In this motivational monologue, the speaker draws on life advice attributed to former North Carolina Senator Locke Faircloth (1993‑1999) to offer practical guidance for navigating the fourth quarter and beyond. The talk is organized around three core lessons: (1) a commitment to continuous learning by reading a book each week, emphasizing the benefits of physical books for retention and focus; (2) the principle of working smart and fast, warning against procrastination, highlighting the low patience of modern consumers and voters, and urging relentless, focused effort especially in real‑estate work; and (3) the power of thoughtful holiday gifting, illustrated by Faircloth’s tradition of delivering country hams and the speaker’s own business of delivering Fraser‑fir wreaths, as a way to build relationships and spread goodwill. Throughout, the speaker weaves personal anecdotes (e.g., finishing “The 12‑Week Year,” real‑estate experiences) and regional cultural references (Eastern‑style North Carolina barbecue, country hams) to reinforce the advice. The overall message is to adopt disciplined learning, high‑velocity productivity, and generous connection‑building to achieve success in work and life.
Chapters
How about some life advice from one of North Carolina's former senators? Locke Faircloth was one of our North Carolina senators from 1993 to 1999, and he was of course from Clinton, North Carolina, which is in the eastern part of the state. He was known as a cotton farmer and a hog farmer, something about which he was made fun of in the Senate, but frankly, that's probably from people who don't recognize that the best barbecue does come from North Carolina. Especially Eastern style with that vinegar base. Now, something about Senator Faircloth, he was full of life advice. So I want to share with y'all some of his tidbits to help you carry through fourth quarter and beyond whenever you happen to find this video. The first thing that he believed was that you should read a book a week and never stop learning something new. That is absolutely a big truth in life. And in fact, if you're the person who reads thing on devices, you may have already discovered that your retention has really gone down because it's hard to focus on a screen. And be honest, you can't dog-ear the corners and underline a very important passage if it's not in your hands in a really tangible form. Something else I have recently learned is that for those of us that used to keep 4 or 5 books going at any given time, our retention is really, really diminished. Well, we need to focus and get something done, and that's part of where he's talking about reading 1 book a week. Stay focused, get it done, and get things going. So I myself have a couple of books in the queue, Right now, I'm finishing up the 12-week year so that I can make sure that my goals are being reset periodically as I achieve them, of course. Now, the second piece of advice I find to be super critical right now, let me read you what he said. He said, "Work smart and work fast. Patience is a virtue, but often in short supply." And I can attest to that in real estate. Working fast means sit down and get your work started, don't procrastinate. And work smart, have that list ready to go. Why is that important in fourth quarter? Frankly, friends, a lot of people say there's nothing going on at the end of the year. Well, that's because they're not doing anything. You will find that you will have the best year ever if you start working now and frankly never take your foot off the gas. Now, what he says about patience being a great virtue in short supply, we know that's true at this time of year in specific because frankly the public is just low patience anymore. We are so focused on immediate gratification. We're focused on a text being responded to immediately that we just don't give enough grace. So why don't you put a little more patience out there into the world so that it might come back to you? But also, if you're understanding of the fact that today's consumer has very little patience, and in fact, looking at electoral politics, voters have very little patience anymore either. There's a reason that we should work smart and work quickly. So when you have a project in front of you, go at it full guns and put everything you have into it. There's no reason to be afraid. You might feel a little fear from time to time. That should get your juices going. But if you stay afraid, you won't get anything done. So work smart and work fast. Now, the third thing that he always did was deliver country hams for Christmas to his friends and allies. Now, in my business, we deliver Christmas wreaths because we have found that the smell of a North Carolina Fraser fir makes everybody get into a better mood. But frankly, I might just copy him and deliver some Christmas hams if I can find somebody who salts them just the right way, since I'm a country ham girl and not a honey ham kind of a girl. And you might It may be the same way. So what I want to challenge you on is that whether you agreed with Senator Faircloth in life or not, we can all agree that the advice makes sense. So this Christmas season and this Hanukkah season and whatever it is that you are celebrating, find a way to find something in common with somebody around you, and let's do it faster than ever before and smarter than before, because the world is just awaiting for somebody to bring forth some solutions that will benefit us all.
