Funny story – Guys do some crazy things. 26 years ago, me and my two closest buds started our own hotel brokerage company called Thompson-Calhoun-Fair.  One day we got this shipment of office supplies and as we opened the box, we saw that the shipper had used these big rubber bands to hold the materials in place. Now when I say big rubber band, what I mean is they looked like a fan belt for a Mazda car.

The rubber bands could take the paint off a door if you aimed it straight on.

Well,,,,,, guys being guys, one day my partner was coming into the conference room and bent over to get something out of the drawer and I got one of those rubber bands and pulled it back and shot him in in the haunches and it slapped him so hard he squealed like a nine year old girl. I laughed so hard I just about hurt myself. Well, you guessed it, before long all three of us were walking around the office holding these Mazda fan belts and we started shooting each other.

Of course, guys being guys, we had to set some ground rules, and the holy grail ground rule was that if you accidentally shoot someone in the neck or face, you’d have to stand in the penalty box and let the other two partners take a free shot.

Needless to say, we all spent some time in the penalty box. So, a week or so later I went home and was changing clothes and took my shirt off and looked at myself in the mirror and I had welts, scratches, and sores all over my chest and back. It looked like I had been in fight with three tigers. I mean I was beat up. After a while, it got so bad I’d have to change clothes in the closet. Ha

One time the three of us were in Washington meeting with very important client. We were setting up the Power Point presentation in the conference room before the client’s team came in. My partner Mark was leaning over the conference room table hooking up the projector and me and the other partner Al, were standing behind Mark as he reached over the table. You guessed it, we both took out the rubber bands and hit him so hard in the rump his eyes watered. The three of us looked like the Three Stooges laughing when all the clients walked into the conference room. It took us a good 60 seconds to stop laughing. The clients thought, what a bunch of goobers, but then they started laughing at us laughing and wouldn’t you know it, the client loved us and hired us. ha

We’ll all good things come to an end so a few weeks later we decided we would do better selling hotels than engaging in rubber band battles and only brought out the shooters on special occasion like when one of really did something stupid.

Elaine and I just moved to the lake back in June and as I was unpacking, I found one of those big rubber bands in one of the drawers. I had to laugh a little at the craziness all those years ago but as I thought about, there was an unintended bond that developed between us three partners that was special and lasted a lot of years until we sold the company.

Memories are powerful and can transport you right back to a specific time in your life and like the rubber band story, it was great to remember good times with good friends. K

I think we will all agree there are no return tickets in life. You cannot go back and do it differently. We have one shot at getting life right.

I have always (don’t laugh) been intrigued by the concept of time travel. I know it is not real and it is impossible, but it is fun to think about. However, I do believe we can time travel in a manner of speaking, by imagining our future life. You are not actually in the future but can imagine what it will be like.

The title on the blog is ‘If you could do a look-back.’ What I mean is just imagine (picture in your mind) your future self looking back on today’s decisions and which ones your future self will be glad you made today. Take Honestly, integrity, loyalty, faithfulness, generosity, love, respect, honor to name a few and trust me, your future self will be glad you made these types of correct decisions today.

God will forgive and forget your life missteps, but the people in your life cannot forget. Reputations will follow you all your life. I know this because my two son-in laws are in the same business as me and you can’t hide being dishonest and a scoundrel. Thankfully, I don’t have to worry about some clients saying bad things about me, because I have a clean conscious. I have always tried my best to treat others the way I want to be treated.

So, my point, when you are faced with an important decision, take a minute and fast forward in your mind to your future self and what decision your future self will be glad you made today. KT

If you haven’t watched the movie ‘Miracle’ it is on Netflix now. I have watched the movie probably 10 times. Ha

What happened with the Woman’s and Men’s US Olympic Hockey teams over the last couple of days will be talked about for generations. Each team has won only three gold medals in 105 years (since 1920) the US has had an Olympic hockey team. Never before have both the Woman’s and Men’s team won the gold at the same Olympics.

Watching the Men’s game yesterday and the celebration after the win, warmed the hearts of America with a sporting event that was actually uplifting. Every hockey player was proud of America and proud of living in America. I heard the speaker phone call last night when the President called the whole team to congratulate them. Every hockey player was excited to talk to the President and even called him ‘Boss’ on the phone and said that both teams will be at the While House tomorrow to meet the President.

Kurt Russell is getting a little long in the tooth to play the Olympic hockey team coach in Mircle #2, but maybe he can pull it off and create another heart-warming uplifting American movie. KT

My oldest daughter used a term this past weekend describing her resilience on an issue. She said, “I was 10 toes down.” I had never heard the term before and thought it worthy of a blog post.

It means digging in and not surrendering. It means to be ready. If you have ever played a sport, be it, football, tennis, track, baseball, you will understand the term. In baseball, if you are standing in the batter’s box and the pitch is coming, you have dug in your toes getting ready to take the swing, hence the term 10 toes down. It means you are committed to what you are about to do. If you run track or getting ready to hit a tennis ball, you are on the balls of your feet with your toes dug in. You are not laying back on your heels.

Outside of sports and in life, there are times and situations that do not demand your full attention and then there are moments when you have to take a stand. It is a metaphor that in those moments you are 10 toes down in that situation.

Think of it this way, you can’t fight in flipflops. There is no traction in flipflops. You have to be able to grip your toes down in order to fight. So the next time you wear flipflops just know that you will not be ready for something to happen. Ha.

People can laugh at me all they want, say things about me all they want but if they say something about my family or my God, I am going to be 10 toes down. Love ya. KT

Hopefully, we all have many mountain top experiences throughout our life but you can’t plan your life around the high points. You cannot go from mountain top to mountain top without going through a valley every now and then.

I think when you are on the mountain top, how you act somehow determines the length of the valley ahead of you. If you act arrogant, elitist, and like you are better than your fellow man, I think the valley may be a little longer walk than if you had acted with humility. A few years ago I saw a guy at a conference one who was probably 75-80 years old, and he had on the finest of suits and shoes and had dyed his hair jet black. He was walking around like a strutting peacock thinking he was looking good, when in reality, he was just embarrassing himself. He was probably a successful person at some point in his life, but he refused to treat each life cycle with grace and acceptance. I saw this other guy one time driving a big 1985 Cadillac Brougham series with the gold package. His personal license plate said “Slick.” This man was also probably in his late 70s and probably bought the car new and had paid the fee each year to keep his license plate current because he thinks it describes himself.

Things and circumstances can change very quicky. The last recession periods proved that point very well. The ones who survived were the conservative ones who didn’t overleverage their business and stayed within their means. The ones who lost everything were the highly leveraged ones who never thought a downturn could ever happen.

Humility is a very real and very present choice in all our lives. You will not always be on top, and the deciding factor is usually how you handle yourself when you are.

Mac Collins was a congressman from Georgia in the early ’90s, and he was also a friend of mine. I called Mac one day, and I told him I wanted to fly up to Washington and just hang out with him in the congressional building to understand what he did. He said, “come on.” When you walk in the building, immediately you can understand how power can be addictive to men and women and how they will do whatever it takes to stay in the position of power. Not Mac. He owned a concrete business in Jackson, Georgia, and the Mac Collins I saw in Washington was the same Mac Collins I saw at church. He did not change even though his surroundings changed. In Georgia, we have had some doozy congressmen and congresswomen who simply could not walk away from the heady power of Washington; a few of them even walked away to a jail cell.

The one thing I remember the most about Mac Collins’ office was the sign hanging over his desk chair. The sign simply read “Be Real.” It was a great lesson for me that day and one that Mac Collins lived every day.

We all need great examples to follow of men and women who are honest, bold, forthright, transparent, and real leaders. It is so great when we meet one that did keep it real. KT