Category Archives: Life

My office at home

Family, Life

My favorite room in our home is my office. When we built the house I designed it just the way I wanted it with built in book shelves, three side by side windows and it is painted hunter green with green berber carpet. In case you didn’t pick up on this, my favorite color is green.

The shelves are covered with things and items that mean something to me and things which have had an impact on my life. There are reminders of the time when we were broke that I keep very close to me so that I will always be reminded of the grace of God that brought us through that period. There are items from my childhood, watches that have belonged to parents and grandparents and a gold pocket railroad watch that that belonged to my dad’s family. There are books, mementoes from various periods in my life as well as items that are more current. I have many books on life leadership from Abraham Lincoln to Sam Walton and many books on muscle cars and automobile history.

I have pictures of my daughters through the years and notes that they written to me as well as I have the high school picture of my wife, who I met in high school. There are also many many diacast model cars and trucks from muscle cars to vintage trucks. In case I didn’t tell you, I love cars and trucks. Ha

Along one wall is a framed announcement of the first 56 hotels I sold. When I look at that wall I can remember every one of them and who the client was. That wall represents the start of what has become my career. I am also very aware that one day the sales will end and all I will have is the memories of the career. I am thankful to God for leading me into the line of work I have been blessed to be in.

This room carries many great moments and memories for me. When I walk in, it is almost like my life is on the walls and the shelves. They speak to me about God’s grace and God’s timing.

What I like most about the room is that it represents where I have come from but it also represents where I am going. I hope and trust there will be many more items added to the shelves and pictures added to the walls of future memories that will be made. When I pass away, I know most of these things and items will be boxed up done away with because they have meaning only for me. Many of these items will not mean much to my children because with each item, I carry the memory of what they mean. I want my children and grandchildren to have their own walls and shelves of things that mean something to them that represents their life.

Everyone should have a place where they keep the memories and mementoes of their life. I guess you could call my office the green room but I call it my place and my spot. KT

Do you have enemies?

Career, Life

Winston Churchill was quoted as saying “You have enemies? Good. That means you stood up for something.”

I have always believed that whatever you compromise to keep, you will eventually lose. Take your credibility and integrity as an example. If you choose to compromise them for money, you most likely will lose the money you compromised yourself for. Look at your health because we all know this is true. If you compromise your health to keep living like you know you should not do, you most likely will lose your health.

The bible references this in the lesson of sowing and reaping. The simple point is that you will reap what you sow. You lie to others, others will lie to you. You cheat others, others will cheat you. You treat others with truth and kindness, you will be treated with truth and kindness. You show love and love will be shown to you. You care for others and others will care for you. You save money, you will have money. Simple, right? Then why do we as people think we are smarter than God?

Fast forward five years in your life and put on a piece of paper the one or two word description you want to have in your life, like joy, peace, financial security, friends, good health, great family, etc. Well, the answer is really simple. You start to do and be those one and two word descriptions in your life today. Whatever you sow, you will reap.

Do you think that a farmer gets up one morning and sees corn growing in his field and gets mad and throws his hat down because he wanted beans? Sounds foolish right? See, the farmer knew what he had planted and knew what it would look like when the crop he had sown started to grow. This is what God means by sowing and reaping.

Choose what you want to have and want to be. Then start sowing those seeds in your life and then like the farmer, when you see your crop coming up, it won’t be a surprise. KT

Winning is not about muscle, it is about heart

Career, Life

In the movie Rocky V, there were two statements that are worth repeating. In the movie Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) is broke and has lost all his winnings from the other championships when he starts teaching and training this your boxer named Tommy Gunn. Tommy Gunn goes all the way to a championship fight, but fires Rocky as his sponsor right before the fight. The young fighter goes on to win the title, but everyone says he is not as good as Rocky was. He challenges and taunts Rocky to a fight and they end up in a street brawl to settle the matter. In the course of Tommy Gunn’s taunting, he punches Rocky’s brother in-law Paulie and knocks him down. Rocky looks at Tommy Gunn and says (this is 1st statement) “you knocked him down, so now why don’t you try to knock me down.”

Well, the Rocky music started playing and yep Rocky basically whips this young boxer in street and goes on to win the day and the hearts of all the people. It is pure Rocky on the screen.

The 2nd statement happened a little before the fight when his wife Adrian tells him “winning is not about muscle, it’s about heart.” Well, in all 5 of the Rocky movies he had heart. Ha

Why am I telling you about this old movie? Because winning is not about muscle. It is in fact about heart and it is about looking your opponent in the eye and saying gently, take your biggest shot. Your opponent could be fear, anxiety, self-esteem, and doubt, past failures, health or many other examples. More times than not, your biggest opponent is simply fear.

Having heart is the young father that loses his job and goes and gets 3 part-time jobs to take care of his family. It’s the young mom who will stop at nothing to protect and provide for her children. It’s the salesman that simply won’t quit. It’s the person when challenged to the max, pushes through to the other side. It’s the person striving for significance that just won’t quit. It’s the person that is handicapped or the person that just received a bad report from their doctors who says in his or her heart to Satan, “go on, shoot your biggest shot.”

In almost every company in the world the leading salesman is the one that just won’t quit and the one that beats down fear every day and just keeps going.

Sometimes we all need to watch an old Rocky movie because deep inside every one of us is the will to win. Most of the time the difference is the motivation. I have always believed if you can figure out the why, you can figure out the how. Finding the “why” could be one of the most important things you will ever do because that is the purpose that will drive you forward. KT

Football and Life

Life

To a guy, football is a lot like life. You train, struggle and sweat to play the game, but you love every minute of it and know it won’t last forever. You learn to play it as hard as can because the time when you can effectively play football will come to an end one day. Therefore give it all you have and don’t leave anything in the locker room and give it your all on the field.

Several statements by well-known college coaches are listed below.

John Heisman said, “Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble THIS football.”

Bear Bryant/Alabama said, “I make my practices real hard because if a player is a quitter, I want him to quit in practice, not in a game.”

Alex Karras/Iowa said, “I never graduated from Iowa but I was there for two terms, Truman’s and Eisenhower’s.”

Bowden Wyatt/Tennessee said, “My advice to defensive players is to take the shortest route to the ball and arrive in a bad mood.”

Shug Jordan/Auburn said, “Always remember, Goliath was a 40 point favorite over David,”

Bobby Bowden/Florida State told one of his players, “Son you’ve got a good engine, but your hands aren’t on the wheel.”

Duffy Daugherty/Michigan State said, “Football is NOT a contact sport, it is a collision sport. Dancing IS a contact sport.”

John McKay/USC said, “We didn’t tackle well today but we made for it by not blocking,”

And finally, Lou Holtz/Norte Dame said, “Motivation is simple, you eliminate those who are not motivated.”

I don’t know what all this means in your life today, but I thought I would share these with you today so you can find some humor or motivation. KT

Coming out of your shoes

Family, Life

We go on this annual camping trip to Vogel State Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains every year during the 4th of July week. Elaine and I have been going as a family since 1981 and her family went every year when they were growing up.

There are very few traditions in our lives that mean more to us than this annual trip to the mountains. There are so many memories of my daughters when they were growing up and those trips to Vogel. There is probably 25-30 families that we know and are friends with that all go this same week. All of our children have grown up together. It is like stepping into great memories every time we go.

We have had many dear friends that have passed on that were a part of Vogel. Real heroes in our lives. One person in particular was Bobby Brannon who passed away several years ago. He was the glue for our group of friends and he was bear of a man who when he saw you, you were going to be hugged whether you wanted it or not. When I refer the term “hug” that is maybe a little understatement. When Bobby Brannon hugged you, it was full double arm wrap and squeeze that left no doubt that you had been properly greeted.

One thing that has been a constant at Vogel is nightly softball games. Bobby was always the leader in organizing the games and after his passing the duty has fallen to Uncle Billy (as all the kids call him) and Alan (Billy’s brother in-law).

The term “coming out of your shoes” started with the nightly softball games. The early game is always with the little kids and then the adults get to play from 7-8pm each night. The distance from home plate to the creek is only 250 feet and easily reachable for a home run. That is until age begins to settle in and your body doesn’t react like your mind remembers. When we were all young we would get up to the plate in the adults game and literally swing so hard that on occasion we would come out of our shoes. In this game you did not hold back and you went for the creek or even the campsite on the other side of the creek if you really wanted to show your stuff. Uncle Billy, Charlie and Bert (Charlie’s son) were always the creek hitters. Me, I was hit or miss (literally) but on the rare occasion was rewarded with a creek ball.

These memories and these friends are priceless to me because I remember each year and the memories from each year and I can replay the mental video of those times. The older you get, the more mental videos we all have of Vogel and the sweeter they become.

When we would play softball, we would often play in loafers (I did), sneakers, flip-flops and whatever you had on but on the occasion you would see someone swing so hard that they would lose a shoe in the process. Sometimes in life you just have to give it your all and swing as hard at the ball (or life) as you can.

These memories of Vogel become more dear me to me the older I get. Traditions are a good thing for families and children because they help us find roots in who we are and where we came from. Don’t hold back when you swing at life and just maybe you will look behind you and see a shoe you lost. KT