Dec 31...

365 days ago my family was getting ready to host the Stepp family for New Years.  Setting up a fryer to make wings and onion rings.  Reheating some CFA trays.  Sooo much food!

2017 was a good year.  Sales over $7 million.  CEMS and profits high.  2nd Highest Average Wage in the state.  Family was doing well.  It was a good year.

2018 was a big question mark.  We knew 3 new competitors were coming.  We knew a remodel was coming.  We were beginning the idea of more "owners" in the store.  2018 was shaping up to be a year with quite a few challenges.  And it turned out to have even more than we expected.  2 12" snow storms.  2 Hurricanes.  Remodel got stretched about an extra week.

Today, my family is getting ready to host the Stepp family for New Years.  Setting up a fryer to make wings and onion rings.  Reheating some CFA trays.  Sooo much food!

2018 was a good year.  Sales almost broke even with 2017 even though we had a 5 week remodel, 2 12" snow storms, 2 Hurricanes and 3 competitors open up. It was a good year.  Lots of stories.  Stories of growth.

2019 is coming.  A new chapter in each of our stories.  Right now its a blank sheet.  What are you going to include in your story this year?  What are you going to cut out of your story?  What are you going to add to your story?

365 days from now, Lord willing, my family will be getting ready to host the Stepp family for New Years.  Setting up a fryer to make wings and onion rings.  Reheating some CFA trays.  Sooo much food! 

2019 is going to be a good year!       

No, No, No...

When I was about 7 years old I remember balling as my parents took me to registration.  I didn't want to go.  I really didn't want to go.  And, I don't think the next year was much better.  But, the years after that got better and eventually I'd go to registration without crying.  I probably even started to look forward to it.  That second year, I discovered I was actually pretty good at it.  IT was baseball.  IT became a significant part of my life, hours of fun, opened opportunities, life lessons...

When I was 17, some classmates of mine thought I should go on a date with a girl I'd never met.  I said NO over and over again but they were relentless.  Finally, I agreed to go on a date with Kaylyn.  We got married 6 years later and nobody has had a more significant impact on my life since then.     
 
A few months later, still 17, a baseball coach came to one of my high school games and offered me the opportunity to start all 4 years on the ball team at his college.  Oglethorpe University.  I had applied at probably 6-7 universities and was planning to attend University of Georgia and try to walk on the baseball team at the time I talked to Coach Meyer.  There was only ONE university that I had said I didn't want to attend during this college selection process.  Oglethorpe University.  It was small and very "academic".  I wanted a big school to blend in at.  You could see the campus from the train we'd take into Atlanta for Braves Games.  When we'd pass OU, I'd often comment, "I'll never go there".  I wasn't balling but I certainly wasn't looking forward to the college life at OU but I was thankful to be able to play 4 more years of baseball.  And, OU became a significant part of my life, bridging baseball and CFA as the key activities in my life.

When I was 21, I was still trying to figure out what I was going to do after college.  I had thought through jobs such as accounting, marketing, psychology, coaching, teaching...  None seemed to fit.  Some of my peers kept mentioning CFA as a career.  No, no, no...  I didn't want a career in fast food.  In fact, I'd even begun looking for part time work to replace CFA while in college.  While looking for other jobs at a career fair I came upon a booth for CFA.  I hadn't thought about working at the corporate office and it suddenly seemed like a decent option.  As I inquired about that role CFA said NO but they asked if I'd be interested in owning a location.  No, no, no.  But my peers kept nudging me and I realized that I could do every one of those roles I mentioned above while in the role of CFA Operator.  Obviously, that decision has had a significant impact on my life.

When I was 23, CFA asked me if I'd like to become the owner of Memorial Drive FSR.  I had been an interim manager at that location for a few months and knew it had minimal potential.  We were dead last in the chain in sales for FSRs and profit was negative every year.  I was making $30k as the manager and that's what I would expect to make as the owner, plus I'd then have to pay 100% of my social security tax.  A 7% cut in take-home pay.  I didn't want to be tied down to that store so I said NO.  CFA asked again and I said NO again.  Then they told me they would work with me to relocate IF I took Memorial Drive and generated a good track record.  So, I finally said YES.  Without that YES at Memorial Drive, Roxboro Rd wouldn't have happened for me.

Around this time of my life I began to notice a trend and I began to wise up.  Just about everything that's had a positive impact in my life started with me saying NO.  And, it's funny.  Many, if not most, of the things I wanted to say YES to initially, were things that were in the way of the better things. 

Another common thread is that God was using those around me.  They were persistent.  Sometimes it was the same person but often it was multiple people separately nudging me.  God will use whoever and whatever he needs to answer our prayers and stear us if we just listen.

When I hear myself say NO to something, I then begin asking myself if this is one of those NO's that needs to become a YES.  Even 20 years later I still find myself going down the NO path when I should be more open minded.

What have you been saying NO to?  What opportunities feel like NO's right now?  What has God placed in front of you that you are saying NO to?                   

                                                   

Puzzled - Part III

Working on Puzzle number 3 this winter.  This one is Niagara Falls.  See a theme?  I like puzzles of places we've been.  I was born a couple miles from Niagara Falls and my first home was a small cottage on the Niagara River, just upstream from the falls (now there are bazzilion $$ mansions there and I think the cottage is a guest house, or servant's house).  My mom would ride me on her bike to the falls and back.  I was 2 when we moved to Nebraska so my childhood "memories" of Buffalo and Niagara Falls are limited to the pictures my parents have.  

But, we've taken our family up there a couple times and enjoy the splendor of the falls as well as the tasty food up there.  Buffalo Wings!!!  They really did start up there and a place called Anchor Bar and Grill is accepted to be the original home of the wings.  BUT a place called Duffs has the best wings.  Mmmmmm!!!  But, that's not it.  Anderson's Frozen Custard and Ted's Hot Dogs.  These places have been around at least 50 years and there is a reason.  

Anyway, Riley and I were doing the puzzle last night.  She got it started and then I jumped in.  After a while, she was done.  And so was I.  Puzzles are fun BUT after you've been working on the same puzzle for a while, you need a break.  Sometimes you just can't find the piece you are looking for.  Or, your eyes need a break.  When you come back to it later, its easy to jump back in and often that piece you couldn't find is right there, in front of you.  You just needed a break.  You needed to step away for a moment.  Maybe 15 minutes.  Maybe 2 hours.  Maybe a day.  

Life can be the same.  Lot's of puzzles being put together.  Kid's school and sports schedules.  Work.  church stuff.  family stuff.  If you just keep on working on those puzzles without a break, you will get worn out.  Your eyes will hurt.  Your head will hurt.  Your back will hurt.  And you'll probably experience quite a bit of frustration.  

Often stepping a way can help you be a more effective "puzzle assembler".  Ideally, you plan ahead and schedule moments to step away.  15 minutes during the day.  2 hours. 1/2 a day.  A full day.  A week.  Stepping away can be critical to your effectiveness.  Even if it's stepping away from something that is leisurely and fun.                         

        

Snow Days

2 10+ inch snow storms in one year!  Pretty crazy.  And beautiful.  And relaxing.  I'm guessing you did things during the snow that you might not have done otherwise.  AND, I'm guessing you didn't do some things you would have done.  Why?  Probably because you couldn't.  That was the case in my household.

So, I sat in my favorite chair, with coffee, a book and a fire in the fireplace.  And when I needed a break from that I moved over to the next puzzle we were putting together.  Then meal time came and we had some good "snow day food" like sausage balls, little ham/Swiss Hawaiian roles and a warm, tasty soup.  So relaxing and refreshing. 

Here is a question?  Why don't we do "snow days" more often?  Do we need snow to take a break?  It's the south.  We could go a couple winters without a real snow fall.  Why can't we just plan a "snow day" every month?  Or even every week?  Maybe Sabbath rest looks something like this.     

If you enjoyed the downtime during this snowstorm why not just schedule it into your life to have "snow days"?  It can be challenging when we have so many options normally.  Work, shopping, church events, sports, school, projects, chores...  There are alot of good things that can get on your calendar.  If we survived the shut down during the snow, maybe we could survive a regular, planned shut down every week, month, or even a short shut down every day.  Just pretend there is 12 inches of snow on the ground and you don't have all those other options. 


 

             
   

EMT Leadership

Regan has been taking an EMT course at Durham Tech this semester and is completing the clinicals now.  That means she is working 12 hour shifts on an ambulance or in an ER and participating in the patient services.  Pretty fascinating stuff.  After just 3-4 month of class she can help a patient keep breathing or even restart their heart.

As she has progressed I've learned about the roles of the people working in ambulances and in the ER.  It's actually surprisingly simple.  Their job is to keep you from dying.  Often, they aren't going to be curing the person or fixing whatever is wrong.  They just focus on keeping you from getting worse.  They do this until they can get the patient to an expert (specialist).

Sometimes that's what a leader needs to do when things start going wrong.  Sometimes we don't have the knowledge or ability to fix everything that is going on BUT we need to stop things from getting worse.  Then, we need to get an "expert" to help fix things.  Often, it's not "How?" that we should be asking but "Who?"  Good leaders know who to ask for help.  They know they don't know all the "Hows".

So, next time you find yourself stuck, unable to cure the situation, ask yourself WHO you know that could help.  Your patient is depending on you.         

Puzzled - Part II

Last night I was sitting in front of a fire doing the puzzle and Riley came over to join in.  When she took a look at the pile of pieces she immediately started placing them in their spots.  She was flying.  Pretty sure she made some comment to me about how slow I was.

Then, once she got some in, I was able to start finding pieces quicker.  What happened???

I had been working on the puzzle for probably 45 minutes before she came over so I'd gotten used to the pile of pieces I had and I had gotten bogged down looking for particular pieces.  She came over and had a fresh perspective.  She saw the same pieces I did but she saw them differently.  And then, as she started adding them, she changed my perspective because then we needed different pieces.  Some of the pieces I had been staring at now had a place to go.

Do you ever get stumped on a problem?  Maybe you've tried 2-3 things and they aren't working.  You probably should ask somebody to share with you what they think a solution might be.  Get a fresh perspective.  They may see a clear answer or they may be able to change the situation just enough so that the answers you'd been trying now work.

It almost never hurts to get a second, or third, perspective.               

Puzzled?

Every Christmas we set up the card table and do at least one 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle.  And it’s usually a puzzle of something we’ve done or seen that year.  This year it’s San Francisco.  As you can see, I’m missing some edge pieces.  I prefer to get the edge done before doing the rest but so far I haven’t found those edges.  So, I’ve just been working with what I can find.  Right now, that’s the water pieces.  Then, it will be the buildings.  I’m pretty sure those edge pieces will show up as I’m completing this puzzle.

It’s kind of like our business.  Whether it’s doing the schedule, arranging catering orders, setting up the DT, staffing kitchen... we’ve got a lot of puzzles.  Sometimes the pieces are obvious.  Sometimes we can’t find the right piece when we want it.

This puzzle reminds me of a few things.  Keep looking.  Work with what you can work with.  Have fun.  It’s a puzzle.