I’ve been enjoying the summer here of late. Things have slowed down because the kids are not in any activities at the moment. Well except Emmalyn. She is now in dance class.

I was reflecting back though on one of the games my son Coleston had. During that game there was another kid on the other team that stood out immediately.

He was running around holding kids jerseys and pushing them around. It didn’t take long for him to make his way over to my son Coleston.

Who by the way elevated his game this year. But the boy began grabbing and pushing on him. The coach finally stepped in (who is the ref as well along with the coach) and told the little boy to stop. This went on for several times more while she threatened to take him over to his mom.

It has been my experience that these are defining moments of character. When opportunity knocks it’s too late to prepare.

In those few moments… Sadly the opportunity to show the young man how to become something better was ruined by their parents character.

Life may or may not give them the chance to show their character again. But one person that doesn’t need any help with that was Ty Hoehn. A high school pitcher in Minnesota. Last week in the sectional championship game, he struck out his best friend and competitor, Jack Kocon. It was on this final strike that the team got to advance to the state tournament.

As the ball crossed the plate and the umpire yelled strike the team erupted. Charging the field and rushing out to Koehn. What happened next was one of the greatest acts of character that I have seen. You can view it here.

Instead of embracing his teammates for this proud moment, Koehn headed to home plate to give his friend a hug.

When asked about his reaction, Koehn said that he wanted his friend to know their friendship was more important than the outcome of the game.

Another act of great character made the news some years back by a girl named Sarah Tucholsky. For the first time in her life, Sarah hit a home run. Pumped and excited she began to round the bases. Missing the first one. As she turned around to touch base the unimaginable happened. She blew her ACL out.

Unable to move around the bases and a rule that didn’t allow any other teammate to help. She sat motionless. What happened next was another incredible act of character. Watch it here.

I run across situations in real estate that expose peoples character all the time. Good or bad.

I had some clients that had decided that they wanted to look at new homes. Now in Arizona the agent must go with them if we are to get credit if they decide to buy a new home. After some discussion with my clients we decided to go look at them in a few days.

After that I made a call to the builder to get some info from a lady name Adrian. Later that day I received a phone call from her. My clients had showed up without me and had decided to buy the home.

My stomach started to turn as I knew that I would not be getting paid because I had not showed up with them. Then things took a turn…

In a short few sentences she said,“Your clients said they were working with you. We don’t operate like a lot of other places. I’m sending the contract over for you to sign off on.“

I was BLOWN away. Why?

Because this industry is so cutthroat. This would have been the third deal to have this happen to me.

But in that moment they took the time to show their true character and who they are. Showing me things don’t need to be that way.

And for that I am very grateful.

Life will always give us opportunities to show our character. It’s not the event that makes it bad but how we react to it that matters most.

It’s the one reason why I always study a Value Drive Approach.