Category Archives: Life

Making your calling and election sure

Career, Life

Sometimes when you make a decision and it looks like it is not going as well as you envisioned, you need to hit the pause button and think it through before you turn back and make another decision.

In 2nd Peter 1:10 there is a passage of scripture that includes the following section. King James Version – “Brethren, be more diligent to make your calling and election sure. “Does that mean you can’t make mistakes and can’t change your mind? No. We are human and we make mistakes and God understands that and more importantly, he forgives us. His objective is to get us where he wants us to end up. It’s like a GPS if you miss a turn. It will recalculate to still get you to the same destination.

Sometimes though you just know in your heart that you need to make the best of a decision you have made. I believe that is what the bible verse is speaking about. In other words, you need to stay with the decision and make your election/decision sure. Sometimes even a marriage is toxic and unhealthy. My own parents divorced when me and my sister were young. It was the right decision for us kids as well as for my parents. God picked up the pieces and gave both my parents a new perspective and life that translated through to us kids in the form of a good childhood without family strife. Sure, it was a tough decision but it was the right one.

When I left a large public company to start my own brokerage firm, it was probably the most uncomfortable time in my professional career. Up to that point, I had always had other people alongside me to help in the business. The day I left, I packed up my personal stuff to start something new and my prayer on the way home was very simple. “show me your will and let your favor and anointing cover me and go before me in this decision and I will always give you the credit for it.” I can say without question that I have always given God the credit for our business because the truth is, on my own, I am just not smart enough. I guess you could say that once I made that decision, it was one of those choices that I knew in my heart that I would have to see it through to the end.

So, not ever decision you make means you must give your life, peace, joy and future to it. Even the bible says that sometimes a wise man changes his mind. That said, there are also decisions that we just know in our hearts that we need to stay with and see it through and in effect, make our election and decision sure. KT

Remembering 911

Career, Family, Life

16 years ago, when 911 happened, I was driving to our office in the Buckhead area of Atlanta. That morning had been like most mornings, where our girls left for school, I got some coffee and settled into the one hour drive to the office. At the time, I was part of a small brokerage company with two very close friends called ThompsonCalhounFair. When I say small, I mean small as in the three of us plus one.

I remember parking in the garage and strolling as usual to the building and up the elevators to our little 1,000 sq. ft. office. I walked in and Mark was sitting in Al’s office and they looked like they had just lost their best friend. Mark ask “have you heard?” I said “heard what?” and he said “it’s bad, really bad.” I said “what are you talking about, I didn’t have the radio on coming to work” and he and Al proceeded to tell me about first airplane that hit the first tower and how the news media think it was a terrorist attack. Well, that got my attention.

We went across the street to the Marriott Courtyard where they had a TV so we could see what was going on. About 20 min into us watching the news, the cameras focused live on a second plane that was flying near the Trade Center and then we, along with most of America watched as it flew into the second Trade Center building. No one said anything because we all knew what it meant. We watched live coverage of people jumping from the tower which was 110 stories tall and my stomach was tied in knots. I don’t remember how much longer, but it wasn’t long, maybe 20-25min and we watched as the first tower collapsed to the ground and people were running for their life. Then a few min latter we watched as the second tower collapsed and I knew our world, as we knew it had just changed.

Not knowing the extent of the terrorist attack and where else it may happen, I jumped in my Chevy Tahoe fully prepared to hit four-wheel drive and basically do whatever it would take for me to get to my family. I made it my girls schools that were still operating and checked them out and made sure Elaine was home. Once I had my family together we watched the as the security of America and the world changed that day.

There are moments you can remember in exact detail about where you were and what you were doing. That was one of those moments for me and I will never forget it. On this day, September the 11th, 2017 the 16th anniversary of 911, let’s remember what America means and what it stands for and the good about who we are. Let not a very few small-minded journalists who write editorials for news outlets lead you to believe that America has lost its way. It hasn’t and we haven’t. We simply live in the best country on the face of the globe. KT

Direction versus intention

Career, Family, Life

The other day I heard a pastor speak on this topic and it rang true for me, so I wanted to give my take on the subject.

Direction versus intention is an often a misunderstood idea. Just because you say “I wanted to,” “I intended to,” I meant to,” go one direction in your life doesn’t really mean that much. It is really about the actual direction you are going. It’s like if you are in Atlanta and you want to go to Florida but your car is pointed north, it really doesn’t matter what you intended to do, rather it only matters the actual direction you are heading. Make sense?

I am a hotel broker and we sell hotels. Over the years, I have given a speech to other brokers more times than I can count. It is the same exact philosophy as the Florida example. It goes like this. Pick your financial objective for the year, divide the income by the average income per sale. Divide that by the number of deals you must have on the market and then divide that by the number of pitches you must make and you will know the number of annual calls you need to make in order to earn what you set out to earn. Then lastly, divide that annual number by 52 weeks and you have then solved the way to hit your financial objective. When you do this, you know the number of calls you need to make today. When you don’t make the calls today and tomorrow, you in effect are announcing now that you really didn’t intend to make your annual goal. You don’t have to wait six months. If you are honest with yourself, you know today what your true intentions were.

The point you ask? In sales, you can have all the intentions and desires you want, but if you are unwilling to make the calls today and tomorrow (point your car toward Florida) you will not meet your desired destination. I cannot tell you how many times I have brokers in my office in September unsure why they don’t have more on the books. When I review with them what they did earlier in the year, it becomes clear that they and they alone decided earlier in the year to be right where they are.

So, with all this explanation ask yourself, what is my true intentions for my family, finances, education, work, health and general life? Then listen not to what you SAY you want, rather look at the actual direction you are heading. KT

Them, without me

Family, Life

Them, without me

Have you ever had a thought cross your mind for the first time and you think, where did that come from? Well, that happened to me the other day. It is a little morbid but as I thought it through, I realized that at some point in most everyone’s life, they have this same thought and concern so I decided to address it in this blog.

The thought that crossed my mind was, if I should pass away early from this life, is my family ready? Have I prepared for this possibility? Have I told them what they need to know from their husband, dad and father in-law. Have I set a good example for them to follow? Are financial matters in order? Have I taught them how to live right and honest and straightforward? Have I lead them to the Lord? Have I poured into their lives what a proper dad and husband should have done?  In short, will my wife, my daughters, my son in-laws and grand babies be ok if I am not here?

How is that for a wake-up thought? Ha

So, that day I started doing a mental checklist on the questions above. While there could be improvement in the status in each area, I felt comfort knowing that I have poured enough into my wife, daughters, son in-laws and grand babies that they could go on without me. They are incredibly strong, intelligent, resilient and beautiful and they will handle life in the greatest manner.

As you read this blog ask yourself, is my family ready? Have I done what I am supposed to do to get them prepared? The good news is, if you are reading this, it means you are still with us and there is still time to get the “them” in our lives ready. KT

Comments

Life

We live in a world where we have begun to care too much about what other people think. With social media, there are people that take pictures of their dinner and post it on-line and open themselves up for other people to comment and or approve of what they eat. Between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google + etc. it is like we need the approval or at least the acknowledgement from other people on what we are doing.

Then there are the people (family and friends) we know that feel the absolute need to tell you what they think about what you are doing. Sometimes you listen to them and sometimes you don’t but the times when they clearly are melding in your personal business, you just pat them on arm and tell them how much you appreciate their opinion and then walk away and forget everything they just said. Ha. It is funny how some people want to tell everyone else how to run their life when the person doing the talking can’t run their own life.

This may be old school but I believe the only comment you need to care about is what God thinks. If we are honest with ourselves, we know before we do something whether God will be pleased or not. There is very little gray area in doing what is right.

Here is a perfect example of a hotel comment on trip advisor I heard last week from a friend. One guest writes “I hated this hotel because there were kids everywhere at the pool and all they served for food was macaroni & cheese and hotdogs. Stay away from this hotel.” The next guest writes “we have four kids and loved the hotel because the pool was kid friendly and they served macaroni & cheese and hotdogs. I would recommend this hotel to anyone.”

See what I mean? It’s all about the perspective.

We would do well to keep what we do in life away from social media and the inevitable comments that we ask for. The comment you receive is largely centered around how that person’s life is going and how their day has gone. The comment you really need to be aware of and listen to is what God thinks. KT