the 70’s) drove an Oldsmobile. One day Zig was in the Cadillac dealership talking with his friend when a funeral drove by and the Cadillac salesman while watching the funeral procession looked at Zig and said “Zig, I promise you, you will ride in a Cadillac one day.” That day Zig traded the Oldsmobile for a Cadillac. ha

I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Zig Ziglar:

“You don’t have to be great at something to start, but you have to start to be great at something.”

Detours, delays and cancellations

Life

Many years ago, I adopted the belief and opinion that when I encounter detours, delays or cancellations, that it is God’s way of keeping me from being in a certain place at a certain time.

Years ago, I was driving home and there is an on ramp to the interstate I always took. I would always sped up and get in the left-hand lane. That day for some reason I was content in driving slower in the right-hand lane. 30 seconds after I made the decision to be happy in the right-hand lane, a tractor trailer truck tire came loose and landed directly where I would have ordinarily been. That day I said a prayer of thanks for God keeping me from being in the place where I thought I wanted to be.

This past weekend me and my two son in-laws were going to go stripper fishing on Lake Lanier. We got the boat ready and started out on the water and my eyes (I wear contacts) just got a bunch of pollen in them and I literally couldn’t see. One of my son in-laws drove the boat back to the lake house so I could wash my eyes out. I was headed back to the boat and saw them putting the boat back on the lift. I asked them what they were doing and apparently while I was in the house, the boat just stopped running. We tried to crank the boat, but it just would not run.

Something in my spirit gave me a tug that we were just not supposed to be out on the water that day. Don’t know why and can’t explain it other than I believe God was protecting us from something we could not see.

My point is, many times in life you may encounter detours, delays or cancellations and we shouldn’t always get upset or angry. Just maybe God is protecting you from being in a certain place at a certain time. KT