Category Archives: Life

Timeless classic

Life

I have an old Jeep Grand Wagoneer and to me, it is a timeless classic. It is a 1988 Wagoneer with the wood grain down the sides with whitewall tires and old school technology. It is mostly original and unchanged from the day it was new. I simply love the Wagoneer.

I guess what I love most about it is the memories it stirs within me. This is the third one I have owned and with each one, I swore I would never buy another one. Well, here I have another one. I bought the first one when both of my daughters were little, and we would take it camping and on trips and it was my main vehicle at the time. I have memories of my babies riding in the back seat, talking to me about their day and what they were thinking about, and asking questions about everything. I also remember going to get ice cream in that old Wagoneer and seeing my children full of joy and full of wonder.

So, my old Wagoneer stays in the garage and is always clean and ready to go. From time to time, I will go to the garage just to look at it and occasionally start it up and listen to it run. The week of Christmas, I drove it for a couple of days to the office and to lunch. One of those days, my youngest daughter happened to be at the office and happened to be available to go lunch with me in the Wagoneer. Having one of my babies (27 years old) ride with me in the old Jeep that day was a memory I will keep forever because I will add that memory to the ones I already have.

You will think I have lost it here, but I drink coffee every morning all year long out of a Christmas cup because there are so many great and fond memories of Christmas around our house. I get that Christmas cup out every morning because it makes me smile, and I believe it even makes the coffee taste better. Ha

I find that there are things in our lives that have meaning and fond memories; we should keep those things close because they bring us joy. Some would say to strip all the old out of our lives to replace it with the new. I don’t think so. Having some of the old with us helps us to walk in the new. KT

At some point you don’t have the experience

Career, Life

This was a statement that Tom Brady, the quarterback for the New England Patriots, made last week in an interview. If you follow football, you know that the New England Patriots are playing in the big game in a few weeks.

What you may not know is that Tom Brady is 37 years old and has played NFL football for 15 years. In football years, a 37 year old playing in the NFL is clearly in the outside realm of age.

When I read the statement in the news it gave me pause because it is a very profound statement. It means there is a time when you are effective at what you are doing, and there is a time when your ability to continue being effective changes. I was reminded of this last week in Miami at a presentation. I was presenting Hotel AG to a group of 15 bankers in a conference room. I was doing what I have always done and about halfway through the presentation, I realized that I was 20-25 years older than everyone else in that room.

I may have thought I was still effective, but that presentation would have been much more effective had I sent one of the young bucks to handle it. I call it the magic years. What I mean is there is a period of time in your life when you are most effective; the real challenge is knowing when that period is still ongoing or that period has passed. I have had clients in the hotel business that were very successful for a period in their life. Some of those same people tried to do it again, thinking they would be as successful as the first time only to find out that the magic has passed.

So, the comment from Tom Brady was really spoken out of wisdom that he was at the end of one career and probably at the beginning of another. I believe the real wisdom is to know and accept changes in our lives and embrace the fact that there is a time to be effective in certain areas of our lives and a time to begin to be effective in others. I think of fatherhood and obviously my role as a father has changed to be more of an encourager, counselor, and helper to my children as compared to the role I played when my daughters were young.

You ask what my point is. The point is to know where you are so you can be as effective as possible without continuing to try and live in the past and on past accomplishments. KT

Stepping out of expectations

Career, Family, Life

In life, sometimes we need to step out of expectations other people have for us. A lot of times the expectations are wholesome and uplifting, but other times they are mean spirited. Sometimes other people think we will fail and they quietly celebrate the failure. They won’t come out and say how happy they are to see you fail, but deep in their spirit they expect it and hope for it.

George Patton was an Army General in WWII and was very revered as a General, but was also a colorful, outspoken guy with a hard driving personality that got him in trouble at times. In 1940, he became the General in charge of the Second Armored Tank Division at Fort Benning, GA. He later moved on to other commands in the US and overseas as WWII continued on.

Fort Benning, GA is located in Columbus, GA and is next door and across the bridge from Phoenix City, AL. In the 1940s, most of the bars and gambling were in Phoenix City. His troops would go on leave for the weekend and go to Phoenix City to do whatever it was they did during off duty time. His troops would come back to base hurt, stabbed and sometimes shot because Phoenix City was a rough place back then. After several weekly calls to the city mayor in Phoenix City trying to get something done to keep his guys safe, he got mad one day. Being George Patton, he fired up the whole tank division and drove over the bridge to Phoenix City and surrounded the courthouse. When the mayor looked out his window at the tanks that surrounded the courthouse, all the blood drained from his face. Patton walked up to the courthouse and told the Mayor that if another one of his men was harmed in Phoenix City, he would bring the tanks back and literally level the city.

None of the soldiers were harmed again after that talk. Ha

Sometimes doing the unexpected is the right thing to do.

I was told that I would never be successful as a hotel broker; there were other brokers that actually laughed at me and how I was dressed because I didn’t have nice clothes, no formal education, and stuttered when I talked. I could have chosen to meet their expectations and slide away into some other line of work, or I could choose to not let their expectations define who I was. I choose the latter of those two options.

Sometimes you have to step out of the expectations of others and make a new path for your life. Don’t let people who are not supportive of you have control in your life and define your self-image and who you become. Most of the success stories you read involve a person with limited resources and limited expectations, yet they went on to do great things.

In summary, do not give the power of influence in your life to people that do not have your best interest in mind. Choose your friends and influences carefully. KT

What do you need to hear?

Life

Sometimes when we get lost in life’s issues. Hearing the right thing at the right time from the right person is priceless.

Let’s break this down. You can hear the right thing from the wrong person and you could still miss it, or you could hear the right thing at the wrong time and still miss it. When our heart is ready to accept something, we usually are more attuned and accessible to receiving advice.

I sell hotels, and sometimes we are the second broker that gets hired, which is not always a bad thing. The first broker told the seller what the value was, but the seller was not ready to hear it. By the time the second broker gets hired, the seller is more open to the idea that his value expectations are too high. Therefore, it needs to be hearing the right thing at the right time by the right person.

I have a friend who owns an auction company in Texas and he says, you want to be your wife’s first love, her second husband, and her third real estate agent. Ha. I made myself laugh.

The last example is I have a friend who lived at home with his mom and dad until he was 31 years old. His mom loved him, cooked for him, washed his clothes, cleaned his room, gave him good affirmation, ran interference for him if he had a problem and just basically doted on him. You guessed it– he was spoiled and then struggled in all areas of his life. So, what I am saying is too much love and parenting can also be a bad thing.

What is it you need to hear? At times we all need to hear love, respect, affirmation, words like “you can do it” and “you will be great,” etc. Sometime you need a challenging word from the right person that will kick you into gear and make you stop feeling sorry for yourself. What I am saying is we all need the right word at times in our life. Some of us need to be uplifted and some of us need to be challenged. One of the greatest awakenings of my life was the first day in boot camp in the US Navy. There were no words of comfort, affirmation or words like “come on I will help you” or “you can do it.” No siree, It was “you ___ maggot, do this or do that or stop that.” I am not saying those words helped me during boot camp, but they did force me to grow up and be a man and do it very quickly.

You ask what the point of this blog is. Here it is: get yourself ready to hear what you need to hear so that it has a positive effect on your life, your business and your family. KT

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear

Life

There are several variations on this quote from centuries ago, but the message is a pretty powerful point. It’s says that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

This means that regardless of how great the teacher is, what the objective is, or the reason you should make a change, you or anyone else will not make any change in your life until you are ready. That’s pretty deep, so let me hit it one more time. Until you are ready to change, you will never change. Once you are ready to make a change, you will find the inspiration to make the change.

Often people have a near death experience and afterwards really begin to fix the things that were wrong in their life. Why wait until you almost lose it all before you decide? It could be a relationship issue, weight issue, health issue, financial issue, morality issue, confidence issue, eating issue, fear issue, intimidation issue, or any number of situations that need some repair in our lives.

Sometimes the issues can be fixed and sometimes they can’t. Take relationships for an example. It is good if you can fix them and move forward with a great relationship, but the important thing is that you tried. I have some clients that simply don’t like me, and I don’t like them either for one reason or another. They know and I know there is no amount of effort that is going to change the situation. You just have to be bold, be confident in yourself, and know that you tried to do the right thing. After that, you just walk away and be a gentleman or a lady about it.

I was talking to someone the other day that was having an issue at work with a coworker. The fact is there will always be that person anywhere you go that you just can’t get along with. I don’t care if you are on Wall Street, Main Street or a pastor of a church. You just need to develop a way to not lose your temper and be the one that keeps their cool and takes the high road.

So in summary, we as adults will never change until we are ready to change. When we are finally ready, we will find the inspiration to make the changes we need. KT