05-28&29-11 Sunday is Son-Day... THE TRAIN!

Hi Max!

This weekend was Memorial Day Weekend and as always, we had the Maher Family Reunion in Independence. Any doubts as to how good your memory is were erased when you instantly asked if we were going to ride the train again. Sheri and I had a big laugh. Then, for the next 3 hours, you said, "Ride the train? Ride the train?" It was cute the first time, not so cute the next 900 times. :)

As we turned into the Independence (KS) Park, the first thing you saw was the REAL train that is parked at the Park for people to climb on and see a train up close. Nevermind the water slides, full-size fighter jet, dinosaur slides, pool, putt-putt golf center, and other distractions (er, I mean attractions). :) You were all about the trains. But alas... a hitch in our plans... the train that goes around the park was DOWN! Battery dead and no driver according to the rumors! I thought, "Oh boy."

You took the news a lot better than I thought. We sat down to eat and you were pretty focused on making a mess - and eating some. After lunch, you played trucks and cars with the other kids. Your big dump truck was a hit and besides fitting dirt and branches was the right height for you to run and push it - or is that push it and run? :) You were momentarily distracted. We ate, talked to relatives (relatives who really love YOU: Great-Aunt Linda, Great-Uncle Dan, Great-Uncle Jim, Great-Grandma Maher (still sharp as a tack), Taina, Nancy, Teresa, Paula, Uncle Rob, Aunt Lisa, Aunt Susan, Uncle Steve, Uncle Brian, Grandma Maher, and cousins Allie, Brady, Luke, Marissa, and Daniel). It was a great reunion - the most I've seen at a reunion.

You and I happened to be right next to each other when we heard, "WOO WOOOOOOO!" The train's whistle had blown and it was up and running again! Knowing that it could be one of only a few circles the train would make, I grabbed you and we made our way to the train. Fifty cents later (yes 50 cents) you and I had our tickets and were in line. They opened to gate, we went towards the front (same seat as last year?), and before we knew it, we were yelling, "All Aboard!" and we were riding THE TRAIN!

You loved it! We talked about the pool, the slides, the water, the jet, the child statues in the middle of the park, the dinosaur, the carousel, the giant slides, and the putt-putt golf center. It was like you were seeing them for the first time (again). It was almost like your entire focus was the train and now that you had achieved your goal of riding the train, the entire park came into view.

We waved at mommy and she took the photos. The conductor was kind enough to go around twice and we saw things we missed the first time around (can't look to both sides at the same time! :) It was great to ride the train with you. Makes me look forward to next year's Maher Family Reunion at Independence Park.

Blessings,

Max's Dad (Michael)

P.S. We also stopped by a carnival and had some more fun! Photos -->

The Tiger Woods of Real Estate...

Hi Bay-Bee;

Two posts today, but had to deliver this news and discuss.

Last weekend, Tiger Woods won the US Open, a major golf tournament in dramatic style. He sank a 30-ft putt for eagle, a 67-foot putt for eagle and two-hopped a chip in for a birdie, but what was even more impressive is that he did it with immense pain. (See article below.).

Your mom and I drove to Branson during the weekend to check on some properties for clients. As we were driving, I was listening to the golf tourney and we chatted about Tiger. Something you will find out about your Papa is that I am a sports lover. And not just a casual spectator-type of sports lover, but deep, intense analyzer of who does what for what reasons and what would impact what facet of each game or each player. I'm a sports scientist. I've watched as many games and as many different sports as anyone possibly could. I watched them with your grandpa, still watch them with your grandma (especially KU basketball), and will watch many in the future with you.

Nobody in my life has impacted my sports viewing as much as Tiger Woods. No athlete I've ever watched has impressed me or amazed me as much as Tiger Woods. I don't want to miss a minute of his career. Every time I watch he does something incredible. Every time. The eagles, the drives, the hitting a 3-iron out of a fairway bunker to within 6 feet of the hole, and the absolute clutch putts to win or tie events. I never saw Pele play soccer until later in his career. I didn't see Babe Ruth play baseball. I saw Michael Jordan play basketball. I saw Wayne Gretzky play hockey. I just can't imagine anybody epitomizing the word Excellence as well as Tiger Woods. He's not perfect. Nobody is perfect. But he PURSUES PERFECTION CATCHING EXCELLENCE ON THE WAY.

I asked your mom what it would take to be The Tiger Woods of Real Estate. She mentioned practice, being raised from 5 years old to be a real estate agent, positive attitude, etc. We had a discussion and in prying a little deeper we found that Tiger possesses the key ingredients to anybody's success story:

First, he has FOCUS. He's a golfer. Not a golfer and a flight instructor. Not a golfer and basketball player. He's a golfer. His focus is to become the best golfer on the planet. This week was his 500th consecutive week being the #1 -ranked golfer on the PGA Tour. He plays golf. How does one become the Tiger Woods of Real Estate? He or she is a professional real estate agent. He (or she, but let's stick with he) works full-time at real estate. His profession time is spent on RE and his family time is spent on family. You will learn many things, but after you find your passion, I hope you can stay focused. You will have the talent and the smarts to do anything you want. The key is to do what you want with focus.

Second, and this is just as important as focus, he has DRIVE. He wants to leave a legacy of Excellence. He doesn't compete against others. He competes against himself. He has this burning fire of desire, this fuel that drives him to be the best. Not just the best, but the very best, the best anybody has ever seen. He wants to not just beat the competition, but annihilate the competition by taking his game to heights never seen. This inner drive, this quest to be the best is something I hope you feel. Socrates once said (and I am paraphrasing poorly, of course who was there to hear his exact words? :), if you are to be the street sweeper, be the very best street sweeper. if you are to be the senator, be the very best senator. This is the truth and not something that I understood when I was younger. But I definitely get it now. There is a thirst, a hunger inside of me that is like an itch that you can't satisfy. It is a little twinge of discomfort that keeps me up late at night, gets me up in the morning, and invades my thought daily. It's no longer needing a push because this feeling is the big pull. You see Bay-Bee, the thing is that once you have smelled the aroma of Excellence, once you have tasted the air of that atmosphere, you never want to settle for less. It's not about others, it's about maximizing yourself. Your talents, time, thoughts, treasures, and talk funneled for one purpose: to be the best you can be. To Be Excellent.

He has the FOCUS and the DRIVE, but he also puts in the TIME TO IMPROVE.
Practice makes Perfect is a fallacy. If you continue to repeat the mistakes of before over and over again. It becomes even more difficult to learn new habits to re-focus your energies towards Excellence. I'll give you an example.
Fred Haywood is a friend of mine. In his younger days, he was a champion swimmer. The back stroke. He grew up in Southern California and because of his accomplishments, he was asked to participate in a pre-Olympic training event. Fred swam and swam and swam. He worked day and night on the back stroke to prepare for this event.
When Fred showed up at the event, he was introduced to another pretty good swimmer, Mark Spitz (Spitz went on to win seven gold medals at the Olympics). The first time Fred went head-to-head with Spitz, he got smoked. It wasn't even close. Fred spent the day and night practicing. The second day, Fred got smoked again. Fred was depressed. He had spent a lot of time practicing, but he wasn't improving. A coach approached Fred that second day and asked if Fred was enjoying the event.
"No," said Fred.
And then he got the lesson. After asking if Fred was interested in a few pointers and getting a nod of approval, the coach said, "You're all over the place in your lane. You're working twice as hard as everybody else but not getting anywhere. Are you interested in learning a technique that will help you stay straighter and decrease your effort by 50%?"
"YES." said Fred.
The coach said, "Grab those two towels over there."
Fred did.
"Stand up and act like you are doing your back stroke. As you spin your hands behind you I want you to drop the towels. Just go like you are doing one complete stroke."
Fred did it. One towel went 10 feet behind Fred and the other went 5 feet to the left and 5 feet behind Fred.
"That's why you are all over the place. Your hands aren't finishing in the same place. Now, here's what I want you to do: I want you to work on this so that the towels land at your heels. You should snap your arms around so that BOTH towels land at your heels. Take this stack of towels and work on this here on the concrete deck. Try it once."
Fred tried it. He rotated his right arm in front of him and as his arm whipped over head, he snapped his arm down and the towel ended up 3 feet behind him. He rotated his left arm and as he snapped his arm around, the towel ended up 2 feet behind his heels. Fred grabbed two more towels. Snap. Snap. Two towels right behind Fred. Snap. Snap. Two more towels behind Fred.
The next day, Fred beat Mark Spitz in the back stroke. If it weren't for injuries Fred Haywwod would have been an Olympian. He's still an Olympian in my books because his heart is the size of the Earth.
The lesson Fred learned that day was that no matter how hard you practice if you are practicing the wrong thing, it doesn't make a difference. With a small change in technique, practice can mean the difference.
The Tiger Woods of Real Estate would be focused, have drive, and put in the time to improve.
Learn --> Implement --> Screw up --> Learn --> Implement --> Screw Up --> Learn... the beat continues.
To Your Success,
Bay-Bee's Papa (Michael)