American Prudential Capital, Inc.

Last week I had the wonderful privilege of watching a job well done. It wasn’t a baseball game, it wasn’t a concert, it wasn’t a good play.

It was logging and clearing. The land next to our new office building has sold and the logging company came in to clear the land for the new construction. It was awesome to behold. This group of guys really knows their jobs. And they do their jobs very well.

Men on heavy equipment took enormous pine trees down within a foot of my new fence. They never even scratched it. They drove huge loaders and scrapers and diggers within inches of the fence but never even brushed against it.

They did not waste a single tree either. All scrap was pulverized and taken off as mulch, you know the kind you put in your gardens. The trunks were trimmed and loaded to go to the sawmill to make 2 x 4’s and the like. Every single twig has been re-purposed or recycled. This was not a wasteful process.

Some of the trees that were there are what we call “trash trees” not good for much but brush fires. Yet, they too were recycled into mulch for our gardens to hold moisture on our fragile plants in the long Texas draught.

I imagine a different crew would have done a different job with different results. But this group of men was delightful to watch every day. I am sorry they are finished and moving on because there is nothing more satisfying than watching a “job well done” in the process.

There is only one way to judge an effort and that is by results; it is often harsh but it is always fair. It is fair to say that this crew is professionals. Their very neat results earn them the right to be called that. But if I just saw the results, I would not truly appreciate what “job well done” actually means.

If I just look at results, I miss the joy of the process, the camaraderie of the crew, the thrill of execution, the anticipation of completion.

If you have a crew doing anything, like a bunch of kids or employees or a sports team, please don’t just look at the results. Be a part of the process. If you don’t, you are missing a large part of what “job well done” really means.

Brenda

Those of us on the Texas Gulf Coast feel your pain on the East Coast today. If you are having a hard time deciding what to do, we have some tried and true suggestions:

1. Run for your life! Seriously, if you are “asked” to evacuate, just do it. Nothing you have is worth your life. As long as you are alive you can get more “stuff” but you cannot get more life. “It is appointed once for man to die.” Get a hotel reservation in a safe place that you can actually get to.

2. If you are not in the direct line of fire, plan to live by fire. Your biggest issue will be the lack of power. In Houston, it can be in the 90’s or 100’s following a hurricane and the lack of power means the lack of air-conditioning. So we all have generators to run fans and refrigerators. It may be too late for you to get these now in some areas but if you can, do.

3. Get gas cans. After a hurricane the gas stations take some time to come back on line. You may sit in line for hours just to buy some gas. Get some gas cans and fill them up. You will need the gas for the generator.

4. Fill your bathtub with water. Toilets don’t flush well without it and you may be without it for a while.

5. Now you can do the rest of the stuff everyone tells you to do: get flashlights with extra batteries, get a wind up radio, get phone chargers, get first aid, get medicine, get important documents, get food, get bottled water.

6. If you are going to “ride it out”, wear a water proof name tag with blood type and special medical needs so first responders can take care of you if you are injured. Do this especially for your children and elderly relatives. Try to all stay together. Finding each other after the fact can be difficult.

Believe me, Texans are praying for you today.
Brenda

Recently I reflected on why I don’t swim so much anymore. Like most folks, I fantasized for years what it would be like to have my very own pool in my back yard. But, I waited for the children in my family to get old enough to be safe around a pool.

Then the time came. I spent time interviewing pool builders, investigating their references and checking them out on the web. I worked with each one on their designs and finally settled on Brian Haub, a local pilot who also built pools. I chose him primarily because we could communicate and he was not hard selling me. He was the owner of his company and would be involved in the whole process. It was a good choice. The pool is great.

So, we swam and swam. Then what I think of as the second law of thermo dynamics began to operate. Over time things wore out and needed repair. There is the constant maintenance, year around maintenance. First, you try to use a service firm to do this, then you discover that they either are not doing what they should or they don’t know what they should.

After a while you inevitably try to do the cleaning and vacuuming and treating yourself. This does not go well and you are back at trying to find a qualified, honest pool service company.

Eventually you settle on one that charges more than you want but seems to do an adequate job except for the area over the waterfall outlet. So, you are back to doing pool maintenance just not all of it. You manage your expectations and stop expecting to find the perfect pool service company.

The point here is that in this process you find you have fallen out of love with that big hole in your back yard! It is my reflection that it is easy to fall in love with a virtual stranger; it is a very common practice. The trick is how do you stay in love when things start needing maintenance.

In my personal and business life God has used some difficult experiences to teach me to take joy in the process. By that I mean, if you are contemplating being married some day then don’t live in a fantasy world. Relationships start out like my dream of owning a pool. But eventually, there are things that need attending to. But don’t avoid the relationship just because you know this. Enjoy thinking about the kind of person you want to marry, the character traits, the beliefs, the values, the graces that are important to you.

Enjoy the process. Eventually, if you are clear about what is important to you, you will be led to someone who values the same things. Then enjoy the getting to know you stage, the planning for the future stage and the early commitment stage. By all means, talk about what you know is ahead even while you enjoy the moment. Discuss how you will handle the moments when you think you have fallen out of love.

If you do this well, you will learn what I have learned, it is still fun to jump in the pool! Yes, I know the pool has issues, problems and flaws. There is still stuff that needs working on. But my pool and I have moved from the Unknown to the Known stage of pleasure. We are like old friends now and we call out to each other in times of stress.

In business, take pleasure in dreaming, planning, and executing. But don’t neglect to take joy in the daily routine. Don’t fall out of love with your business. Don’t lose your passion for what you have created just because there are those bills to pay and calls to return. You didn’t resent those calls in the beginning. You were proud to pay those bills when you first started.

Here is the hidden secret, get up every day and tell yourself that YOU are the person your company has hired to replace YOU! It will do wonders for your attitude because if you neglect your relationships or your business, YOU will be replaced!

Blessings,
Brenda