Time Travel

Do you believe in time travel? With the risk of losing every reader we have, I must admit that I do and that I have experienced it many times. The time travel that I am referring to is not quite the same as the science fiction movies; you know, jumping into some wild-looking machine, firing up the flux capacitor and flying off, back to the future! I've never dialed in a date on some odd-looking gizmo and then miraculously jumped there in a flash, yet when I think about how I've arrived right here, right now, it does seem as if I got here a lot faster than I thought possible.

The Ghost of Business Past

Recently Beth and I had the opportunity to have dinner with a great young couple. They are expecting their second child, and their first is a tremendous blend of mother and father who, at two years old, already seems to have life all figured out.  We sat at our table for several hours and talked about building a business, building a team, building customers and building a life that would be meaningful and significant. From my seat in the restaurant, I traveled back 25 or 30 years to a place where I was sitting on the opposite side of the table, asking the questions, looking for answers, and, in my thoughts, comparing and contrasting the answers I was hearing with other answers I had received during other such dinners. Dwelling in that moment in history, I remember being hungry for information from every book, tape, or person who would talk with me. It seemed that back then there was plenty of time to get things accomplished. I had goals. My feet were leaving the starting blocks. The race was on, and I could run and never get tired. I had Beth and the boys cheering every step of the way, and then somehow I must have stepped into a time machine--a time machine that was set for this table in this restaurant, with this couple and talking about the race that is still being run.

Over the past 25 years I have had the privilege of being involved with hundreds of great companies and spent thousands of hours guesstimating with thousands of great people. All of this experience becomes the fuel that enables me to travel forward in time to get a glimpse of what might happen in the lives of the people I meet today. I have watched individuals who were literally making minimum wage digging ditches 25 years ago transition and grow into leading a crew or a branch or a division or their own companies. In contrast, I have also known many natural-born leaders and salespeople who were never able to get out of the starting blocks and have spent their time failing from job to job creating turmoil in their family and a trail of burnt bridges. What is the difference in the two?

The ones who found success did so because they were committed to becoming the best ditch diggers possible. From the beginning, they started by doing all of the simple things that made them successful in that position and formed the foundation for greater success in the future. Showing up on time, working hard, and being grateful for the current income they were making; they trusted that better opportunities would come if they put themselves in the position to earn those opportunities. In contrast some individuals with an excess of talent and potential had a tendency to never progress beyond wanting more without giving more. Ultimately the only career path open to them was to bounce around between equally unfulfilled situations. 

This is all much clearer in hindsight and much easier to see when we're measuring up someone else. It can be very difficult for us to see which person we are at the current moment, yet if we stop and reflect, we may know. On the other hand, I believe it is possible to predict where any person, including oneself, will arrive over time. If we are putting ourselves in a position to get better at what we are doing right now, whether it be a business owner, doctor, teacher, or ditch digger, there is a great chance that we will arrive in the future having enjoyed the journey and happy with the destination.

 

One opportunity for time travel that I have recently had has been through my re-acquaintance with a gentleman by the name of Jim Gibbs. About 15 years ago, I had the opportunity to work with Jim and his company Gibbs Landscape in Atlanta, helping the sales team to unleash their potential and the production team to welcome the challenges of a growing company. I enjoyed the several visits to work with them and on one such occasion had the opportunity to stay in Jim's guesthouse at his home north of Atlanta.

Learning From a Master

 

As we walked through the gardens and tremendous outdoor spaces surrounding the house he talked about how he one day planned to develop the entire 220 acres into a public garden that thousands of people could enjoy.  Thinking back to those conversations I don't remember thinking to myself what that would be like, or having any real interest in if he would reach that goal, but what I did know at the time was that the gardens were beautiful and inspiring.  I knew that Jim's passion and enthusiasm for them burned inside him and kept him going day after day toward that dream.   I recently returned to those gardens to talk with Jim about allowing us to bring a group of salespeople and business leaders to the exact gardens he had described 15 years ago. 

Walking with him through 220 acres of gardens, I realized that I had traveled through time. In that early visit to Gibbs Gardens, he was telling me about what the future would be; in my recent visit it seemed as though I had simply arrived in that future. He had fueled his journey with vision, passion and enthusiasm that allowed him to become a Master Gardner, a Master Business Builder and, if you believe in it, a Master Time Traveler.

As we finished our dinner with our young friends and were laughing over the dessert we were trying not to eat too much of, one of them asked a great question, a question that had me instantly sorting through the database of people and places and stories that I have accumulated over time to find the best possible answer: "Why do some people succeed when others do not?"

 

Gibbs Gardens

I repeated the question back, trying to stall and hoping that an answer would come to me. Then the answer just arrived in one of those moments when you seem to be listening to yourself speak, "Those individuals who have succeeded as a leader or contributor are simply those individuals who kept going. They faced each obstacle or opportunity as just another step as they as they travel through time."

- Jim Paluch

 

On April 1, Jim Paluch will sit down with Jim Gibbs for the fourth installment of the Come Alive Outside EDGE Webinar Series. Tune in to find out more about how Jim Gibbs became a Master Gardener as well as a Master Business Owner. This webinar will be a great preview to what the experience will be like at Sales Jam on June 13-14 at Gibbs Gardens in Atlanta. Register here for the webinar on Monday at 3:00 p.m. EDT.

 

Tips for Time Travel

• Be aware of the present moment.

• Gibbs Gardens Today Collect stories and appreciate the people you meet.
• Know that what you observe today may help you tomorrow.
• Enjoy recalling memories, and do it often.
• Practice imagining your future self.
• Set goals.
• Think on things worth thinking about.
• Just keep on traveling.