Category Archives: Life

Stepping into it

Life

Many issues with life can be more easily resolved if we stepped forward into the problem rather than waiting until it is a real problem.

In high school, I played middle linebacker for the Morrow Mustangs football team. I absolutely loved the game. It is a wonder I don’t have head issues because we were taught to tackle using our helmet first. Ha. There is this one offensive play that requires a trap block on the middle linebacker. Basically, the center blocks down and the two guards pull and hit you from the blindside. As a linebacker, if you stand and wait until the play if fully executed before you react, you will almost always find your face in the dirt. In order to counteract the trap block, the linebacker has to step into the opening before the two guards know what’s happening. You have about a second to read the play and outsmart the guards. I remember one fine game when we were playing Newnan and I didn’t read the trap quick enough and it was the only time in high school ball that I literally saw a few stars. Needless to say, I didn’t make that mistake again.

In hand to hand combat (Army, Marines, boxing, wrestling, martial arts, etc.), if you let your opposite get set before you react, you most likely just lost the fight. There is nothing that disrupts an opponent more than steeping in close before he can get set.

It is called being offensive versus defensive. If you are having trouble at work, in your marriage, in your relationships, your finances, on your taxes, with your neighbor . . . many times if you move first before letting the situation become a real situation, you stand a much better chance of disarming the other party and getting it resolved. KT

No one can imagine

Career, Life

I watched a movie over the weekend about the true story of the Englishman Alan Turing and how he broke the German code during World War II. Fascinating story and also very true. He was a loner and didn’t have many friends because he was an introverted mathematician. He wasn’t popular, didn’t get invited out with the group, spoke quietly and basically had no qualities that indicated he was leader. He had no experience with breaking codes, yet Winston Churchill put him in charge of the unit tasked with breaking Germany’s code. Long story short, he broke the code and saved England from the destruction Hitler had planned. Millions of people then and today owe their live to Alan Turing. Without him, many believe the world today would look vastly different.

One thing stood out to me in the story: Alan had the mindset to hire the brightest minds regardless of race, gender or religion. One of the people he hired was a woman named Joan Clarke who tested far superior than any of the men. He didn’t care that she was woman in a world at the time that was controlled by men. When she asked why he wanted to hire her, his response made me pause because it is so very true. He said, “Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine.” I have thought about that statement for the last two days.

If you really took the time to look at history from the disciples to modern day success stories, what you will find is that in many cases the very people that have all the capabilities, looks, brains, dress, education, and personality are not the ones who do great things. It is usually the ones no one expects anything from that go on to change the world. I think of the unpopular kids, and in many cases the ones that dropped out of college, that went on to invent Microsoft, Apple, Chick-fil-A, Coke, IBM . .  . I even think about Charles Henry Dow who invented the Dow Jones Industrial average and the Wall Street Journal who had no formal education and left home when he was 16 years old. It’s usually the people no one suspects that change the world.

Just because you may not have all the opportunities or abilities others may have, don’t think God cannot do a great work through you. KT

Ballet class

Family, Life

This week I was on the road for three days and drove a 1000 miles and saw 5 hotels. I was beat. When I got back yesterday afternoon, my oldest granddaughter was spending the afternoon at our house with Elaine and our youngest granddaughter had ballet practice later that afternoon. When the time came we loaded up and went to watch ballet class and go out to eat afterwards. Fun time together.

It was the sweetest thing watching a room full of 3 year olds with their ballet outfits on learning what to do. There was joy, laughing, dancing, crying and bathroom breaks all rolled up in the one hour session. Ha. It was so very precious.

It was one of those times when I didn’t take any phone calls, look at emails or answer any texts. I was in that moment with my two granddaughters. I don’t suppose I will ever forget yesterday at ballet class as it was that precious to me.

I do not know this to be true but I suspect it is. When you get close to the end of life, if you were asked, what the most important things are, I would guess it doesn’t involve work. I would guess you would say, my family and my relationship with God. As a dad I think men want to know that their family is ready for life without them and to know that you did life right and were the example your children needed to see. Also for men, I think it is knowing you had the courage to do what was right and stand up for what you believe.

So often we don’t realize what a gift time is until we are out of it. The most valuable thing you own, is time. It is the one measurement that cannot be replaced. Once it is gone, there is not enough money in the world to buy more.

This week, when you see your family, be there in the moment and bank those memories. Tell them you love them and kiss them whether they want you to or not. Do not let the moments of life slip away over anger, pride, jealousy and strife. Look them in the eye, tell them you love them, squeeze them and put a big sloppy kiss on their cheek. Let there be no doubt of your love. KT

To reduce your fear of failure, redefine it

Career, Life

Our pastor Howard Greer emailed this short excerpt from Rick Warren’s writings to me a couple of weeks ago. I thought was very applicable to business today therefore I am forwarding this as it was presented to me.

By Rick Warren/ Sent to me by Howard Greer (our pastor)

Never forget this truth: Failure probably won’t kill you.

We vastly exaggerate the effects of failure.  We blow the prospects of failing all out of proportion.  Failing is not the end of the world.  The fear of failure is far more damaging than failure.

Proverbs 24:16 says, “No matter how often honest people fall, they always get up again” (TEV).  Even good guys stumble.  They make mistakes, blow it, and stub their toes.

Successful people are not people who never fail.  They’re people who get up again and keep going.  Successful people just don’t know how to quit.

Ever heard of these famous failures?

  • George Washington lost two-thirds of all the battles he fought.  But he won the Revolutionary War and later became the first U. S. President.
  • Napoleon graduated 42nd in a class of 43.  Then he went out and conquered Europe!
  • In 21 years Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs, but he struck out 1,330 times.  He struck out nearly twice as often as he hit a home run.
  • The famous novelist John Creasey received 753 rejection slips before he published 564 books.
  • Rowland Hussey Macy failed seven times at retailing before starting Macy department store.

Great people are simply ordinary people who have an extraordinary amount of determination.  They just keep on going.  They realize they’re never a failure until they quit.

That’s how you reduce your fear of failure.  You redefine it.

You don’t fail by not reaching a specific goal.  Instead, failure is not having a goal.  Failure is refusing to get back up again once you fall.  It’s refusing to try.

On the first day of kindergarten, I got in the wrong line and then into the wrong classroom.  Can you imagine me going home to my mom and dad and saying, “I’m a failure at education!  This school things just doesn’t work”?  Of course not!

You keep going.  If at first you don’t succeed, it’s no big deal.  You’re never a failure until you give up. KT

The Devil’s Flip Chart

Life

This blog post is about a subject we all should have a deep understanding about. The Devil does not want you to prosper, be healthy, or succeed. That’s it. The way he interrupts our lives is through images of failure he wants us to dwell on.

What am I talking about? In life, you will be going along and all of the sudden, a thought or image will pop into your mind. That image is almost always of your insecurities, fears and failures from the past. He uses these images to derail good things happening in our lives. Examples of the images could include that you are not smart enough, you are not pretty, you are not liked, you are a poor leader, you are not a good mother or father, you stutter (for me), you will not succeed, people laugh at you behind your back, you need to lose more weight and then people will like you, you will die young, someone will break into your home and hurt you, something terrible will happen to a loved one, you will never succeed, you will fail, etc.

Got the idea?

I call it the Devil’s flip chart because he whips out his flip chart every day and says to himself, “what can I get him/her to believe today.” I think he stands at the end of your driveway (spiritually speaking) each morning, and his job is to cause you to stumble that day. This blog post is about reading the enemy’s playbook so the next time this happens to you, you will know how to handle it.

The other day I was just going along fine and then I had one of the above images pop into my mind. It caused me to pause, which was exactly what the Devil wanted to happen. I had to face it down with words of affirmation until the thought ended. If you don’t face the first image down, he will keep adding images until you are afraid, insecure and ready to quit. That is his plan every single day of your life.

Don’t give the Devil a place in your mind and if he tries, whisper the words “get thee behind me Satan.” When you whisper those words, he has no choice but to obey because it is written in the Bible as the instructions on how to fight negative or fearful images. KT