Paying it Forward With not Talking

One of the highlights of having an Omega tour stop at JR Pockets in Denton, Texas is because I get to run into a fan of my blog!  I love it because my friend usually shares which articles he likes best.

And this past weekend was no exception.

He shared that he still enjoys reading my blog and then specifically pointed out one blog entry that helped him and his friends.

He was referring to the blog topic about not realizing you have been talking during matches, which is a distraction to your opponents.

David Bond and I also spoke about this on American Billiard Radio, he entitled it, Are You Rude?

So, my friend tells me sure enough he had been talking during this matches and didn't even realize it. So, during his next night out playing pool, he was playing against a guy he always spars with, and he was trying not to talk.

His friend noticed.  "Dude, everything okay?

"Yes," he said.  "I'm just trying not to talk as much; don't want to be a distraction."  The guy looked at him funny and said, "Good point.  I'm not going to talk as much either."

Paying it forward is the best compliment and I am tickled that this awareness is now being practiced and passed on to others!

Interview with Fred Pankey!

Oh what fun I had interviewing Fred!  He's only 96 years young.  Funny guy who not only has his wits about him, but still goes to the pool room to hang out with his friends and shoot some pool.

Yes.

Seriously.

Here is the article in the April edition of Billiard Buzz: https://issuu.com/azbilliards/docs/billiard_buzz_05_17_7/12

I had mentioned in another post that it has always been my dream to do interviews. Well, this proves how long this dream has been on my mind:  I still have the notes from the first time I sat down with Fred.... when he was 87 years old!  9 years ago, wow!

I called him to get further clarification on my scribble before typing up this interview and he was shocked I still had my notes. It was fun to reminisce with him again.

It's either pretty cool I kept these notes because I had always envisioned/dreamed of still doing the interview with Fred, or proves I was a hoarder, lol.  I'm kidding... the dream was always alive, just needed the right time and platform (Billiard Buzz).

So glad he finally got his story in an online billiard magazine, not just my little blog - he deserved more attention!   Army vet from WWII and lived through the Great Depression.  Pretty wild, huh?

Be Careful Setting a Time Standard

I love helping people.  It's one of my favorite things.

One example came up over the weekend I wanted to share with you all.

Sunday night after the Omega tournament, someone wanted to go home and work right away on uploading some videos of recorded matches throughout the Omega tournament.

I gave him some sage advice based on my learning experiences as a Tournament Director:

I told him not to race home and stay up late trying to get the videos ready right away.  I suggested that he take his time - still do them this week of course - but not rush and stress himself out that night trying to get them online as soon as was humanly possible by staying up late.

Here's what I learned as a Tournament Director:  When we work hard/fast to get things done for others, people will tend to expect those same things in the same time period.  And when that time limit slips, people start to complain or ask a lot of questions.  Sounds like something you may have already experienced in life, I bet.

I was preparing things right away after tournament weekends and then posting them as soon as I could on the Omega website and Facebook.  Updated standings, uploading photos, writing the article, etc were completed and then posted right away, usually on Mondays, Tuesday at the latest.

At times, work was busy and so I had no choice but delay posting the results, standings, and photos until Wednesday. Maybe Thursday.

And by Wed, I'm already getting several inquiries.  Where are the pictures?  What happened to the photos?  Did any come out?  When are you going to put them online?

After one tournament, I had to go out of town for work the very next week.  By Thursday I was getting questions about the standings and photos.  I explained I was out of town and couldn't work on the items yet.

Everyone was fine with the explanations and very cordial about the delay, but it goes to show that my desire and excitement to get the updates to the players quickly after every tournament, led to disappointment from some of the players when I could not post them timely/quickly, as had become routine.

So, I was trying to help my friend out.  Because if he starts to upload the videos every Sunday night after a tournament stop, then that will become a standard expectancy.  The players and fans will get anxious for the videos, and then disappointed/complain when they aren't posted as quick enough like in the past.

So, thought I'd share these lessons with you all as well; it can relate to many aspects of our work and personal lives, too, right?