This past week Hallmark Abstract Service did what title insurance firms all over the United States do…presented a CLE program!
For those who may be non-attorney’s CLE stands for the continuing legal education required to remain an attorney and in this case, the focus of the program was on ethics.
However this story is not about the CLE itself but rather about a lesson learned concerning being present and living in the moment whether that moment is a required CLE class, a networking event or maybe one of our kids soccer games.
In the case of this specific CLE the program itself went fine and, after a two hour presentation and two CLE credits earned, it was finished and the attorney’s were ready to get back to work.
Unfortunately, as one of the attorney’s was leaving paying more attention to a Smartphone than the terrain in front of him, he fell headfirst into a reflecting pool that was in the middle of the lobby.
Although this pool wasn’t particularly deep and the water wasn’t particularly rough he did end up submerged with his raincoat going over his head. Fortunately besides a certain amount of panic setting in, other than being waterlogged it all ended as well as it could have.
Lesson Learned!
The lesson that I took from this experience concerned something that most if not all of us are likely guilty of at one point or another.
That is being somewhere without actually being there and the lost opportunity that can result.
It could be a missed opportunity to make a new contact at an event because our attention or mind is somewhere else, a missed goal scored by one of our kids because we were talking to someone on the sideline or maybe an extremely valuable point made in a CLE class that was missed because we were looking at our Smartphone.
Or maybe it could be something worse such as falling into a reflecting pool or much worse like crossing a street without watching where we’re going!
“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.”
― Henry David Thoreau
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Michael Haltman, President of Hallmark Abstract Service, New York.
HAS is a provider of title insurance in New York State for residential and commercial real estate transactions.
And, for anyone either buying a property or refinancing, remember that although your attorney will likely recommend a title insurance provider you always have the right to choose your own (click here to learn more)!
If you have any questions you can reach Michael by email at mhaltman@hallmarkabstractllc.com.
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