The Whiskey Made Me Do It (Surfing into 2018)

Well, this is awkward.

It’s been, what, 9 or 10 months since I last wrote something? I’m afraid to look back and see exactly what my last post was.

Oh, the headline of this blog? That was mainly to grab your attention; my Communications Director doesn’t let me write about anything the whiskey actually makes me do.

Honestly? This photo is mainly to make me think of my happy place at Dale Hollow and to loosely tie the surfing title into this post. Is it August yet?

But, it worked and you’re already here…so keep reading.

Here is the thing…what do you write about when things are good? In an era of watching The Bachelor not to see love, but to see heartbreak, or watching the cable news of your choice to bask in your preferred reality politician, it is easy to be jaded with the “honest to goodness” (I’m including a link for those of you that aren’t Hoosiers, who didn’t have to suffer through that awful marketing campaign), it can seem mundane to write about the normal status quo.

2017 was a wild year. My staff doubled in size. We closed our “biggest ever” deal twice in a 5 month period. I got to watch my staff blossom into the most bad assed team around. I lived a relatively normal life. I was on TV way more than I ever expected. I was in more board rooms than I ever imagined. I got to subtly taunt those that said I would fail simply through the success that came from hard work. My 2017 was the most normal year I had in a decade. Sure, there was failures and disappointment, but, it was, in reality, the most defining year of my professional career and my personal life.

Things were good in 2017. And 2018 is looking pretty good so far.

We’ve come a long way from me counter-surfing leftovers at the Speak Easy while in the middle of a divorce and a negative account balance in my bank account back in 2013.

I sometimes feel like the grumpy old man in our office as I catch myself saying “back in the day, we didn’t know what was going to happen. I was the last one to get paid. I often didn’t get paid at all. You kids (my staff) are spoiled with this fancy equipment that actually works! We used to have to CARRY the TV in and put it on a folding table.”

The problems and difficulties have changed and I know that this whole growing up thing has changed me. I’ve had to learn to manage, delegate, instruct; and most of all realize that these days I am often involved in only the BIG things (good and bad) versus the dozen LITTLE things that deserve to be celebrated every single day. I still don’t know how to get it across to my staff that they have the freedom they do because I trust them with what I have built and am so proud of them (hey, maybe at least one of them will read this…who knows).

I’m sure that this year, with a goal of getting back to writing, that I will be able to pen more about life; the competitor(s) who is so focused on me they’re putting themselves out of business, the hilarity of my entire staff embracing the panda as our unofficial mascot. But, really, I really want to dive into the good: love, life, travel, dogs, the never ending home remodel, the continued successes at work, and the incredible people who I am lucky to surround myself with on a daily basis. 

But, I think my biggest realization over the last year? It’s time to stop looking back as much, and to keep looking forward. Only this time, not out of simple survival, but because the future looks damn good.

So, check check, is this thing on?

Cheers and Love,

-th