Compounding Wisdom
What are you really worth?
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent
Eleanor Roosevelt
I used to think I was worthless and on the verge of committing suicide as a teenager. Then I asked myself, what would my mother think and feel if I were to do so? That gave me a realization that although my mother was very hard on me, she loved me and would feel devastated. I would ruin her life and most likely shock all of my younger brothers and family. I couldn't do that to them, so I decided to continue living and striving for them.
But I thought to myself, is life worth it?
What determines the worth of a thing and, better yet, a person?
If your self-confidence is derived from your sense of belief in yourself, your self-worth is derived from your feeling of Love for yourself.
What determines worth and value?
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
Martin Luther King Jr.
I spent seven years buying, selling, and leasing premium domains. We spent millions and millions of dollars. Yet some of them are priceless, even though we acquired them at a considerable financial expense.
When I thought about the value of a person, I wondered, what is an eye worth? A kidney? A heart? A brain? The value of each part but also the value of the mind, the spirit as well as the body?
For things, we determine value by one of the following:
Market value - what others will pay
Replacement value - irreplaceable uniqueness gives more value. Eg. a Davinci Mona Lisa painting.
Sentimental value - what meaning, purpose and feeling it gives you
Utility value - what it does for you
Sacrificial value - what you are willing to sacrifice for it, especially used in the Bible to show the value of a person's life. Eg. sacrificial lamb or scapegoat.
In the past, people bought and sold enslaved people based on their utility value. Now, we pay people for their time and the value they provide. People have come to determine their self-worth by how much they earn, their net worth, and the possessions they have acquired.
But is value externally driven like that of goods, or should value be determined by what's inside?
My mentor's daughter, Heather Harnett, had mentioned to me that the company she was working for was worth over 3 billion dollars. I told her she was worth much more than that. I then asked an audience, how much would you sell your child for? A million, a billion? How much are they worth? Sometimes, we forget just how rich we really are when we take a survey of who we are and who we have around us, warts and all.
The 3 Factors That Determine Self-Esteem
You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life?
Rumi
1. Temporal Self-worth
Past self: How you view your history, failures, achievements, and growth
Present self: Current self-acceptance, authenticity and living your values today
Future self: Your hope, confidence in your ability to grow and believing you deserve honour, Love and grace
2. Source of Validation
Internal Foundation: Your character, values, integrity and growth
External Foundation: Marked by your possessions, status, achievements, and others' opinions
3. Transcendent Purpose
With a higher being who has unconditional divine Love, eternal worth and a personal relationship for a purpose greater than oneself that is full of Love, abundance and generosity
Without transcendence: relegated to an ego-driven life, scarcity mindset and self-preservation mode
The 10 Commandments can be summarized into two principles:
Love your God with all your heart, soul, and might
Love your neighbour as yourself
Here, the standard is how much you love yourself, which then dictates how much you can love God and the people around you.
Jesus issued a new commandment, "Love one another as I have loved you." The new standard Jesus set was in how much He loved you. He was willing to leave His heavenly kingdom to come as a man on this earth and sacrifice Himself for you in order to make all your sins disappear through His forgiveness. His Love was expressed as Him sacrificing His life and fully forgiving despite no work on our part. That standard of Love He set as how we should love one another. It's an almost impossible standard. We might love like this for our loved ones, our children, but everyone?
So, how is our self-esteem rooted in Love? What kind of Love?
Loves That Determine Self-Esteem
Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
Oscar Wilde
Self-esteem is rooted in the different types of Love you have experienced and internalized within your heart.
I realized the great sacrifices my parents made for my siblings and me were their expressions of Love. When I realized the great sacrifice Jesus made for me in order to liberate me from my sins while yet holding me to a greater divine standard, I felt an overwhelming love and sense of worth because the Creator loved me unconditionally. When I received Love from my wife, family and children, I experienced a love that was personal, deep and unconditional.
Divine Love: Unconditional Love that is boundless, eternal and glorious.
Parental Love: First experience of sacrificial Love despite many imperfections.
Family Love: Love with rivalry for place, attention and validation.
Teacher & Mentors: The Love and belief they have in you and your potential.
Friends: Love that is accepting, making you feel a sense of belonging and mutual support.
Enemies: The opportunity to practice unconditional Love and forgiveness while also honouring yourself.
The Revelations of Self-Esteem
Self-esteem becomes unshakeable when it is rooted in divine Love and human Love instead of performance, possessions or praise.
Scarcity transforms into abundance when your comparison to others doesn't undermine your worth, their successes and well-being.
Love flows freely and generously when you are rich in Love.
Life Question:
What are you really worth?
You are not your possessions. You are not your body. You are not externalities. You are not others' opinion.
Reflect on who you truly are and who you want to be
Reflect on your dreams
Reflect on how much you love yourself or not and see if you can truly love yourself
Reflect upon a higher being and a higher purpose than what you imagine and dream for yourself
When I conduct this audit of myself, I feel I cannot put a huge number on it because even among my possessions, there are some that I would not sell at any price. Why would I then sell myself short? The laws of need sometimes elevator us down rapidly to a lack of self-worth and desperation out of a need for food, essential goods, shelter and Love.
Next week:
Self-actualizing Who You Really Are
See you next Thursday!
Subscribe to my Compounding Wisdom newsletter and start transforming your life.
Do you have what it takes to live your dreams?
Self-Confidence is so fundamental to you flourishing, yet it is the most misunderstood aspect of personal growth.
Dr. Kevin Ham
When I was young, I lacked a great deal of self-confidence. When teams were being picked, I was often the last one selected. I was short. I was quiet. Deep inside, I hoped that I would get picked early and be recognized as someone worthy of being part of their team. As I grew older, I decided to strive harder than anyone to develop the skills necessary to be a valuable team member. My mother invoked her dreams of playing the piano on me, but for me, such a solitary endeavour was not my dream. Instead, my dream was to make one of the high school sports teams. I tried out for the volleyball team. Despite being one of the shortest, I was pretty good, but I got cut. I didn't even try out for the basketball team.
In my final year of high school, I decided I would try out for the soccer team. During the summer, I would practice doing 100 kick-ups every day, ensuring that the ball never hit the ground with each foot. Then, I would practice hitting each corner of the goalpost ten times. I got very good at kickups and shooting. I gave it my all. Guess what? I made the cut! Even though I was mainly a benchwarmer, that was the beginning of my understanding of what it took to be self-confident.
Over these five decades, as I have developed myself, I have grown from nothing to 'me'. Weak in mind to strong. Physically weak to very fit. I have observed the inputs that lead to the Seven Pillars of Self and the Three Self Outputsthat have shaped who I am today. I want to write about these in the hopes that they help you develop yourself into the person you dream and aspire to be.
Self-Confidence is not Pride or Arrogance
Pride goes before destruction and a fall before a haughty spirit.
King Solomon
A fall from a great height hits hard. The higher you go in life, the greater the fall. True self-confidence is founded on humility and wisdom.
Humility is knowing who you are and in a spirit of serving and honouring others while still honouring yourself. God loves a humble and contrite heart.
Wisdom is discerning good and evil and knowing what to think, say and act, to who, when and where and understanding the depths and breadths of the circumstances and people.
Pride and arrogance stem from a heightened sense of self at the expense of others, characterized by self-interest and a lack of empathy for others, leading one to believe they are superior to others. It is self-serving, built upon the desire for power, status, control and recognition. It seeks gain rather than to give and serve.
Your 3 Self Outputs
You only reap what you put in and process with time, thought and action.
Dr. Kevin Ham
As you develop the Seven Pillars of Self, you will experience Three Self Outputs.
Self-Confidence
Self-Esteem
Self-Actualization
As I contemplated what I wanted to do in life, I also considered who I wanted to be. At the age of 14, I knew I wanted to be a medical doctor. At age 21 I knew and believed I would be a part of the Internet revolution. I dreamed of making some epic movies in my 50s to 70s. But these are things I wanted to do. Who did I want to be? I wanted to be a man of God. I wanted to be a good father, a good son, a good husband, a good friend, a good entrepreneur, a good doctor, a good philanthropist. I wanted to be an inspirational visionary, giving much more than I received. I wanted to have a wise and understanding heart, one that praises and glorifies God. And if I dared and God granted me such blessings to be not only good but also great as a human being and also in each endeavour I dreamt of doing. This has been my prayer. I have failed often, but each time I reflected and have been humbled by my shortcomings and looked to God and wisdom to lift me upagain.
I realized that self-confidence came from just a few things. But first, I realized what came before self-confidence.
3 Impostors of Self
Being untrue to your heart makes living a shadow of darkness.
Dr. Kevin Ham
Your life is a constant ping-pong match of self-doubt, self-lack, and self-criticism between your present being and the ideal being in your heart.
Self-Doubt
Until you have a good sense of who you are, you will have self-doubt. Everyone around is telling you who you should be, how you should be and what you should be doing. This can be internalized as criticism that confuses your heart about who you truly are and who you should blossom into. Thus, the great oracle wisely asks you to "Know Thyself." Until you are comfortable knowing who you are, warts and all, in spirit, mind and body, you will have varying degrees of self-doubt. Who are you? And you are not just your body. You are in your body.
Self-Lack
You came into this world empty-handed. You will leave empty-handed. What you lack does not define you, but most of the time, we view ourselves from the point of lack, of scarcity rather than as possessing all that we need. It is hard to believe in yourself if you view yourself as lacking in what you require. I knew I was going to be a doctor. If I had viewedthis from a point of lack, I surely would have given up easily. I failed the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) twice. I failed to get into medical school right after I finished university. Eventually, during my medical interviews, my dreams and confidence in being a great doctor shone through. Where did this come from? I believed I was going to be a great doctor. The energy that emanated was palpable, and I was finally admitted into medical school.
You are not lacking. You may lack the resources, the money, the skills, the network, but you can gain those things in due time. King David said, "The Lord is my Shepherd; I have no lack." (Psalm 23:1.) See yourself with all the gifts and abundance within you, just waiting to be actualized. One day, it will be… if you believe you do not lack.
Self-Criticism
Who are you to do that which you dream of? You don't have what it takes. You are not good enough. This self-talk, this self-criticism, where does it come from? Impostor syndrome. The inauthenticity of being leads to self-criticism. When you see a seed, do you see the tree? When you see a caterpillar, do you see the butterfly? Imagine doubting the two.
Imagine criticizing the seed and telling it that it will never become a tree. Imagine criticizing the caterpillar and telling it that it will never become a butterfly. When you compare your current being to that which you dream and aspire to become, what does the process look like? What does that transformation look like? What does that cocoon look like? And when you tell others your dreams of becoming your dream self, what do they say? Do they criticize, in the same vein, comparing your present state (that of a caterpillar) to your dream state (that of a butterfly.) It may be logical, but logic does not actualize dreams. Belief and being do.
Acknowledge who you are now. Accept yourself. But strive to be the being in your heart and your spirit. Develop the discipline and belief to become that person who you aspire to be. Every thought, word, and action tips the scale in favour of the present and future self. Each day is a new day to start again. We do go around life in circles.
While we might deeply care about what others think, both praise and criticism, it is often best to take it in, reflect upon and discard that which is not edifying or useful to you. I often discard 80% of the feedback from others after deeply reflecting upon them and examining my heart. If valid, I take it to heart.
3 Step Self-Confidence Builder
There are many systems proposed to build your self-confidence, like the great Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, King Solomon, and Marcus Aurelius' Stoic principles.
Dale Carnegie
Do the thing which you fear.
Shift focus from self to being interested in others.
Over-practice and over-prepare
Smile, use people's names, and practice being present.
Turn criticism into fuel, not fire.
Live with gratitude and enthusiasm.
Napoleon Hill
"I know that I have the ability to achieve the object of my definite purpose in life. Therefore, I demand of myself persistent, continuous action toward its attainment..."
Definite chief aim (Desire)
Belief in yourself and your outcome (Faith)
Autosuggestion (Repetition of Belief). Speak your goal aloud daily.
Specialized knowledge (Skill building by practicing)
Persistence
Mastermind Alliance with like-minded people
Marcus Aurelius
Control what you can. Release what you can't.
Align your actions with your virtues.
Ignore praise and criticism. Follow your heart.
I focus on just three practices. This has been my self-confidence practice since Grade 10 when I had a deathly fear of speaking to girls. My first step was to look them in the eyes and say 'Hi,' then listen to them. I was so surprised when most looked away. This was a big realization that self-confidence is adding drops of water to a bucket and it will soon fill to the brim and overflow if I do the three practices below. The most important is #3, then #2, and then #1. Spirit, then mind, then body.
Self-Confidence Trinity
Make eye contact, smile and listen. (body)
See if you can maintain eye contact longer than the other person. In due time, you will be able to. Don't forget to smile. If someone is smiling, you cannot help but smile. Smiling is contagious. Since I have such a big mouth, my smile stretches wide. Then my heart starts to smile. I recall a time when I was having a bad day, and a stranger simply smiled at me; it had a profound impact on me. I felt like my burden just melted away.
Think and practice. (mind)
Think deeper, with your heart. Dream. Practice more. Rehearse and act until it is you. I practised my medical interview for years in my head and in front of a mirror. The more you practice, the shorter and more impactful your delivery becomes. Lincoln's Gettysburg address. It's just two minutes long. Wow.
Do your best to serve. (spirit)
Your best is all you can do. Give it your all. All your thoughts, all your energy, all your actions. What more can you ask of yourself? And each time, you will get better. It is the law of growth.
Life Question:
How self-confident are you on a scale of 1-10?
How self-confident do you aspire to be in 3 months, 6 months, one year, and two years?
Write a score down and evaluate yourself every 3 months.
Next week:
Self-esteem: Why do icons feel empty when they reach the pinnacle of success?
See you next Thursday!
Subscribe to my Compounding Wisdom newsletter and start transforming your life.
Making Your Dreams Real
Dreams die because of these three things or lack thereof.
Success is the progressive realization of a worthy dream.
Earl Nightingale (1921-1989)
Do you recall the first 6 Secrets of Success?
A Desire or a goal that you envision to be real. A dream you deeply desire.
Faith in the attainment of that desire beyond all doubt.
Your subconscious mind does not know imaginary from reality, nor right from wrong (the realm of your conscience), so you can use Autosuggestion to embed the faith in your desire into your subconscious deeply.
Specialized knowledge allows you to master what aligns with your purpose—the cornerstone of your impact.
Imagination allows you to build your desire in the workshop of your mind, creating a blueprint with all the details.
Organized Planning organizes this living blueprint, bringing each step closer to reality.
These following three secrets keep your dreams alive when plans fall into the valley of despair.
7. Decision
The Mastery of Procrastination
The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision.
Maimonides (1138-1204)
What is the opposite of procrastination?
Decision making. Making decisions empowers you to take swift, unwavering action.
When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, after being fired from his own company in 1985, he decided to reduce 220 products into just four product lines that would become the cornerstone of Apple. A 2x2 matrix of Personal/Enterprise in Desktop/Mobile. He said "No" to the many mediocre and focused on just a handful of "Yeses" for his team of 8,000. The first was the new iMac, then the iPod, then the iPhone and iPad, paired with software. It catapulted Apple into the #1 company in the world. Steve has been gone since 2011, but Apple remains a standard of excellence for its simplicity and beautiful products. Apple is his most significant innovation, and from that comes innovative products.
Application: I had 300,000 great domains but decided to sell 95% and keep the top 5%. Now, I am focused on the Top 100 of 11,000 domains—domains like How.com, Mother.com, VC.com, Git.com, God.com, Vancouver.com, and Bots.com. I am partnering with top entrepreneurs in this world of AI.
Wisdom: Cut through doubt with wise decisions that simplify and remove complexity and clutter. Trust your vision to say no to distractions, knowing that each decision shapes your final masterpiece.
8. Persistence
Sustained Effort Despite Setbacks
Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.
Walter Elliot (1888-1958)
Persistence is the continued relentless pursuit of your desire and vision, even when obstacles appear insurmountable. It's the force that keeps the dream alive.
When Elon Musk was on the verge of collapse with both Tesla and SpaceX, trying to launch Electric vehicles in a world of gas autos and reusable rockets when he didn't quite know how, his Persistence to figure out the constraints and innovations his companies required allowed him to break through, especially when everything was on the line.
Application: My mentor Bob Proctor told me that he read the chapter on Persistence in the book "Think and Grow Rich" every day for 30 days each year for 30 years. That means he read it 900 times. Wow. His reminder that Persistence was crucial to his great goals answered his question: "What do you really want?" He had one key desire a year that extended into decades.
Wisdom: Remain steadfast and persevere in the face of setbacks and obstacles. There is always a way, sometimes many ways. Let Persistence become your superpower, as each setback becomes the FUEL for the next one.
9. The Mastermind
The Coordination of Knowledge and Effort
Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.
Henry Ford (1863-1947)
You may have heard of the term Mastermind. The mastermind principle involves surrounding yourself with people who challenge and uplift you to a high frequency (energy) level, creating a synergy that elevates everyone in the Mastermind.
I found this Mastermind principle hard to grasp but realized its power. It is how everything in the world succeeds, including families, communities, companies, and institutions. However, it starts to fail once there is no "mastermind."
Application: Disney created a mastermind in his studio, gathering artists, engineers, and visionaries who dreamed and brought ideas to life. His Mastermind fostered creativity, where the combined talents of his team far exceeded those of the most talented individuals. You can start with just two or three people, the 'Trinity' of visionary (the architect), operator (the executor) , and controller (finance and planning).
Wisdom: Seek a mastermind that complements your strengths and inspires your imagination. Build a mastermind of passionate individuals to create an unstoppable force for innovation and execution.
My Life Question:
How do you make the best decisions?
When I think of decisions, I think of another D word: Discernment. How do you discern the best decisions when you don't have all the information or the context?
When the stakes are high, this discernment is even more critical.
I often ask for time to "sleep on it" or to "pray about it" so I can have the wisdom to discern rightly.
Having a timeline for decisions is also essential. Another D word: Deadline.
I often think of Decision Trees for the worst-case scenario, the likely one, and the best scenario. I plan for the best but also mitigate for the worst.
My Life Lesson:
Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Persistence is what I call Relentless Pursuit. I believe this is a quality that separates the great from the rest. It also means focus—someone who is persistent over a long period, like the tortoise. I have engraved the Tortoise principle as my own path. I am a tortoise who plods along to my destination.
It's essential to know my destination. I have to be clear about this, even though I may not see the path or way to my destination. We travel around in circles, taking wrong paths and exits, but eventually, we can arrive at our destination if we persist. This is Odysseus's journey to his destination, which is ultimately home.
Where is your home? Your true destination, where your heart feels at home?
Next week:
The Power of Your Subconscious Mind To Connect Your Dream to Reality.
Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
See you next Thursday!
Subscribe to my Compounding Wisdom newsletter and start transforming your life.
How to Set Your Dream into Motion
The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
Do you recall the first 3 Secrets of Success?
1. A Desire or a goal that you envision to be real. A dream you deeply desire.
2. Faith in the attainment of that desire beyond all doubt.
3. Your subconscious mind does not know imaginary from reality, nor right from wrong (the realm of your conscience), so you can use Autosuggestion to embed the faith in your desire into your subconscious deeply.
These are the three cornerstones of success, but the next three set it into motion, bringing heaven to earth and the imaginary to reality.
4. Specialized Knowledge
Personal Experiences and Insights
The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.
Plutarch (46-119 CE)
General knowledge is superficial, but specialized knowledge is rare and valuable, and it catalyzes success insights. Seekexperts or pioneers in your field and continually refine your specialized knowledge.
I wove together the insight that the Internet was going to be the biggest revolution in history with the physical real estate analogy for domain names. Now, layered with mobile and blockchain, I believe this revolution will only accelerate with AI.
Application: I invested in specialized knowledge about domain names, investing in hundreds of thousands of them and still hold 11,000 premium domains. I sold 80% of my Google stock in 2018 and bought NVIDIA at $60, believing GPUs in blockchain, followed by AI would make NVIDIA a very valuable company. They are #1 right now.
Wisdom: Don't seek to know everything. Instead, master what aligns with your purpose.
5. Imagination
The Workshop of the Mind
If it’s a good movie, the sound could go off, and the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what was going on.
Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980)
Imagination is where ideas are born. It's the workshop of the mind, where the intangible is forged and refined until it's ready to be realized. It is the blueprints of design.
Application: I am inspired by the idea that Hitchcock visualized almost every scene of his movies before he made them, even the shadows on the faces of the actors. This thinking doesn't just apply to movies, but also to businesses and your life. The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. You, yourself must still imagine and plan.
Wisdom: Let your imagination roam freely without constraints, unrestricted by today's limitations. Build a workshop in your mind and visit it daily. Craft, tinker, experiment and redesign the world in your mind before making it real.
6. Organized Planning
The Crystallization of Desire into Action
Whatever you do, do it well. Do it so well that when people see you do it, they will want to come back and see you do it again.
Walt Disney (1901-1966)
A dream without a plan is only a fantasy, never realized. Organized planning takes desire and crafts it into actionable sets… Today.
Application: For the past twenty years, I have visited Disneyland every year to inspire my family to dream and bring out the child in our hearts. Walt Disney meticulously planned every theme and detail of Disneyland before it ever came to life. Each attraction, path, and performance was mapped out in advance. He organized his vision into a plan that captured every magical element he imagined. I am trying to do this (with my team) for CampHowdy.com.
I call this an executable plan, and I typically have three phases, mirroring the caterpillar, cocoon, and butterfly phases. Hence the quote from Emerson on an acorn seeding a thousand forests. I think in days, but I also think and plan for decades.
Wisdom: Organize your vision into a living blueprint, where each step makes your vision closer to reality. Plan not just for the outcome but also for the experience, ensuring every detail aligns with your highest purpose. Think, think, think deeply and envision it all like a movie in your mind.
You are the director.
If you can visualize it, if you can dream it, there’s some way to do it.
Walt Disney (1901-1966)
My Life Question:
What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.
Zig Ziglar (1926-2012)
What is Your Organized Plan?
For your role, your business, your health, your family, your faith, or your life?
My blueprints are at most a page and typically half a page. They are simplified to a flywheel cycle with 3-5 main points (I call them dominos).
For my physical health, at 100 years old, I will do 10 pull-ups, ride 100 km on my bike, and do the splits (it's going to be a hard one 🙂).
My Life Advice:
In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)
While I believe that God created the heavens and earth, I also believe that I must think, imagine, gain wisdom, plan, and prepare with all my heart, mind, and body for something to come from just a thought or idea.
The imaginary world is not bound by constraints, but the physical world is. Finding an elegant solution between your ideas and your reality is magical.
You are given riddles of life where the answers lay in the problems and questions you encounter. Solve them and free your soul and others. These are your life missions if you choose to accept them rather than run away from them.
Next week:
Making Your Dreams Reality
Dreams die because of these three things or lack thereof.
Success is the progressive realization of a worthy dream.
Earl Nightingale (1921-1989)
See you next Thursday!
Subscribe to my Compounding Wisdom newsletter and start transforming your life.
Do you wish to retire early?
You can. Everyone can.
The concept of freedom is never truly realized until one settles into the idea of a fulfilled retirement.
Byron Pulsifer
I retired at 39 but realized I had the definition of retirement wrong.
Life is full of activity and work, but life also dictates that we need to relax, rest, and enjoy the dreams planted deep in our hearts. In the ten stages of life on this earth, each blink, each beat of our heart, the sunset, and the seasons remind us that life is a cycle and that we must rest in our set stillness.
We all dream of retiring to paradise and living happily ever after. Thus, we toil, we sweat, we labour so that we may one day enjoy the fruits of our labour of love. We call this retirement—finally being able to do that which we always wanted to do in life.
But what does it really mean to retire?
When Should You Retire?
Retirement is a blank sheet of paper. It is a chance to redesign your life into something new and different.
Patrick Foley
I lay in the dark, eyes closed, praying, asking God for wisdom. I had never taken a business course or a computer class, yet I wanted to start an Internet business. In University, I had forsaken the liberal arts, music, literature, and philosophy to ensure I got high marks in the sciences, math, and all the pre-medicine courses in University. The arts were too subjective, while the sciences were exact.
"God, give me the wisdom to do business, to connect with those needed, for I do not know anything about business. Then, any success can only be attributed to the gifts, connections and wisdom you have given me. Raise me for I am nothing."
With this prayer, I started a side business during my last year of medical residency in 1999. By the end of my residency, I made more in one month ($80k) than I had made all year as a resident ($50k). This was built during the evenings, the days I wasn't on call every third day and on the weekends. It took a toll on my wife (thank you honey).
By 2008, I had made hundreds of millions of dollars.
When people asked me, "What was the secret to your success?" I forgot how God had blessed me incredibly and replied, "The wisdom in books and my team." I started to believe it was me, my knowledge, my ability. I had seen the steps and vision so clearly. But then suddenly, this vision blurred, foggy, and quickly darkened. I could no longer see the path. I felt blind. I thought of Samson, whose power was lost when his hair was cut. I no longer had the power of vision and prophecy in business.
In 2009, I decided it was perhaps time to retire and pursue my dreams. My first definition of retirement was the freedom to do anything one wants without financial restrictions.
At first it was great. I didn't need to wake up to go to the office, or have any meetings. I felt free. As the months passed, I played the piano, I went to the Christian bookstore, I watched movies. Then I started to get bored. I was only 39, with my fifth child, a newborn, Gabriel. His middle name was Wire because I one day dreamed of creating a social commerce business on wire.com.
I had officially 'retired' but I felt a lack of purpose, drive and joy. I loved creating businesses and tweaking and making them work. I was like a tinkerer and inventor who was no longer tinkering and inventing.
Is this how I was going to spend the rest of my life?
The challenge of retirement is how to spend time without spending money.
My New Definition of Retirement
Retirement is when time no longer equals money. Time becomes much more valuable than money.
I was wondering what was going on in the world of business. I saw Groupon, a business that aggregated great deals online based on volume discounts for restaurants and other lifestyle activities if enough people purchased them. This is social commerce. I believed this would be an integral part of society.
I wanted to experiment and build a social commerce business like Groupon but with a charitable component, giving 10% of the proceeds to a local charity. Thus, Goodnews.com was born. After a couple of years, we built a team of developers, sales, and customer service to 60 people and expanded across Canada. But each new city had to be grown from 0. It didn't scale well and was heavy in sales and marketing, requiring lots of cash. I was used to technology businesses and soon realized I did not enjoy heavy sales organizations. I decided to exit this and start a different business.
Over the years, I have tinkered with and created many businesses. Many did not do well, but some did extremely well. Once they did well, I would divest and move on to the next one. People wondered why I still worked when I had so much wealth.
I pondered this question. For how long would I do business and create businesses? Should I invest like Warren Buffet instead? I spent a year waking up at 6:30 am PST to learn how stocks worked and see if I enjoyed it. I traded leveraged commodities like oil, natural gas and gold. I learned a lot as I studied and applied what I learned. After a year, I knew I did not like day trading stocks. It was stressful and had very high and low emotional volatility. But I learned a lot.
I am wealthy enough that I don't have to work day in and day out. I can continue to invest and make strategic long-term bets. But is this what gives me purpose, mastery, and joy?
Now, when people ask me when I will retire, I say I already have. My kids ask me this a lot. But Dad, you are still working just as hard as ever! No, I am retired. It's just that my definition of retirement is different from yours.
What is your definition of retirement?
I define retirement as doing what you love to do when you want to, not out of duty or obligation, but from your heart. When time becomes much more valuable than money and you use your time to do that which you love.
I removed the financial condition from my definition. Just as we are active and then rest, why do we always have this notion of "all or none"? It can be done in fractals of time. It fulfills your "To Be" and "To Dream" lists. Feel joy, purpose, and mastery; fill your days and nights full with the dreams of your heart and the people you love, and give this overflowing joy, purpose, and mastery to others as best as you can, not only for your immediate loved ones but also for those who may not even yet be born.
And if you are paid for what you love to do, that's a super bonus, as it creates more optionality for you to thrive and be more generous.
Are you doing what you love to do, when you want to, filling your heart with joy, purpose and mastery? Why not start now? Retire now… Live your dreams in your heart and find a way to make the economics work.
Ikigai - Your Reason for Being
We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
Ikigai, the intersection of
What you love to do
What you are good at
What gives value to others
What others are willing to pay your for
The first two are inputs, and the last two are outputs. Focus on the first two, and practice and integrate your love and talents to give the outputs over time.
I love the Bible, health, entrepreneurs, and biking. These are my loves.
My talents are associated with these, including tech, distilling and applying the principles of life and I dream of building a wellness retreat, make a Broadway musical, writing books on wealth and health and self growth, and making some movies.
I've ridden 40% of the Tour de France course and have a community of biking friends, including pro riders and Tour de France champions. I do my zen 100 km ride up hills and mountains once a week. I collect old Bibles (1611 King James Version), dream of opening healthy restaurants to disrupt the fast foods of burgers, donuts, and pizza, and write books and poetry. I want to build an AI business.
This is my retirement. I also want to live in Hawaii during the rainy, cold months of November to February in a few years and go on a sabbatical where I spend a year just doing what is at the top of my heart. I have earmarked 2026 and 2031 for these sabbaticals. I am fully blessed and grateful for each day of my life, and I ask my teams to express gratitude before every meeting. I wonder why I haven't instituted this daily in my family gatherings.
May you retire today.
Youth is wasted on the young.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
My Life Questions:
In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take.
Lewis Carroll (1832-1898)
1. When will you retire?
Start living the rest of your life with joy, purpose and mastery.
If you have retired, I would love to know your life philosophy. I enjoy it when you send me your thoughts. I read each one, and they are my fruits for these newsletters. I welcome you to send me a thought or two as I send you my heart each week.
My Life Lessons Then (from my younger self):
The only journey is the one within.
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)
1. I thought retirement was the last stage of life.
Retirement is not at the end but in the pauses of your life since the day you are born. It is the rest after the activity.
One day, when our bodies return to the ground and our souls go before God, we will fully rest in God's heart eternally.
2. I thought retirement was unlocked with financial freedom.
We spend most of our life hoping to attain financial freedom.
One of my businesses is losing a lot of money each month. We must reconstruct the business model as the industry has too much capacity. It's hard to make ends meet, as well as cash flows, debts, and unexpected expenses. We wonder when we will ever retire. And if you are healthy and live a long life, how will you survive 20 or 30 years after retirement? Retirement savings. Yes, we must plan for finances until the end of our life, but while we are living.
Since I was young, my philosophy has been to make one more zero than I spend and not limit my spending. So, my mind has always been on offense and how to create a sustainable financial source and multiple just in case. God has blessed me with this wisdom. I strike out a lot, but I hit more home runs and base hits than I strike out.
3. I thought life was just for me.
Once I developed my self to be reliable, consistent, discipined and confident, know who I am and who I wish to be, I started to think of others and future generations, as my legacy. It is in this stage I am in. Some people call it philanthropy. I call it ethos, my being. Human being.
Life Advice Now (from my present 53 year old self):
Gratitude turns what we have into enough.
Aesop (620-564 BC)
1. Live with great dreams.
Writing these life lessons is so powerful as it reminds me of the heart I had when I was younger, those lost and buried dreams. They are resurrecting and coming out of the coffin to rejuvenate my heart. Thank you, everyone, for this blessed opportunity.
2. Live each day with gratefulness.
Gratitude is one of the greatest gifts you can give to yourself and others.
Say your gratitude each morning and evening. If you peer deep into your heart and mine your gratitude, I guarantee you will be a changed person by the end of the year.
3. I support those who dare to dream. I cannot convice you to dream. But if you dream, I support and can help nurture that dream in the incubator of your heart.
Dream always. Never forget to dream.
4. Create your Top 5: “To Be” list and “To Dream” List.
Make it a checklist.
Prioritize it.
Schedule 10 minutes in your calendar each day, either planning or doing it.
Next week:
7 Principles of Life
Do you live or die daily?
Live each day as if your life had just begun.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
See you next Thursday!
Subscribe to my Compounding Wisdom newsletter and start transforming your life.
The Power of Your Dream
What do you really want?
You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage — pleasantly, smilingly, non-apologetically — to say ‘no’ to other things.
Stephen Covey (1932-2012)
What were your dreams as a child?
Who did you want to become?
What did you want to do?
Deep in Your Heart
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
Maya Angelou (1928-2014)
Just think back and dig deep into your heart.
We all dreamed of something, often borne out of our needs and our wants.
When I was hospitalized at age 14, I wanted to be a doctor, which became my main drive in life. Then I became a doctor, but I also wanted to be an entrepreneur on this fast-growing Internet. I decided to go for it.
Then, I dreamed of making epic movies in my 50s, writing books in my 60s, and building a health and wellness centre and a meaningful Gospel Media Network. I'm 53 and turning 54 in a couple of weeks.
It's a constant drive that informs my choices. I work backward to give birth to these deep-seated dreams.
But before all of this, the pertinent question is:
"What do you really want in life?"
If there is only one thing you want to accomplish in life, what would it be?
Curing Cancer
The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.
William Osler (1849-1919)
One day, not too long ago, I found myself in the most elegant European hotel, Burgenstock, sitting atop the mountains above Lucerne, an hour away from Zurich. My friend, Ron Baron, suggested I spend a week there, citing it as the best hotel in Europe. Okay! I said, so I booked it. I love Lucerne, but this required a 30-minute boat ride away on Lake Lucerne, followed a cable car ride up the mountain straight into the hotel.
As I perched over the mountains in my hotel room, I started reading a book called 'The First Cell' by Dr. Azra Raza, an eminent oncologist and researcher at Columbia University.
I couldn't put it down.
Azra had known for the past 50 years, that she wanted to cure cancer. As I read the book, my heart leapt onto the pages. Her opening brought streams of tears flowing down my face.
Her husband, Harvey, also an oncologist, had just been diagnosed with his second cancer--the very same form of cancer that he was trying to cure and treat--blood cancer. Azra and Harvey had devoted their lives to treating those afflicted with this horror. And, now, she would be asked by Harvey to be his oncologist.
Pure Poetics
Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.
Robert Frost (1874–1963)
As I read each chapter, I sent her an email telling her how wonderful and heartfelt her book and her heart were. I wanted to help her. She had written about how difficult it was to get funding from billionaires. She had written to 100 and received one reply, who endowed her research: Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a billionaire oncologist, part owner of the LA Lakers, an astute early investor in Zoom, and producer of groundbreaking cancer therapeutics.
Then I asked Dr. Azra Raza (is this not the coolest name ever?) if I could be so bold as to write a book with her. She asked me to call her and proposed we do a documentary combined with some related writings. And so began our relationship. I asked her to be my mentor, as I marvelled not just for her heart to cure cancer but also for her love of poetry, especially Emily Dickinson. She could quote her by heart and from many of Emily's 1,800 poems.
Her daughter Sheherzad, who lost her father at the age of 4, had gone to film school and interned under Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, also a cancer researcher, whose phenomenal books would be made into documentaries by the great documentarian Ken Burns. Sid had won the Pulitzer Prize with his first book, a stellar story on the biography of cancer from its first appearance to now, The Emperor of All Maladies. Both Sid and Azra are superheroes in the realm of cancer fighters. Both will change the world. I can tell by their hearts and their minds, a dynamic duo who will revolutionize these immortal cells that refuse to die. And Sheher is documenting everything, our discussions, including the fundraising concerts with Hugh Jackman, Diana Krall, Christopher Cross, Elvis Costello, produced by Susan Brecker, another dear wonderful friend, whose husband Michael Brecker, famed Jazz saxophonist, passed away from cancer.
Left to Right: Siddhartha Mukherjee, Susan Brecker, Azra Raza, Me.
The Dream to Cure Cancer
Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.
Langston Hughes (1901-1967)
Since I started riding my bike to help raise money to cure cancer in 2008, when my good friend, Elliot Koo, age 28, had terminal cancer, I began dreaming about holding a charity ride with pro cyclists. I was infatuated with four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome. I had a Team Sky bike and kit (his team at the time).
Chris grew up in Kenya and trained in South Africa. The problem was there were no mountains to practice climbing on. So, he mimicked the mountains by pressing his brakes to create resistance for himself. Try that yourself. It's almost impossible to do for very long.
One evening, I met a guy named Simon Williams at a dinner with friends. He told me he produced charity rides. On our way out, I asked him, "If there is ever a time I organize a charity cancer ride, could you help?" "Yes," he said, "It is what I was born to do." Simon had survived cancer himself at a very young age.
In 2021, I became part owner of the pro cycling team Israel Premier Tech.
A year later, who signed with the team? Chris Froome. Wow. The first time I met him, I was star-struck. I started asking him question after question, and he politely answered them all. Then, I took a lot of photos with him.
A year or so later, I asked my partner, Sylvan Adams, if the team could send someone to help with a fundraiser for Dr. Azra Raza's cancer research. He said, "How about our best, Chris?" Wow, that would be amazing!
So I called Simon, and we organized the Dream to Cure charity event in 2023. Chris graced us with his generosity and humility. We captured videos of him riding side by side with each participant.
A couple of days later, at my birthday dinner, Chris surprised me with a gift. It was his Tour de France yellow jersey—the champion's jersey he wore when he won the Tour de France. And he signed it for me. I was so humbled.
Another dream come true.
How did this happen? I reflected.
No plan could have been written for this.
It was just a very high-level dream.
All heart. A little bit of mindfulness. And a lot of luck, but I call luck by her other names, Providence or the hand of God.
P.S. In a couple of weeks, my daughter Jessi and her good friend Bella will be interning at Columbia with Azra and staying with her at home. Wait until they see her living room full of books, where she had guests like Daniel Kahneman, Nobel laureate, give talks. It's priceless.
Thank you, Azra. Thank you, Sheher. Love you both.
My Life Questions:
We do not remember days, we remember moments.
Cesare Pavese (1908-1950)
What is your dream?
Your dreams a like a GPS. Your life will keep reorienting you to that want until you face the mountains and valleys that stand between you and that want.
It is scary to embark on a new road, where no path exists, to your Dream.
My Life Lessons Then (from my younger self):
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)
1. Dream and connect by heart.
There is a pairing and need for every dream and fulfillment of your dream. Someone out there is looking for your heart, for your skills, for you. We play hide and seek, a metaphor to teach us that the things we seek are hidden but found when we seek.
2. Everything you do has value and is of use.
Many people thought I had ‘wasted’ my medical doctor dream. Azra, one of my great mentors and friends now, and I bonded and I was sitting with her, Sid, and the President of Columbia in New York Presbyterian Hospital for an hour. I hadn’t practiced medicine in two decades and there I was being introduced as Dr. Kevin Ham.
Those charity bike rides, 200 km in two days, trained me enough to be able to ride with the pro cycling team, riding in Israel, a place I had read about most of my life in the stories of the Bible. Then I met with the President of Israel with the cycling team. Wow.
3. Dreams are like clouds. Rains pour forth, but clouds also shield us from the sun.
Dreams inspire us but also they can feel so far out there, that they just remain dreams. Pray. Think. Speak. Act. On behalf of your dreams.
Life Advice Now (from my present 53 year old self):
In youth we learn; in age we understand.
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916)
1. Keep dreaming, even when things seem impossible. There is always a way.
Deep prayer, meditation, reflection and then thinking, speaking, writing, acting by heart is the key to our human powers. Our heart unlocks the doors that remain shut. The heart sees the way more than the eyes.
2. Life is a dream, even when it may seem like a nightmare.
The object of our want casts a deep shadow in the light of our hope and belief in our dreams. Don’t let the shadow fool you. Keep your eye on the object of your want. Let it be true. Let it be pure. Let it be heart. Let it be real. All true art is a reflection of our hearts.
3. Dream.
Go for it, always.
Next week:
Life Crisis: Teens. Mid-life. Late-life. End.
It isn’t a question of if, it’s a question of when.
The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.
W. M. Lewis (1878-1945)
See you next Thursday!
Subscribe to my Compounding Wisdom newsletter and start transforming your life.
God.com Vision
Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart.
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
I had just finished my medical residency in June 2000, when the dot com imploded and started to become the dot com bust. AOL had just acquired Time Warner, one of the largest traditional media companies. AOL did that with phone dial-up internet services!
I paused and prayed as I pondered my next big step, whether to practice medicine or go all-in on the Internet. I was excited about the possibilities of domain names and acquiring virtual real estate.
Vision of a Better Future
Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
I believed the Internet would be a revolution, like the Industrial Revolution, powered by the steam engine. It would be more transformative than the automobile, airplane, radio, or TV revolutions.
As I pondered and prayed, I had a vision. If I were to enter this Internet revolution, I would want to own some of the best virtual real estate properties. Four domain names appeared in my vision:
God.com
Heaven.com
Religion.com
Jesus.com
I saw them in that order. I researched to see who owned these domains and emailed the owners. I never got a reply from anyone except Religion.com. He was asking $150,000. What? That's crazy. This is not a business name, I thought. Good luck. Later, the God.com owner said he would never sell and just wanted to safeguard the domain. The same for Heaven.com. I never got a reply from Jesus.com.
As I saw things, acquiring these four domain names would require millions of dollars, and it seemed virtually impossible to acquire all four of them as I had envisioned.
How to make the Impossible Possible
There is nothing impossible to him who will try.
Alexander the Great (356-323 BC)
It was a chicken-and-egg problem. I had to make enough money to acquire these four domains if any of the owners were even willing to sell them at some point. I decided to keep in contact with each of them and email them monthly.
In the meantime, I decided to acquire a supporting cast of religion domains; why not pay for them by creating a business around commercial internet domains? Yes, that sounded like a great idea.
I saw how a handful of domainers had impressive domain portfolios, like my now good friends Scott Day (the watermelon farmer who acquired watermelons.com and then just started registering and buying great domains like recipes.com, webdesign.com, and webhosts.com), Frank Schilling, who just sold his domain business for $160 million, and Yun Ye, who sold his 100,000 domain name portfolio for $164 million in 2005.
To accomplish the heart of my visions, I required not only money but also great providence, God's helping hand. I determined that I would also have to have a pure heart and focus on missionary work while figuring out the business of domain names.
I wrote these thoughts down on a page of paper to visualize them. This would be the method I'd use to develop all of my future go-to business plans for subsequent ventures. If it could fit on half to one-page of paper, it would be simple to focus on and execute.
It's usually one big thing with a few supporting things that make a business work.
Think of Instagram. Initially, it started as a location social network, but photos were the main feature users used, so they simplified the app to just photos with filters and social sharing—perfectly timed to ride the wave of mobile photos.
Think of Slack. It started as an internal communication tool for the team developing a big game. The game failed, and they pivoted to Slack, which they later sold to Salesforce for billions.
Heart and Character
The true test of a man's character is what he does when no one is watching.
John Wooden (1910-2010)
I also envisioned that I would not be ready as a person to start this massive stewardship of God.com if I were to ever be granted it. It was put in my heart that the time would come when all four were granted, if ever.
Four years passed. I asked my friend Richard Lau to help me and offered him a 10% brokerage commission. As my friend was talking to the owner of God.com, the domain was hijacked (ie. stolen). Richard worked with the FBI to help recover the domain. He told the owner that I would be a great steward of the domain name. He agreed to sell it for just under half a million. By then, my commercial domain name portfolio, in the hundreds of thousands of domains, could easily afford it.
God.com. Check. Thank you God.
I then asked Richard to help me with religion.com. The previous owner donated it to the Presbyterian church, which put out a press release saying they would never sell the domain. My heart dropped when I read this. Yet, five years later, they agreed to sell it, with the condition that it had to be the same price they had offered the previous owner the donation receipt for the domain. $150,000 five years later. Wow.
Religion.com. Check. Laus Deo.
In 2007, I had been offering unsuccessfully increasing amounts for Heaven.com. The owner was still adamant about not selling. One day I received an email that he was ready to sell. I asked how much, expecting a reply of millions—$ 350,000. I had just sent him an offer to buy for $500,000 a week earlier so I told him if I could get Director approval, we could do it in one day for $350,000. He agreed. The fastest deal I had ever been a part of. Surreal.
Heaven.com. Check. Soli Deo Gloria.
I had secured other supporting casts like messiah.com, trinity.com, proverbs.com, devil.com, satan.com and wanted to have the mate of heaven.com--hell.com. The owner of hell.com had a steep asking price: $7 million. A no-go for me. One day, a decade later, he said he was ready to sell. I asked how much. He asked me what my offer was. I said no more than what heaven.com cost. $350,000. He said yes and looking back I should have ensured hell.com cost less than heaven, even if a dollar less.
24 years later, there has still yet to be progress on Jesus.com. Patience truly is a virtue.
Upon reflection, I realize that after these 24 years, my heart and character still lack the responsibility to steward such majestic domain names.
It may sound odd, but I knew that to realize this vision would require at least 20 years of my life. I also envisioned making three epic movies based on the Bible that fascinate me. I had pegged 2020 to start venturing into movie-making, but I've learned to trust God and not to place deadlines on my dreams.
Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day.
Heraclitus (535-475 BC)
My Life Questions:
The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
For what and why me?
What on earth are you here to do? And why is it you who needs to do this?
As I pondered these two questions over the decades, they became: For who and why me? I realized it isn't for what but for who.
My 'what' is not for me but for my loved ones, for my fellow man, for Jesus who died for me, and for God who sent him.
My Life Lessons Then (from my younger self):
Dream big and dare to fail.
Norman Vaughan (1905-2005)
1. Make the dream in your heart real. Never lose faith. Never give up. I still dream my dreams.
2. Don’t be afraid to be crazy. I announced my vision to many people close to me. They thought I was crazy. Seven years later, when I was on the cover of my favourite business magazine, one of my friends, wondering how I could predict what I would do so many years later, asked if I was from heaven. That was funny to me since we had gone to high school together. I'm just a guy with a vision that I believe in. And though decades have passed, I still believe in it.
3. Keep the faith. No one really knows how much we can do until faith is absolute.
Life Advice Now (from my present 53 year old self):
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
1. Continuously knock on doors and solicit help from above and around you. Prayerfully and in full faith, pursue what you are destined to do.
2. Do not take lightly this vision and stewardship set in your heart. It has been planted in your heart for a reason.
3. Finish what you start. You are a quick starter and persistent, but ensure you complete the vision. Each day is one less day. Ask, and you shall receive, but only with faith. Seek and you shall find. Then knock incessantly until the door is opened to you. You stopped knocking. Keep knocking.
Next week:
What Do You Really Want? Really.
You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage — pleasantly, smilingly, non-apologetically — to say ‘no’ to other things.
Stephen Covey (1932-2012)
See you next Thursday!
Subscribe to my Compounding Wisdom newsletter and start transforming your life.
Purpose and Mastery
The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.
J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
I became fascinated with the great composers Bach and Handel. Both were born in Germany in 1685, and both have changed the hearts of people and the world of music. Bach stayed home and wrote music for the church, and Handel went to the empire where the sun never set--England. They have each inspired me and led me to ponder what it is like to live a life dedicated to mastery and to live with such purpose.
While I took that sabbatical from work in 2009, I immersed myself in the world of music, playing the piano and dreaming.
Johann Sebastian Bach
I was obliged to be industrious. Whoever is equally industrious will succeed equally well.
J.S. Bach
For most of his life, Bach was beset with tragedy and sorrow. He was orphaned at the age of ten when he lost his parents within a year of each other. He had 20 children, but 11 of them died. He lost his young daughter, three sons and then his first wife. He then remarried and lost four more daughters and three more sons, 11 dear children total. When he was old, he was in poor health and had cataracts that made him blind. How could someone produce such a treasure chest of music while being overwhelmed by such loss and hardship?
Perhaps Bach set his heart on fire by composing the world's most beautiful and meaningful music. Bach's music was the first music sent into space. He set his heart on composing music for God and man; perhaps that is why we feel so peaceful listening to his music.
At the beginning of each piece of music, he wrote, "Lord help." At the end of his music, he wrote, "Soli Deo Gloria" (Only Glory to God). His music was praise, prayer, and honour to God--a conversation between man and God in the form of musical notes.
Bach was prolific, writing over 1,000 works. The depth and complexity of his music pushed the boundaries of what was possible with music, and his music became the standard of excellence.
Bach believed his music should have a higher purpose. His sacred works like "St. Matthew Passion" were composed to honour God. His music was an expression of his faith and for mankind to feel the passion and love of the beloved Creator.
His works were not well known outside his country, but 70 years later, Felix Mendelssohn praised Bach and revived his work to worldwide acclaim. Bach's unmarked grave was discovered and raised to prominence, as his music inspired and lifted the great musicians and crowds who would listen to his music.
I was obliged to be industrious. Whoever is equally industrious will succeed equally well.
J.S. Bach
George Handel
My Lord, I should be sorry if I only entertained them. I wish to make them better.
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Despite suffering from poor health and financial distress himself, he put on concerts to raise funds for people imprisoned for unpaid debts.
Handel's profound sense of purpose is evident in his great Magnum Opus "Messiah" (Hebrew for 'Anointed One'), which, at 260 pages, he wrote in just 24 days as he set the words of the Bible to music. Handel said it was as if the music were dictated to him by God, and he just transcribed the notes furiously onto paper. The Hallelujah Chorus in "Messiah" is said to have inspired and uplifted King George II so much that he stood up during this part. It has now become a tradition to stand up during that moment of the performance. The delightful and powerful Hallelujah ("Praise the Lord") chorus has the power to transform the heart through the power of its music and singing.
Handel composed over 40 operas and 29 oratorios, but when he first incorporated Scripture into his music (though now very accepted and praised), it was a point of contention among the civil and religious communities of his time. He fell into hard financial times and struggled until his revival with the popularity of "Messiah."
I have been most industrious and have achieved much with my music. However, I desire to create works that will outlast even my lifetime.
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Ludwig van Beethoven
Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Beethoven was inspired by Bach and Handel and throughout his lifetime, he relentlessly pursued musical mastery despite much hardship. In 1797, around age 26, Beethoven started to lose his hearing, and by age 44 (in 1814), he was almost totally deaf.
Beethoven's famous Symphony No. 5 was written in 1804 and Symphony No. 9, considered his Magnum Opus, was composed between 1822 and 1824.
How could it be that he wrote his greatest work of music while completely deaf?
He knew and felt music intuitively. During his "late period," he became an innovator. He pioneered the transition between classical and romantic music periods, reinventing the symphony, sonata, and string quartet. He stirred souls with emotional depth and complexity that were familiar yet entirely new.
He believed that music had the power to stir the human soul and convey profound human emotions and ideals. Through his music, he expressed his beliefs in freedom, justice, and the triumph of the human spirit.
Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
John Milton
The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.
John Milton (1608-1674)
John Milton had a dream to write an epic poem like Homer's Odyssey and Virgil when he was just a teenager. He studied Latin and Greek, literature and theology and studied at Cambridge.
In a letter written in 1645, when he was 37 years old, Milton expressed his long-held ambition to write a great epic poem. He referred to the project as something he had been contemplating for many years.
His early writings and sonnets also reveal that he was formulating ideas for an epic narrative even before he began working on "Paradise Lost."
The concrete work on "Paradise Lost" began in the early 1650s, when he was in his early forties. Yet as he embarked on his dream, his vision faltered until he was completely blind in 1652, at the age of 44.
He thought he had to give up on his dream of writing the epic book he had envisioned. This caused him unspeakable agony. He valued the power of vision and the loss of his sight was devastating. He expressed his sorrow and frustration in his poetry, "Sonnet 19," where he laments his inability to serve God through his writing due to his blindness.
“When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;”
Despite his despair, Milton also saw his blindness as a test of faith and resilience. His struggle with his disability became a part of his creative and spiritual journey. He started to envision his book deeply in 1658, recited it to his daughter, and completed his Magnum Opus in 1667.
While his epic took nine years to complete, it was in his heart from a young age. He had composed much of the book in his mind and recited it to his daughters by memory so they could transcribe it.
It is considered one of the England's greatest literary works.
My Life Questions:
The best use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts it.
William James (1842-1910)
What is my Purpose in Life?
Each of us has a purpose in life. What is yours?
A chair has a purpose. A building has a purpose. You have a purpose.
I have many dreams. Most of them I will never realize, but why?
Perhaps because you do not have the courage to start.
We limit ourselves. These limits prevent us from ever starting.
My Life Lessons Then (from my younger self):
Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.
John Wesley (1703-1791)
1. I wish to do something for someone that outlasts my life.
This is called a legacy. Deep down we all have this deep seated desire to matter, to have purpose, to have mastery of something.
2. Mastery takes time, with deep thought, deep work and practice over a lifetime.
Every master starts as a baby, an apprentice, a novice who was not great at their dream. Over time, with deep focus, deep practice, deep work, they became a master. So it is the great lesson of life.
The adage, “Practice makes perfect” rings ever true.
Life Advice Now (from my present 53 year old self):
We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.
Chuck Swindoll (1934-)
1. I will create my own Magnum Opus, my great work for which I am purposed.
Just like these masters reinvented what they experienced with the dream in their heart, they took something familiar and made it entirely new, imbibed with the passion in their heart. People recognize this passion, as it sparks life in your soul.
I believe everyone has a Magnum Opus, but it must be pursued like these great masters.
2. You will be beset with trouble, obstacles and resistance. Yet you should push on.
As I struggle with my own likelihood of blindness—due to severe wet macular degeneration, that I was diagnosed with at a relatively young age of 50—I wonder how many more years I will have my sight.
Draw inspiration from John Milton, who wrote his Magnum Opus while he was blind and Beethoven, who composed Symphony No 9 while he was deaf. And, Helen Keller who wrote 12 published books and flew a plane while being both blind and deaf.
3. Dream for that things that bring spice and joy to your life. And when you make your dream come true, that will be your legacy. Through that action, you will inspire others to dream.
Go for it, always.
Next week:
My Dream: God.com
A pipe dream in the making
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)
See you next Thursday!
Subscribe to my Compounding Wisdom newsletter and start transforming your life.