Back to it after some rest

Finally getting caught up

After approximately 2,000 miles and 30 hours of drive time our 2023 family vacation was in the books.

Getting to walk on Tennessee soil is always wonderful but spending 1 night in Nashville did much good for my soul. To this day, my wife and I are constantly tempted to pull up our Dallas roots and plant new roots in middle Tennessee.

So many beautiful memories flood my mind when I’m in Nashville and I’ll always hold those close to my heart.

I work very hard to ensure my wife and children have everything they want but I’ll admit I put in extra effort to fulfill my own selfish desire to hopefully have a house just south of Nashville.

Time and effort will eventually tell if we can make this come true.

Moments of reflection

A lot of windshield time leads to a lot of thinking time.

I recently wrote about how difficult business ownership can be. So many days result in sitting in your own failures and feeling isolated in those moments.

I don’t write about these feelings to feel any pity - this is the path that I’ve chosen to walk down but it’s freeing to freely admit to the occasional heaviness.

During my hours of windshield reflection I decided in myself to make an even greater effort to not allow discouragement to creep in and paralyze my decision making. This exercise certainly isn’t solo so if you find yourself being pinged by me to learn about your own struggles then please indulge me.

Who knows - being open and reflecting with each other may lead to tremendous growth as professionals and people.

Sharing Neyland Stadium with my children

I got to take my oldest boys into Neyland Stadium not only for a Vols game but also for an unplanned tour of the stadium.

My life motto has evolved into “ask for forgiveness and note permission” and I put this into full force. The door to Neyland Stadium was (literally) open so I thought it would be fun to see how far we could go.

10 minutes later we found ourselves standing in the beautiful empty cathedral taking it in together. I loved this moment and will hold on to it forever.

Our game experience - despite the Vols lackluster offensive performance - was amazing.

Bonus of the trip was a chance to meet up with my friend, Curt. My oldest boys got to meet him and it was great to briefly catchup in-person.

Pro life tip: Find friends who will take time out of their day to meet up when maybe it’s not convenient and show interest in your family. Thanks, Curt! My boys loved meeting you!

Busy Q4 ahead

Life keeps moving and I’ll find myself in California in just over a week. I travel to Temecula, CA throughout the year to meet with an awesome client and their entire team.

I love my work with ISM and TTB - the relationships I’ve built with the entire team have benefited my greatly. Being around many of them has grown me as a man and a Christian so it’s always wonderful to spend a few days both working and communing.

Southern California is beautiful and yet it’s so terrible what has happened to this state through an absolutely destructive local government. I’ve had great memories there over the years but there are certainly deep-rooted issues spreading throughout the entire state.

Other than California, I’ll find myself (hopefully) back in Knoxville, then Louisiana, and maybe Austin.

Both travel and desk time will keep me running toward a ton of great opportunities. I’ve got some large goals I’m pushing towards going into YE so I’m feeling (and embracing) the good pressure as the year is coming to a close.

Random value add & personal feelings

Anybody out there listen to the Shawn Ryan Show? My brother talked about him and I recently listened to his interview with an ethical hacker.

Warning: The content is shocking as it discusses sexual predators who target children but I consider it a must-listen if you even consider having children.

Personal thoughts that may offend: Child predators commit such atrocities. I can only hope the efforts mentioned in the above-mentioned episode plus any other efforts to put these people under a prison are successful. I have not a moment of positive emotion for these people - and no, Minor Attracted People (MAP) IS NOT A THING!

Closing wishes

My very best to each of you as we close out Q3. Hopefully the final 3 months of the year are prosperous for each of you.

Keep pushing yourselves and refuse to be downtrodden despite whatever challenges present themselves.

Please wish the same for me - I have so much to chase after and I’m loving every minutes of it.