We all have seen videos, games, presentations with the play arrow in the middle of the screen to get started. If you are watching a YouTube about how to paint your house, go ahead a hit that play button. However, in the weightier things/ big decisions in life, we would all do well to remember the pause button exists for a reason. It lets you stop and think about it before proceeding.

As you think back over your life there are probably memories of times you wish you could go back and hit pause instead of play. There may have been a job decision, relationship decision, parenting decision, financial decision, health decision and the list could go on for pages. The point is, when faced with a decision that will affect your future and your family’s future, the pause button is your friend because it lets you think it through.

In my career I have hit the pause button many times and thankful I did. There are also many times in business when I proceeded to hit play only to find out later, I should have hit pause. We cannot go back and rewind and get a do-over. We must live with the decisions we made, but we can use that knowledge in future decisions. Many times, a short pause can often be the difference between a good decision and a bad one. KT

Many or possibly even most of the life issues we come across that we think are stop signs, are only speed bumps. A speed bump slows you down, but it doesn’t stop you.

Some people because of fear or insecurity, will call a speed bump a stop sign. Why? Because they don’t believe they can handle the rejection if the idea fails. There are people that look for reasons something won’t work. You’ve seen people like that just like I have. It doesn’t matter what the idea is, there is always something wrong with it. Keep in mind, these same people never have an idea of their own but always enjoy tearing down other people’s idea. I have a distant family member that is like that. Just to look at him he is one of those people that thinks he holds all the wisdom and just loves for people to ask him what he thinks. He is sour man that just walks around with a cloud over him. He really enjoys playing the roll of the ultimate advisor on all things about life.

I remember one family gathering he was just sitting over in the corner all prune-faced just waiting for someone to ask him what he thought so he could spring into action. It made me laugh (under my breath) when no one wanted to know what he thought. He finally got up and left and I have never asked him his opinion since. There are people like this in every walk of life from business, family, financial and even in many churches. They never agree with anything and always point out the weak points and list the why’s it will never work.

Lastly there are many people that look for a stop sign so they can have a good reason not to do something. They (in their heart) don’t believe they can do it, so they fabricate a speed bump into a stop sign so they can say “see, I told you.” In our neighborhood we have many more speed bumps than we do stop signs. They say to the driver, we just want to slow you down a little bit, but not stop you. That’s the way it should be in life, slow down a little and be cautious, careful, and thoughtful, but don’t let fear be a stop sign. KT

There are moments in life that you look back on and realize you made the wrong decision. One such decision for me was typing class my senior year of high school.

When I put together my schedule, I needed an elective and somehow, I ended up in typing class. I remember thinking, “there is no need for me to learn how to type. I’m never going to use it in life” So what did I do? I transferred out of typing and got into a guitar class. Boy, that was a good career move!

There is not a day that goes by at work, when I am typing with two fingers, that I don’t think about that decision. I see all these other people with their hands in the right place and using all 10 fingers and it looks so simple.  Here I am hunting and pecking like a chicken, when if I had just stayed in the right class, how much easier communicating would be. Of course, for all those who are young reading this blog, we didn’t have computers, laptops, cell phones, snap chat, Facebook, email, and texting. The closest thing I came to typing was tightening the hose clamp on my Corvair.

For me the internet was the wiring under my car dash, A ram was a Dodge truck, Bandwidth was what Three Dog Night was singing. Memory was how I played at the last football game. Bits and Bytes was what you got in woods. Reboot was when you tried on another pair. Broadband was the Mama’s & the Papas band. Virus, spyware, worm, and Malware referred to being sick or Russian, or fishing or your underwear was too tight. A cookie and spam were something you ate; you get the point. Ha

Anyway,,,,,sometimes those itty-bitty decisions can have a long-term effect on your life, so choose well. KT

A detour is not always bad. Sometimes it is God’s way of keeping you out of harm’s way.

25 years ago, was traveling with another hotel broker and when we got to the airport, the flight was delayed to the point we were going to miss our meeting. I was a little angry and the other broker looked at me and said, “look at it as God keeping us from a time or a place where we shouldn’t be. If the client doesn’t hire us because of this, we probably weren’t going to get the business anyway.” That piece of wisdom stopped me in my tracks and became my adopted thought process from that point forward.

We were traveling a couple weeks ago to my Mom’s in Virginia and we had been on the road for 10 hours. We get three miles from my Mom’s exit and the traffic is stopped on the interstate. We were tired, hungry and a little irritated and that last three miles took us 30 minutes. I had to take a deep breath and focus on what I had learned about detours and delays. We got through it and everything was ok.

So, when life gives you a detour or delay, just take a deep breath and think about this blog. KT

I am in a sales business and I am a salesman. If I have learned one incontrovertible truth it is this. Nothing sales like confidence.

In our business we have all kind of pitch decks, glossy presentations and opinions of value and the best analytics money can buy. I have seen this thousands of times and it never ceases to amaze me every time it happens. The client will look at the materials you have presented but it always comes down to that 30 second decision where the client wants to hear what you personally think as compared to what you hand out for the meeting. It is in that 30 seconds, where the decision is made. That is where your confidence takes front and center and you either win the day or you don’t

I have always found it necessary to put myself in the client’s shoes and think like him or her. In doing this, I usually write down the questions they want to ask but may not voice. I also ask myself what is their motivation in selling or buying? I have found that if you can answer those questions without them having to ask, it is how you win the business. Some business trained folks think it is always about the money and I am here to tell that it isn’t. It is important but rarely the main reason. If you can get to the real motivation it will change how you present your findings.

I also know that many people work for a company and there is no selling involved. You just think there is no selling involved, but the truth, is everyone is a salesman. Every time you interact with someone else, you are selling yourself and what you believe in. You could be a school teacher, pastor, consultant, contractor, or a greeter at Walmart and every one of you is a salesperson. You are selling an experience and your belief in where you work or what you do. Confidence is contagious, compelling, and engaging and everyone wants to be around people that have it.

If you could pray for the thing that could change your life trajectory it would be self-esteem and self-confidence. KT