Old Dog, New Tricks!

Don’t allow yourself to be complacent about your current situation.  It’s quite simple to let your life simply cascade by day by day without the need to change or improve.

My world was interrupted and as a result everything I think about has a new perspective.  Old friends and love ones now appear in a different light. Who would of thought!

My contributions and actions that were once committed to a desired outcome are now reshuffled.  New realities re-prioritize your daily activities.

Today and each day forward I am a new man changed by the world’s life lessons.  I look forward to dedicating my talents and all that I have learned to new objectives and goals.

Trust me; it is not fun to start down a tough path with a desired plan with one hand of cards and life deals you a different hand.  However, that is the real world folks and I am grateful now that I learned that lesson.  Life is not all cake and ice cream.

Every day my eyes are a bit wider.  I now bring to the table a newer version of and old dog that has learned new tricks!  I am getting over a bit of disappointment and smiling a little more each day.

I know what I am capable of and hopefully a new landing platform will be available in order for me to launch a new version of “Noble One!”

I am so thankful that I took the time to “giveback” to this world.  It has matured me and brought me countless new friends and relationships. 

The privilege was mine to change my close friends lives and more importantly, young folks lives that now are impacted for a lifetime!  It is quite an honor and very gratifying.

Tomorrow and the next offer a new future and I am excited about the possibilities.  I am thankful that I have new tools in my toolbox and the wisdom from lessons learned.

So my advice to you!  Be careful where you anchor your ship, a storm awaits and you need to make sure to set your sails to ride out a new adventure.

Why?  It sucks to sink!

NobleOne

 

 

Why Change?

Think about it, when life is giving you cake and ice cream , why rock the boat, why change?


When your family is happy and you look forward to coming home, why change?


People change for all sorts of reasons.  Usually it has something to do with being uncomfortable.  However change is not easy or comfortable!


When you select change understand that potentially everyone in your world is invited to change as well!  Don't take change lightly.


I find myself today in "change" mode!  It truly is an interesting phenomena for me.  I'm somewhat of a steady Eddie.  You can set your clock to my habits on a daily basis.  I do everything I can to build a steady platform to live my life and then duplicate actions and attitude to preserve the comfort of not needing to change!


It takes a pretty good size event to rock my world however in my 59 youthful years I have already had a few.  What does that do for me?  It allows me to take that next step even when I don't quite know where it will take me!  A new path, new adventure, new life! 


On these last few trips around the sun I learned a significant new life lesson!  My change can cause change in others.  In these last few days after moving away from one life and steering towards another I find myself surrounded by love and gratitude from countless folks that jumped on my train and took a life changing ride! 


You might consider a change good for you, however let me share this!  There is something very powerful in knowing your efforts made a difference in someone else's life beyond your own! 


These changes fortunately last! It's pretty cool to watch old friends and new ones become better folks!  It's a whole lot cooler when you change a teenager's life and watch a renaissance of new behavior placing them on a new productive path!


Looking back at past changes in my life.  Each time I got to set a few more things straight and experience life in a new way that was not known prior to embarking on a different direction. 


Life sometimes is like a speedboat.  You can steer straight and stay in the channel or explore more unique tributaries, however you can't change the wake of your boat.  As I look back at mine, I am fortunate that it makes me smile wide!


Don't go a changing unless perhaps you might want to help others change! 


Consider that!




NobleOne

Retire or Rehire?

Things can certainly change in just a week!  After being asked to attend a high level meaning hosted by great folks and old friends that have supported The Noblemen for these many years I listened to new ideas on how best to move forward!   The overwhelming message I received was “all volunteer.”

I volunteered in September of 1995 to launch an organization that would repay the debt I felt I owed to my community for helping me get through the premature birth of my son Matt! 

What a ride it has been, everything from Justin Thatcher to Zoe Walenius to Amber Robinson to Reginald Land to Bryce Curry’s new shower, tons of toys and countless Noble Deeds. 

Most of all I have a whole host of new friends that vibrate at a slightly higher level and take time not only to be successful in their own lives but reached out to help others.  Great stuff indeed.

I have had several great careers in my life starting out with Ferguson Enterprises, moving on to Residential and Commercial Real Estate to Geothermal Heating and Cooling.  I'm confident there is a future!

Tomorrow I face my 59th birthday and if I am reading the tea leaves correctly I will be facing a great deal more than that!

Retire?  Not in the cards I’m afraid.  I can’t even afford to re-tire what I own now!  12 car tires, 4 tractor tires, 4 motor cycle tires, 6 bicycle tires, 4 ATV tires and countless accessories’ tires. 

Tomorrow will be another day!  I am keeping my eyes open for next steps, new passion, new vision and exploring the opportunity to continue to make a difference in people’s lives.

What's on your schedule?

NobleOne



Whoa, I didn't think I would make it this far, and other difficulties!

My father passed away at age 59 and all his brothers and sister, my uncles and aunt, have now joined him!  This month I will turn 59. 

Trust me I am no pessimist and most would say my glass is always half full.  It just never leaves my mind that my future is uncertain at best.

Last week I was faced with the reality if changes were not made The Noblemen would not make it till the end of the year without suffering significantly!

Wow which one of us will die first?

Perhaps it’s time for some good ole reality therapy!

I woke up this morning and plan to do the same for the immediate future!

Last week I met with my board and made the decision to close down our office at the beach and ask staff to now volunteer!  

I remember writing a blog a while back describing growth as 5 steps forward, 5 steps back, 5 steps forward, 5 steps back, 5 steps forward, 4.5 steps back – Yay!

I recently attended the Global Leadership Conference held at Spring Branch.  John Maxwell spoke to me when he referred to all growth as a “climb.”  You never get to somewhere great and look back and say “I wonder how I got here!”

I look forward to next steps and invite all of you to evaluate your current scenario.  Pain and discomfort are “no fun” as motivators.  They do work however!  Your choice!

Today I celebrate a wife that I love and loves me back!  A son that I love and gives me a reason to do what I do.  A dog that loves me more than life itself!  A career that clearly impacts my life as well as a few others!

WTF do I have to complain about!

Today is a great day and I look forward to tomorrow!

NobleOne

I've got something to say

My life was set in a new direction in 1993 when my son Matt was born despite given only a 2% chance of survival.   Tough decisions and strong faith rewarded me with a son, a family and a reason to alter my life’s course.  

My heart started to beat in a new way and my soul directed me to take action.  I’ve done my best to honor that calling to “balance the gift” that was given to me!

The Noblemen are my employer, my career, my calling, my family, my why!

Today I face many new challenges requiring me to even question the relevance of my actions over time. 

I would like to remind my community “why” I created this organization…

• To share the "joy" when you focus on giving not getting
• To provide that “platform” for others to use to improve the lives of the children that surround them
• To have “fun” creating our own local philanthropy and seeing first hand what we can do to change someone's life!
•  To explore cool new ways of helping kids using my friends, my town, and local businesses, combining our talents to make something great!
• I have "no agenda" other than creating and doing something amazing for all of my members, partners and my community!

Monday I need to shift into new gears in order to take The Noblemen to a new place of relevance!

 I can’t do it without

• Old friends
• Friends I haven’t met
• Making changes
• New leaders
• New talent
• Great Vision!

I strongly encourage my community to support The Noblemen, I promise to deliver an amazing return on your investment!

Love you all!

NobleOne

Who's with me?

Got a grievance, now what?

For whatever reason, this year has presented me with the opportunity to be “pissed off” at quite a few folks. 

…and I also know there are two sides to every story! 

What I started to observe was the misery I was attracting to myself by talking about how I/we were wronged.  Also how "someone else" is going to be responsible for making it right!

Harboring a grievance allows you to say “I am right and You are wrong.”  In the end there will be no winners! 

Consider this…in everyday life when a friend or perhaps a stranger confronts you with a right or wrong situation, what is the outcome?

Example, Why did you? / How come you? It immediately puts most people into a combative or defensive mode.  Rarely do you state “you know you are right, and I am wrong.”

I seemed to have forgotten what I learned at Ferrum College in my Assertiveness Training class.  Seek ways to discover how all conversations end in “win win” scenarios. 

Life is too short to allow negatively to enter into your life.  It truly can be cancerous to your health and to your relationships with others. 

There is always a high road and I plan to stay on that highway!

Be Noble!

NobleOne

Sometimes it’s as simple as walking your dog!

We have a young Labrador retriever that still has a bit of curiosity in him.  A great dog however still working on perfection! 

We are early risers and so is Marlin. (our dog)

Marlin starts his day traveling down our lane going to see his best friend Rosabelle.  Rosabelle is my cousin Willard’s dog that lives a short distance away directly on Back Bay. 

Marlin usually goes for a quick swim and a short play session and then comes home ready to start his duties with Marge and the horses.

 

Lately he has started wandering to the other end of our road and checking things out.  He would go “missing” and that is not a good thing!

I hated not letting him out, so Marge and I decided to give him a better option.  We started to take an early walk and make sure Marlin was a big part of it. 

In no time, Marlin refused to wander far in the morning because he knew we would be walking soon, and he was not going to miss out on that!

I have learned over time that discipline doesn’t always work, sometimes you just need to offer a better option! 

The return on investment…

My wife and I enjoy a wonderful walk in the county catching up with everything that’s going on in our lives and observing “all” kinds of nature happening around us. 

You see we live in southern Va. Beach and it’s untarnished by all of the stuff that happens at the other end of this great town.

The second one of us starts the process of putting on our shoes or shorts, our dog Marlin is in full I want to go, I want to go, I want to go, mode!

If my day starts with a dog and a woman that loves me…taking a walk down a quiet road…watching the corn grow…

it’s gonna be a good day!

NobleOne