Just do it. Just Start.

It may be a saying but it’s also a philosophy of how to live.

When I make a film, I am hoping to reinvent the genre a little bit. I just do it my way. I make my own little Quentin versions of them... I consider myself a student of cinema. It's almost like I am going for my professorship in cinema, and the day I die is the day I graduate. It is a lifelong study.

Quentin Tarantino

1. Just Do It

You cannot unremember the simple command to ‘Just Do It’, but you must just do it when you are reminded of it.

Dr. Kevin Ham

In 1988, Nike needed a bold message to revive its brand. Dan Wieden found inspiration in an unusual source: the chilling last words of convicted murderer Gary Gilmore. Facing a firing squad in 1977, Gilmore grimly said, "Let's do it." Wieden adapted this phrase into "Just Do It," infusing it with determination and universal appeal. The slogan debuted with an ad featuring 80-year-old Bill Bowerman, Nike's co-founder, legendary track coach, and innovator of the modern running shoe, showing that athletic spirit knows no age. This blend of grit and simplicity resonated deeply, transforming Nike into a cultural icon and inspiring millions to face challenges and chase their dreams.

It's a simple phrase that captures time and gives you the impetus to decide in your heart right now. Just do it!

How many times in your life have you felt the urge in your heart to say something or do something, but you lose that moment, and then days, weeks, years, and decades pass? That path you would have stepped into could have altered your life, the people you would have met, and the experiences you would have had.

Just do it. Now. In 2025.

2. Just Start

Take your first step. Determine to do it, knowing that it will open a whole new world filled with valleys, peaks and adventure that set your heart on fire.

Dr. Kevin Ham

Paired with 'Just Do It' is the shorter, more powerful phrase, 'Just Start!'

By starting, taking the first step, you can open a whole new world of possibilities. Just imagine you decide to take a new path. As you walk down this path, you start to see new things. You meet new people and have new experiences compared to the traditional path you always travel. This spawns new insights, possibilities, and relationships that, in turn, open new doors and windows of opportunity.

In December 1998, during my last shift at Pediatric Emergency at Victoria Hospital in London, Canada, I decided to start an Internet business. I registered HostGlobal.com on January 10, 1999. By June 2000, when I finished my medical residency, I was making $30,000 USD/month. I decided to spend another six months on my business. It's now been 25 years, and I love it.

My Life Question:

Unpack the seeds in your heart and sow it into the world to take root and bear fruit today.

Dr. Kevin Ham

What will you start now?

• Set your vision (your what, what success looks like)

• Determine who you must become as you set on your journey.

• Determine your dominos or milestones for each year, each quarter, your first month, and your first day. 

My Life Lessons:

Success is doing what you love, loving how you do it, for who you love to do it for.

Dr. Kevin Ham

Many of life’s most important lessons are repeated to us until we heed them, think about them, dream about them and act on them.

1. Planting the seed in the heart is great, but you must envision the fruit that comes to bear for you and others.

2. You are uniquely purposed to do something in your life. That seed is in the package of your heart. Unleash and plant that seed.

3. Do what you love, how you love to do it, and for those you would love to do it for.

Next week:
The Power of Reflection

It's not only seeing where you are heading but reflecting upon the path you have already taken that can set your direction correctly.

We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.

John Dewey (1859-1952)

See you next Thursday!

Subscribe to my Compounding Wisdom newsletter and start transforming your life.

The Power of the Compound Effect

Become great with small steps and actions over time

Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)

1. Seeing the Compound Effect

Here’s the bottom line: You already know all that you need to succeed. You don’t need to learn anything more. If all we needed was more information, everyone with an Internet connection would live in a mansion, have abs of steel, and be blissfully happy. New or more information is not what you need—a new plan of action is. It’s time to create new behaviors and habits that are oriented away from sabotage and toward success. It’s that simple.

Darren Hardy, The Compound Effect

You may have heard of the Compound Effect by reading such books as “The Compound Effect” or “The Slight Edge”. All great. I lead by intuition but follow through with data, logic and reason and the compound effect is mostly the latter.

The power of the compound effect is described by Einstein as, “The most powerful force in the Universe is compound interest.” This is only one application of the compound effect in the world of finance. The compound effect is a power law that can be in every facet of life.

A mathematical mind would see this as:

This is exponential growth. Can you predict the compound growth in years and in decades? Can you see it?

If you can, then it’s hard to unsee the power of the compound effect.

This is the power of the compound effect over time.

But what most people don’t realize is that there are both powerful applications of positive and negative compound effects.

Let me explain the positive first. The negative in another newsletter.

2. The Power of Positive Compound Effect

Instead of writing down what you’re going to do (chances are you’ve been doing that your whole adult life anyway, and it doesn’t make you any better at doing them), write down at the end of the day what you did do that day.

Jeff Olson, The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness

Most people recognize that doing something consistently over time, improving continuously, like the practice of kaizen, eventually makes one great.

Medical students practice medicine for four years and become doctors. My friend, Kim Mijung, practiced judo for five years and won Olympic gold in Barcelona 1992. You practice proving a hypothesis and you become a Ph.D in five years. Bruce Lee practiced martial arts and became a master.

There was a young 11 year old from Italy, who moved to Philadelphia. His father was a NBA basketball player. He wanted to make his dad proud and joined the summer league. He didn’t score a single basket all season. His dad said, “Son, whether you score 0 or 60 points, I will always love you.”

He determined he would score 60 points one day and dedicated two hours of basketball practice every day when others were playing every other day. The next season he scored 20 points. The season after that he became the best player in the league. He became the youngest player drafted in the NBA at 18. He then woke up at 3 am to practice three times a day, starting at 4 am, in order to get in one more practice than every other player. Within five years, he was one of the best players in the NBA.

3. Starting Small with the Compound Effect

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead

Improving 1% compounded daily leads to remarkable results:

• 2.5 times better in 3 months

• 6 times better in 6 months

• 38 times better in a year

• 1400 times better in two years

• 54,000 times better in three years

• 2 million times in four years

• 77 million times in five years

Warren Buffet, hailed as the greatest investor, applied the compound effect by investing in companies that were value priced. He became a billionaire when he was 56 years old. His long term investments have yielded dividends (literally) and great compounding wealth. He’s now 94 and worth $150 billion.

But simply knowing this is different than applying the power of the compound effect to your life.

Let’s ask and ponder how you can leverage the Compound Effect in your life.

My Life Question:

The great Baseball Hall-of-Famer Tom Seaver put it perfectly: In baseball, my theory is to strive for consistency, not to worry about the numbers. If you dwell on statistics you get shortsighted; if you aim for consistency, the numbers will be there at the end.

Jeff Olson

What do you wish to be great at in a decade?

1. Determine your outcome result. Think exponentially, not linearly.

2. Determine the smallest first step.

3. Determine interval goals, either monthly or annually.

4. Scale your time horizons long and short and choose one that feels right for you.

5. Start acting on your first step now.

My Life Lessons:

Each morning, write down three things you’re grateful for. Not the same three every day; find three new things to write about. That trains your brain to search your circumstances and hunt for the positive. Journal for two minutes a day about one positive experience you’ve had over the past twenty-four hours. Write down every detail you can remember; this causes your brain to literally reexperience the experience, which doubles its positive impact. Meditate daily. Nothing fancy; just stop all activity, relax, and watch your breath go in and out for two minutes. This trains your brain to focus where you want it to, and not get distracted by negativity in your environment.

Jeff Olsen

1. When you start to think in decades and centuries, the compound effect becomes fascinating.

2. What can you do in one, two, three decades?

3. I try to envision when I am 100 years old, what I would have liked to accomplish and the person I’d like to be then.

   • Memorizing the entire 31 chapters of Proverbs. I memorize them in their original form in Hebrew.

   • Riding 100 km on my bike. I do monthly, sometimes weekly century rides

   • 10 pullups. I currently do 15 pullups daily and plan to increase to 30 pullups over the decades

   • Touch my toes. Maybe even do the splits. I touch my toes daily.

   • Speak three or more languages. I am learning Hebrew.

Next week:
Just do it! Simple but Powerful

It may be a saying but it’s also a philosophy of how to live.

When I make a film, I am hoping to reinvent the genre a little bit. I just do it my way. I make my own little Quentin versions of them... I consider myself a student of cinema. It's almost like I am going for my professorship in cinema, and the day I die is the day I graduate. It is a lifelong study.

Quentin Tarantino

See you next Thursday!

Subscribe to my Compounding Wisdom newsletter and start transforming your life.

Your Sixth Sense

This is your intuition, the silent voice that whispers WISDOM.

Intuition will tell the thinking mind where to look next.

Jonas Salk (1914-1995)

Do you recall the first 11 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. Use Autosuggestion to deeply embed the faith in your desire into your subconscious.

4. Specialized knowledge allows you to master what aligns with your purpose—the cornerstone of your impact.

5. Imagination allows you to build your desire in the workshop of your mind, creating a blueprint with all the details.

6. Organized Planning organizes this living blueprint, bringing each step closer to reality.

7. Decision empowers you to take swift unwavering action. It sets you in motion from the inside out.

8. Persistence gives you the resolve to continually pursue your goal, even when the obstacles seem insurmountable.

9. The Mastermind principle is about surrounding yourself with individuals who challenge and uplift you, creating a synergy that elevates everyone in the Mastermind.

10. Your Subconscious Mind is part of your soul (psyche), where your beliefs, desires, and actions converge. It stores every thought and ultimately guides your actions and reactions.

11. The Brain is not just a physical organ but a transmitter of thought. When you harness it, you can connect with the collective ideas of others, drawing inspiration from the world around you.

These final two secrets complete and make everything exponential.

12. The Sixth Sense

The Door to the Temple of Wisdom

Don’t try to comprehend with your mind. Your minds are very limited. Use your intuition.

Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007)

The sixth sense is intuition, the "inner knowing" that guides decision-making beyond logic. It's the silent voice that whispers wisdom.

Jobs often spoke of intuition guiding his best decisions, from product design to company culture. His gut instinct was a silent but powerful force behind Apple's success, enabling him to innovate in ways others couldn't anticipate.

Application: People think I lead and make decisions based on data, but I only use data to give credence to my deep intuitions, which have faithfully guided me most of my life. Data allows you to tell the story of your intuition to 'unbelievers.' Some people call these pipe dreams pie in the sky, moonshots. But even without such data, faith in intuition has led to marvellous inventions and discoveries of humankind. I believe this intuition is what connects the soul (psyche) to the spirit. When in tune, intuition whispers the secrets of wisdom into your heart and soul and drives you to act on them. You waver between reason and logic and intuition. Follow your intuition. Looking back on life, you'll see that intuition has always been a faithful steward.

Wisdom: Trust the whispers of intuition, for they often reveal the most profound insights. Let your sixth sense guide you, seeing truths beyond the visible.

13. The Mystery of Sex Transmutation

Channeling Physical Energy into Creative Energy

Sexual energy is the creative energy of all geniuses.

Napoleon Hill (1883-1970)

This one is often censored or omitted due to the word sex. But it is a very real and necessary part of our success. Sex transmutation involves redirecting powerful physical and emotional energies into creative and productive outlets. Harnessing this intense energy can fuel creativity, focus, and productivity. 

For innovators like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, or Walt Disney, this principle means transforming intense passions into artistic or entrepreneurial pursuits. Jobs, for instance, channelled his energy into designing products with almost obsessive attention to detail, creating devices that are both functional and beautiful. Musk similarly channels his intensity and drive into world-changing ventures, from electric cars to space exploration.

Application: When soldiers go into war, if they hold and channel their sexual energies into physical and mental combat, it can mean the difference between life and death. When athletes channel the sexual energy within and around them, they can be in the zone and perform at the highest level. Fans and cheerleaders fuel this energy. Sexual energy is not just in the realm of sex but also adoration, and loving support. This energy transmutation is one of the most powerful energies in the world. Kingdoms rise and fall by this. For the love of a woman. For the love of a person. For the love of a nation. For the love of a gold medal or championship.

Wisdom: Learn to recognize and harness intense energies within yourself. Redirect them into pursuits that align with your highest aspirations, turning primal energy into creative power that drives you toward greatness.

My Life Question:

Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.

Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

What is Success to me? (ask yourself and answer wisely)

1. This answer will change how you view yourself and live your life.

2. I believe success is not a "what" but a "who" or many "who's".

3. Success is how you have impacted people, not how much you have in things.

4. I devote my life to the well-being of others. In the 'ministry' given to me, I wish to help relieve humanity's suffering. That is, as a doctor, a father, an entrepreneur, and a Christian.

My Life Lessons:

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

1. Developing your sixth sense, i.e. your intuition is listening to your heart.

2. Leveraging and practicing these 13 principles of success will make you grow as a person. It requires you to fully develop and understand who you are and who those around you are.

3. Vibrate at the highest frequency of truth and faith in your mission and vision, anchored well by your values and virtues.

Next week:
The Power of the Compound Effect

Become great with small steps and actions over time

Great things are not done by impulse but by a series of small things brought together.

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)

See you next Thursday!

Subscribe to my Compounding Wisdom newsletter and start transforming your life.

Connect Your Dream to Reality

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)

Do you recall the first 6 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.

4. Specialized knowledge allows you to master what aligns with your purpose—the cornerstone of your impact.

5. Imagination allows you to build your desire in the workshop of your mind, creating a blueprint with all the details.

6. Organized Planning organizes this living blueprint, bringing each step closer to reality.

7. Decision empowers you take swift unwavering action. It sets you in motion from the inside out.

8. Persistence gives you the resolve to continually pursue your goal, even when the obstacles seem insurmountable.

9. The Mastermind principle is about surrounding yourself with individuals who challenge and uplift you, creating a synergy that elevates everyone in the Mastermind.

These next two energize inside and all around you, making things happen that seem almost miraculous.

10. The Subconscious Mind

The Connecting Link

Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition will one day become a reality.

Earl Nightingale (1921-1989)

Your subconscious mind is part of your soul (psyche) where your beliefs, desires and actions converge. It stores every thought, ultimately guiding your actions and reactions.

Steve Jobs used his subconscious to a high level. His perfectionism and unrelenting pursuit of excellence, simplicity and elegant design for human interaction and beauty were rooted in his subconscious beliefs that nothing less than the best for humanity would do.

Application: I believed I would become a doctor at age 14. I believed I would be a part of the Internet in 1992. I believed I would be gifted with business wisdom and great wealth as a result and that I would have my Magnum Opus in three different businesses in three different fields. I believed I would help Canadian riders become pro cyclists. A couple of months later I was invited to be a partner of a pro cycling team, Israel Premier Tech. Chris Froome, four time Tour de France winner is a good dear friend and I’ve ridden at the Tour with him and Michael Woods, a Canadian runner turned pro cyclist. I just adore them and the pro cyclists. Their hard work and dedication are inspiring. And my partners on the team, Billionaire Sylvan Adams, Ron Baron and Jean stand for greatness.

Wisdom: Program your subconscious with your highest ideals. Trust that it will guide you toward the actions you need to take, allowing your dreams to manifest through aligned effort. I believe when your subconscious mind is aligned with the Spirit of God, what is in your heart will manifest in powerful ways, but oftentimes in ways you do not quite expect or understand at that time.

11. The Brain

A Broadcasting and Receiving Station for Thought

The brain is wider than the sky.

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

The brain is not just a physical organ but a transmitter of thought. When you harnes it, you can connect with the collective ideas of others, drawing inspiration from the world around you.

When Elon Musk mired his brain with visions of space travel, robots for the good of humanity and a fair financial social network, he would call X. It was much too early and so X merged with Paypal and eventually sold to eBay. He has created SpaceX to go to Mars by developing reusable rockets, Tesla to build autonomous electric vehicles that are energy efficient and give back to the grid ultimately and robots that would serve humankind.From learning physics to engineering, he asks big questions to allow his brain to think and intuitively piece together solutions that are executable.

Application: My mentor Bob Proctor said most people don’t think. 95% of people don’t really think. I thought about that and realized it is hard to think, think deeply for a long time. So I started to ask myself questions and then think about the possible principles and concepts and elegant solutions based on different industries and walks of life.

I am fundraising for how.com. It’s the first time ever I have fundraised since I first started business in 1999. The vision is so big. We believe it will reinvent how travel is booked, how shopping is done, how people feel and how companies will operate. We valued it at $50 million, hoping to raise $4m and then invite strategic investors to invest more to have strategic investors upon launch. We are already oversubscribed. Then I thought of all the people who helped me and invited them and more than half were interested and of them, more than 70% are investing. Then I thought of more people who helped me along my life way. Then I saw all of my network. My family. My friends. My domain network. My business network. My logistics network. My cycling network and so many more. I had this belief with domains, with crypto, with my investment in NVIDIA in 2018, and now with how.com. I believe it will be an important fabric of the Internet and society. If you are interested, email me :) I also failed a lot, but I learned a lot to get to this point to make this one of my Magnum Opus.

This is my third swing at AI. My first was in 2007 when I acquired a company with semantic technology Visual Knowledge and invested $10m. It was not fast enough nor good enough. I was too early. Then in 2015 I built a mobile app that would listen to you as you played the piano to teach you but also turn the pages as you played. One of the developers was fresh out of University of Toronto. He went to intern at Microsoft in 2017 and then Google Brain. In 2019 he founded a company called Cohere and is CEO. It’s currently valued at $5.6B. Congrats Aidan! This will be my third swing and I believe the timing is perfect. It’s now an execution risk and a game of speed and reinvention!

Wisdom: Tune your mind to the frequency of greatness. Allow your brain to receive inspiration from up above, picking up signals (what I call insight and downloads) that manifest your dream.

Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few engage in it.

Henry Ford (1863-1947)

My Life Question:

Man’s greatness lies in his power of thought.

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

How can you live your Magnum Opus?

• You have a purpose and have a magnum opus, a great work, that only you can do. What is it?

My Life Lessons:

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards

Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

1. Everything has significance. Everything is connected. We just have to connect those dots forwards and backwards. It is easy to see those dots when we look backwards, and more difficult to see them looking forward. Thinking and the Subconscious mind can help you past to future and understand your present starting point.

2. Thinking is the key. You must plan in your heart but leave the outcome to God. You cannot just leave the outcome without planning, which is deeply tied to deep thought and your subconscious mind.

Next week:
Your Sixth Sense
This is your intuition, the silent voice that whispers WISDOM.

Intuition will tell the thinking mind where to look next.

Jonas Salk (1914-1995)

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?

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.

4. Specialized knowledge allows you to master what aligns with your purpose—the cornerstone of your impact.

5. Imagination allows you to build your desire in the workshop of your mind, creating a blueprint with all the details.

6. 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)

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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)

1. 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.

2. 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. 

3. 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.

The First 3 Success Principles

Let’s 80/20 Success

The secret of success is to do the common thing uncommonly well.

John D. Rockefeller Jr. (1874-1960)

How many piano keys make up all the melodies we hear? Just 12. Seven white keys and five black keys.

And how many principles determine Success? Just 13. According to the teachings of Andrew Carnegie and the great successful people of his era, like Henry Ford, who democratized automobiles, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, and many others. Carnegie challenged Napoleon Hill to find the principles of Success and introduced him to all the successful people he knew.

Hill defined the principles of Success to just 13 in his book, 'Think and Grow Rich'. 

Think is the keyword here. Think deeply and connect many deep thoughts together. Hill created much more wealth through his book than Carnegie did through his business empire, and he was one of the wealthiest people of his time ($310 billion in today's dollars and the fourth richest of all time).

Do you know and employ these 13 principles of Success?

Can you name them?

I'd like to delve into them each week, starting with the first three keystone principles of Success.

1. Desire

Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Success begins with a strong desire for a definite goal. It's not just wishing but a deep, burning desire that propels one to take laser-like focused action toward achieving something significant or meaningful. It's a force so strong that it pushes you to continue striving, even when challenges arise.

When I decided to become a medical doctor at age 14, it was my number one desire. When I was 24 in 1994, I desired to be part of the fabric of the Internet. I envisioned owning four key domains: God.com, Heaven.com, Religion.com, and Jesus.com. There is just one left. When the time is right, it will be granted to me.

These were two of my strongest desires in life. They pervaded my heart and mind incessantly. I knew nothing would stop me in my quest to fulfill this deep-seated desire.

What is your desire?

Perhaps it's a mission, a thing or, more importantly, a person.

2. Faith

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

You learned about 80/20. Only a few things have a high impact. One thing gives you half your results.

"What is that one thing that will make everything else easier or unnecessary?"

Faith is the unwavering belief in the attainability of a goal or desire. Faith is the act of seeing the invisible and trusting in oneself or a greater power in the seemingly impossible. It is the belief that, despite lacking evidence, something greater is guiding you toward your purpose. Faith has the transformative power to make the invisible visible.

Even though I did not get into medical school immediately after I finished my Honours Biochemistry degree, I was not only more determined but still fully believed that I would eventually get in. I also believed it was providential, as it was my 'one wish' to a greater power that I had not yet known when I was hospitalized at age 14. I thanked God when I was accepted into UBC and the University of Calgary's medical schools.

And for the four domain names, I believed it would take 20 years or more to get all four:

• God.com took 4 years

• Religion.com took 5 years

• Heaven.com took 7 years

I believe Jesus.com is coming within the next decade.

I also have a desire to help cure cancer and educate people on what is causing a lot of the world's epidemic of chronic illness. I believe I know some of the major root causes.

What do you believe in?

Sorrow looks back. Worry looks around. Faith looks up.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

3. Autosuggestion

Be not the slave of your own past- plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep, and swim far, so you shall come back with new self-respect, with new power, and with an advanced experience that shall explain and overlook the old.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

"Keep the Faith." The world around you has a way of making you doubt your desires and their attainment. As we age, we become 'unlike' the child who believed everything was possible and asked, "Why not?" and "Why?" We start to limit our beliefs as we stumble and fall, fearing to fail and look bad before others.

The person who regards his heart more than the opinions of others will have the courage to live his dreams.

Autosuggestion is the practice of repeating affirmations or mental images to affirm and visualize your goals by internalizing them and profoundly embedding them in your subconscious mind to keep your faith strong.

Autosuggestion is a bridge that gets you close to your desire, but you must still take that leap of faith where faith is 100%, not 1% less. Pure faith.

Society and our conscious and logical mind tend to negate anything it cannot 'see.' It asks for proof, logic, and reason. The visionary and intuitive mind sees things before they manifest. Visionaries, we call such people. 

What do you envision? Over and over again until you see it in your mind's eye, strong and sure? With not even 1% doubt?

I asked myself why I pray so much. O you of little faith. 

"The horse is prepared for the day of battle,

But victory comes from the Lord." (King Solomon)

I have prepared my mind, heart, and body, but prayer is the hope that a greater power beyond myself, my Lord and Creator, will bless and bring about my desires.

I define prayer as the request in full faith to God that the hope I desire be blessed and accomplished by His mighty hand through me.

This hope is not seen physically through my eyes or logically by my mind but through my heart. This is the gift and secret power I have learned.

My Life Question:

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

What do you really desire?

• What is your one true desire?

  1. Remove all the shadows of this deep-seated desire. Mine away all the dirt that buries this true desire and let it shine. Have the courage to dig deep into your heart.

• Or, a better question is, for whom do you live? Are you willing to sacrifice everything for that one person?

Life Advice

All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

1. Know the principles that govern Success. They are like laws following cause and effect, input leading to output.

2. Most people are defined by one thing. Most people are complete by one person.

3. Seek your one thing and your one person. If you are blessed, you may have two things and two people. And if really blessed, then more things and more people. This is the love of your life. What do you love to do, and who do you love to do it for?

When you were born you were crying and everyone else was smiling. Live your life so at the end, you’re the one who is smiling and everyone else is crying.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Next week:
The Next 3 Principles of Success

The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

See you next Thursday!

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The One Thing That Really Matters

The “F” word that has F, U, C but no K

Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand.
The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus.

Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)

I like to multitask so I can get a lot done. I have a lot on my 'To Do' list. But I realized that I don't do things as well or as fast by trying to multitask. 

I learned a powerful concept that all successful people do very well. It's the F word, but it's five letters. It has a 'U' and 'C' but no 'K'.

What is that F word?

FOCUS.

Yes, focus, focus, focus. Like "Location, location" for real estate.

Focus is the key to exponential growth and returns.

1. Focus on Your Strengths

Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.

John Wooden (1910–2010)

Sometimes, we focus on our weaknesses to improve ourselves. It's valid. We all start in a position of 'unknowing,' 'weakness,' or 'inability' until we practice enough to become great at something. But most of us are gifted with something that comes naturally, that we love, or that we have done enough times to do well. Lean into these.

I have the gifts of creativity and problem-solving. I love surprises and magical moments, which may be why I love Disney so much and go there every year.

What are your key strengths? List the Top 3 now.

I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.

Bruce Lee (1940-1973)

2. Focus on High-Impact Opportunities

Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

You learned about 80/20. Only a few things have a high impact. One thing gives you half your results.

"What is that one thing that will make everything else easier or unnecessary?"

This is the focusing question from the book, 'The One Thing'. Ask yourself this question each day.

The other focus should be on what is constraining the goal. This constraint, sometimes called the bottleneck, slows or even anchors the goal from happening. You must use your resources or abilities to remove this constraint. A series of constraints must be identified, and the biggest one must be focused on. This is from Dr. Eli Goldratt's book, The Goal, a Top 50 Best-Selling book of all time.

So, there are only two things to identify:

1. The goal (the one thing that will give you up to half your results)

2. The constraint (that blocks you from flow or your goal)

3. And remove all other 'distractions'.

Perfection is not when there is no more to add, but no more to take away.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900–1944)

3. Focus on the Long-Term

Your most important work is always ahead of you, never behind you.

Stephen Covey (1932-2012)

Align short-term goals and decisions with long-term goals. Line these up like dominos to increase compounding effects over time. This is the most powerful system you can think of and develop.

We call this leverage by leveraging every goal into moving bigger goals.

We have a land, Camp Howdy, that is only accessible legally by boat. We needed to attract people here, so we bought Dining Domes. People came. Then we added lights we could program on these domes so that we could do light shows after dinner. This attracted more people. Next, we set the lights to music and expanded the light show to include the buildings. See 123Festivals.com. We sold out October's GloFest. Now we are doing Christmas Tea Lights. Next, I want to leverage this for corporate retreats.

List your 5-year and 10-year goals and then each yearly goal from now to then to accomplish them. What constraints prevent these annual goals? Remove them. Prioritize them.

My Life Question:

If you only had one wish, what would that one wish be?

I ask this to everyone I interview.

If there is only one goal you want to accomplish in your life, what is it?

• We call this your mission in life. We see this as our vision.

• You know Christopher Columbus, for one thing.

• You know Abraham Lincoln, for one thing.

• You know Charles Darwin, for one thing.

• You know, Martin Luther King Jr, for one thing.

• Some people have the rare gift of being known for two things or three.

• What are you known for or will be known for?

Life Advice

The purpose of life is a life of purpose.

Robert Byrne (1928-2013)

Life is fractal, just like 80/20 is fractal.

• The key in life is to find that one singular thing that is your Magnum Opus, your "great work," and build up toward that crescendo in your life to complete what you are destined to do, your mission if you choose to accomplish it.

• Beethoven's Magnum Opus was his symphony #9 when he was deaf. 

• John Milton's was his Paradise Lost, even when he became blind.

• What is your Magnum Opus?

Next week:
The 13 Principles of Success. That’s all you need to know.

Let’s start with the 80/20 of these Principles of Success (the first 3)

“The secret of success is to do the common thing uncommonly well.”

John D. Rockefeller Jr. (1874-1960)

See you next Thursday!

Subscribe to my Compounding Wisdom newsletter and start transforming your life.

The One Thing that Skyrockets Your Success

The secret of all the most successful people in history

The 80/20 principle states that 80% of outcomes come from 20% of efforts. Focus on the few things that truly matter, and success will follow.

Richard Koch (1950-present)

This principle changed my life. A lot.

This important 80/20 Principle, or Pareto's Principle, was taught to me, but I didn't really understand it until decades later. Do you?

The results speak for themselves. If you applied 80/20, you would be in the top 1% of whatever field you applied the 80/20 Principle towards. You would be in the Top 1% quite easily and naturally. Yet most people rarely apply the 80/20 Principle, even if reminded time and time again.

1. Most things are not equal.

Just 7 companies (Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, NVIDIA, Google, Tesla) account for 50% of the market (NASDAQ). If you had invested early in any of these companies, you too would be extremely wealthy. That is one easy way to get wealthy. I invested early in domains, Google and tech stocks and crypto. And NVIDIA in 2018.

80/20 math says that 20% of the inputs give you 80% of the results. This results in 4x or 400%. This is remarkable in a world where financial returns of 25% are 'great.' This is why Buffet buys stocks of 'companies' and not the stock index of the Top 500 companies. 

In 2018, I sold 80% of my Google stock (which had 10x'd) and bought NVIDIA at $60. It has increased 25x in 6 years. Now, I am pondering what my next 10x stock will be.

There are 2,781 billionaires worth $14 trillion. The top 10 billionaires account for $1.6 trillion or 11.3%. The top 100 account for ~33%. The top 500 (20%) account for 70%. Close to 80/20. What do they do uniquely? 80/20 focus.

In terms of longevity, 2.5% of Americans (3% of females, 1% of males) will reach the age of 100. Of those who do achieve this century milestone, 0.02% will live another ten years. Less than 1 in 100,000 centenarians will make it to 115. Almost no one makes it to 120.

Longevity only matters if you are healthy. Otherwise, life will just get harder for longer. Health principles also follow 80/20.

Don't treat your 'to-do list' 'and 'not-to-do list' equally. Life operates on a logarithmic scale.

Don’t confuse activity with achievement.

John Wooden (1910-2010)

2. A very few things have the most impact.

Success is a few disciplines practiced every day.

Jim Rohn (1930–2009)

Very few things have tremendous value and impact. Finding and focusing on these vital few will leapfrog you ahead. 

Warren Buffet played his financial game by limiting his financial decisions to 10 big bets, and Quentin Tarantino played his movie game by limiting himself to just ten movies.

80/20 means 20% input gives 80% output = 400%. If good is 25% returns, then 400% is 16x greater than good at 25%. Therefore, 80/20 results in greatness. Focus on 80/20 to be great. It's that simple but hard to do consistently. Focus on 80/20 consistently each day.

What ten bets will you place in your lifetime? I like to think of one big bet every decade.

I applied this to one of my businesses, BlackFriday.com. We reduced 1500 affiliate retail companies to 300 (20%), giving us 90% of the revenues. Sixty companies of these gave 70% of the revenues. Twelve companies gave 50% of the revenues. We eventually reduced it to just 60 companies, reducing our work of managing 1440 companies. We created new revenues by offering sponsorship placements to the top 12 companies. We did 90% less work but made 4x more money.

3. The 80/20 Principle is fractal.

Big doors swing on little hinges.

W. Clement Stone (1902–2002)

I learned from 80/20 Sales and Marketing, written by a good friend, Perry Marshall, that 80/20 is fractal. This means that inside every 80/20, there is another 80/20. 

So out of 100 things, there is only one thing that matters a lot:

• 1st 80/20 Fractal: 

  • 20 things give you 80% results.

• 2nd 80/20 Fractal: 

  • Twenty percent of those twenty things (four things) will provide you with 80 percent of the 80 percent results (64%).

  • I.e. four things give you 64% of the results.  

• 3rd 80/20 Fractal: 

  • Of the four things that give you 64%, 20% of those four things (1 thing) will provide you with 80% of the 64% results (50%). I.e., one thing will give you 50% or half the results.

  • Bingo. Secret.

• Confused or crystal clear? Read it again.

So, find that one thing and focus on it. Or the four things that give you 64%. Or the 20 things that give you 80%. The key is to focus on the few things or (better yet) the ONE thing that gives you 50%. 

Forget or ignore all the rest.

You are not programmed or taught to think or behave in this way. 

You will remain ordinary without 80/20.

You can become extraordinary and fantastic with 80/20.

My Life Question:

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.

Lao Tzu (601-531 BCE)

What do you want to be great at?

• What is the one thing that would give you half your results? 

  • Focus on that daily.

  • Make your list of possible ten that can be 80/20. Figure out the vital few.

  • Revise this list daily in the morning as you learn and experiment.

• Find at least one 80/20 a month.

  • Imagine what your year will look like. Wow.

My Life Lesson Then (from my younger self):

Find your purpose in life. You do have one. It’s deep in your soul, buried under the layers of the scars of your heart. Unravel it and give it all your heart and soul.

Life is fractal, just like 80/20 is fractal.

• When you find your 80/20 purpose, visualize it and find the one thing I call the domino you need to knock down for even bigger dominoes in life. You can apply this to your career/business, health, and relationships.

• Write your goal and then draw five dominoes that would knock your goal down. You can knock down the first domino today, this week or this month—maybe this quarter.

Life Advice Now (from my present self):

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.

Buddha (563-483 BCE)

Relationships are 80/20 but don't do 80/20 transactions in your relationship. Relationships aren't transactional or about efficiency. Love fully and unconditionally. Forgive and forget. Love and cherish. These things can not be fully measured but are felt to be truly valuable.

• Some people think their lives are about wealth, while others believe they are about health. As you get older, you realize your life is about deep, meaningful relationships and purpose. We call this love and legacy.

• My Magnum Opus I envision is:

  • Health and Wellness Retreat with the world's healthiest restaurant and fitness centre with people I love and people in need of wellness

  • A Gospel Media Network with God.com, Heaven.com, Religion.com, and Jesus.com is leveraging technology and media to touch hearts and souls for eternity.

Next week:
The One Thing That Matters

The “F” word that has F, U, C but no K

“Do that which you fear to do, and the fear will die.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

See you next Thursday!

Subscribe to my Compounding Wisdom newsletter and start transforming your life.

The 3 Things That Make You Unique

What are you a triathlete of? Explore your blend of abilities that make you truly unique.

Why fit in when you were born to stand out?

- Dr. Seuss (1904-1991)

Have you ever wondered what made you unique? Special?

I pondered this as a child. I loved reading, numbers, dreaming, and riding my bike. I wanted to prevent and cure disease. I wanted to share God's love.

But I wasn't exceptional at any one thing.

The best triathletes aren't the best at cycling, swimming, or running, but they are really good at each of them, and when woven together, they excel. If they only competed in cycling, swimming, or running, where fractions of seconds decide whether you matter or not, they would be quickly forgotten.

So, what are your unique abilities and dreams, and how can you weave them together to be especially unique? See this, and your whole world will change!

1. Your Experiences are Your Key to Unlock Your Greatness

The only source of knowledge is experience.

- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

I've always been a generalist, not a specialist. I've been a Family Doctor, CEO, and generalist. I thought that was a weakness. When I read David Epstein's book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, I realized I was uniquely positioned to combine my love for health, wealth, and wisdom.

When you lose something, you can despair or fight to rise again. 

I lost my health when I was 14 and vowed to learn about health so that I could help others. I became a doctor at 30. I don't teach health in hospitals or clinics but at community events, Bible and business conferences, and food festivals (and in the future via newsletters, social media, and books). I teach health as philanthropy. I learn so much more in these diverse settings and communities.

But to do that, I asked above for the wisdom to be an entrepreneur, a purveyor of wealth principles. My specialty is online startups intersecting with tech and the real world while bootstrapping.

I learned from my wise mentors that I should always seek wisdom, walk with wise people, and immerse myself in books that unlock wisdom.

The ability to connect seemingly unrelated fields allows for more insight and connections — making one exceptional in a special class. Don't limit yourself to a single narrow path; instead, cultivate a wide array of experiences that can give you unique perspectives.

2. Trial and Error is the Way

Mistakes are the portals of discovery.

- James Joyce (1882-1941)

Since I had not taken any business courses when I started my entrepreneurial ventures, I applied what I knew — the Scientific method:

1. Form a hypothesis, a list of assumptions.

2. Design an experiment.

3. Gather the data and get results. 

4. Then iterate upon your hypothesis and assumptions until you discover ‘truth’.

Trial and error were the norm. But in school and business, you are taught you should not fail. Failure and learning are part of the process to discover truth. Don’t shy away from this, but lean deeper into trial and experimentation, designing and conducting the experiments to disprove your hypothesis (way of thinking) and assumptions (false beliefs) as quickly as possible in order to unearth truths.

Rather than sticking rigidly to one way of doing things, people who excel are often those who experiment and learn from their failures. The most successful people often take a winding path, testing different interests before finding their sweet spot. For personal growth, being open to making mistakes and iterating on lessons learned is key to standing out.

3. Thinking in Decades

Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.

- Bill Gates (1955-present)

Reading the stories in the Bible taught me to think long term. When God promised something, it often took decades, centuries, or millennia to be accomplished. But our natural inclination is to expect to realize our dreams quickly. We then give up too easily on our dreams.

What are your goals for each decade of your life? Your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s…80s, 90s, 100s? Work backwards from 120 to your present age. 

I've done this exercise often. At 100, I would like to:

• ride my bike 100 km and do 10 pull-ups

• recite the book of Proverbs and 

• have donated 100 million dollars to health and church 

These are subsets of the impact and measures of health, wealth and spiritual health for me.

While specializing early might give you a short-term advantage, you position yourself for better long-term success when you take time to explore and learn more broadly. Developing a range of competencies helps you be more adaptable and prepared to innovate or pivot when necessary, making you more resilient and exceptional in the long run. Play the long game.

Your Life Question:

You are most special but somewhere along the way, you forgot just how special. Remind yourself daily why you are special.

What are your 3 unique abilities?

• List them now.

• Then, a metric that will measure your progress for each of them, both a quantitative and qualitative metric.

• For my health, I focus on VO2Max (a measure of oxygen utilization) and my 122 km bike ride to Whistler once a year. Ten years ago, it took me 5:07. This year, I did it in 4:01. Next year, my goal is 3:45.

My Life Lesson Then (from my younger self):

Dreams are meant to come true but we often forget to even dream, let along believe that our dreams can come true.

Dream and ponder.

• I loved reading fantasy and science fiction books when I was young. The stories allowed me to travel across the universe and time, to imagine what life could be, and why not?

Life Advice Now (from my present self):

People dream of heaven, but we often don’t realize that heaven starts within us.

Let heaven come to earth. All dreams to become true must manifest while we walk the earth.

• How do you pull the spiritual realm of the heavens into you and onto this earth? You pray and seek wisdom, networking with those who have similar dreams and align with you. Even the Son of God had 12 disciples.

Next week:
The One Thing that Skyrockets You to Success

The secret of all the most successful people in history.

The 80/20 principle states that 80% of outcomes come from 20% of efforts. Focus on the few things that truly matter, and success will follow.

Richard Koch (1950-present)

See you next Thursday!

Subscribe to my Compounding Wisdom newsletter and start transforming your life.

7 Principles of Blood for Life

You understand life, if you understand blood.

In every drop of my blood, there is life, and in every beat of my heart, there is love.

As I studied blood, I was amazed at the lessons it offered about life. Here are 7 principles of blood that can teach us how to live more deeply and meaningfully.

In our first gross anatomy class, the smell of formaldehyde made me nauseous. For others, it was the idea of all the cadavers that we would cut open to study the parts of the body.

Thud! Thud!

A couple of medical students around me fainted. Why does blood have this effect on us? When it's inside our bodies, it symbolizes life and protection. When it's outside, we sense danger and the possibility of death.

Blood is more than life — it's also a bond. "Blood brothers." Our forefathers shed their blood for our freedom. Blood is the bridge between life and sacrifice.

1. Life is the narrow way

The road less traveled is often the one that leads to the extraordinary.

We came out into this world through a very small, narrow path from our mothers. Such is the way of life. Each is unique, each in its time. Similar but different. Don't try to be like others. Try to be more like yourself. Walk your narrow path that only you can walk. No one can walk it for you.

People can guide you, encourage you, and inspire you to walk your own narrow path. The broad path to conform and be like everyone else is a path to ordinary life without depth or genuine hardship that shapes you into who you truly are.

That narrow way was painful, full of labour and birth pangs. Your mother went through it with you as she delivered you. Mother nature will deliver you, too, if you trust her and follow your heart.

2. Life sacrifices

A life of significance is built on the altar of selflessness.

I was curious about how many red blood cells (RBC) we had.

It's 20 trillion. Wow!

They account for 80% of the cells in our bodies. Why so many? They carry the oxygen from the air we breathe. There are 270 million hemoglobin per RBC, carrying eight oxygen atoms each... Unfathomable! 

But did you know that each RBC sacrifices itself for every other cell in your body? They lose their nucleus--the blueprint for life — to deliver oxygen, required to produce energy, to every other cell in our body. That's why RBCs look like donuts — no fat nucleus in the middle. 

RBCs deliver oxygen in tiny blood vessels called capillaries that are 5 micrometres wide. At 8 micrometres wide, RBCs normally wouldn't 'fit', but because they have no nucleus, they are flexible and can 'bend' into the capillaries. They sacrifice to serve all the other cells in your body.

Without oxygen, we would lose our life in just 5 minutes.

Imagine giving up a part of yourself so that others may thrive. That's a sacrifice without ego, a lesson in humility and service. This is a transcending life.

3. Life flows

Success is not about speed but about consistent, steady flow in the right direction.

Blood must flow for human life to continue. Once blood stops, clots form, leading to strokes or heart attacks.

The business analogy to blood is cash. Cash flow is essential for a business's life. Like water, it flows from areas of abundance to need and then back to abundance. The rich who give to the poor and where there is need receive more in return. But cash is even more valuable with intangible wealth like health, love, and the human spirit.

For our bodies, we call the 'extreme' version of flow exercise. The 'accessible' version we call 'movement'. The 'standard' version we call walking and stretching. Move and flow to be nourished and grow. It is the same for the soul and spirit.

4. Life removes toxicity

Before you can fill your life with goodness, you have to empty it of toxins.

Imagine if we had no toilets, sewage, garbage trucks or landfills. While the life-giving nourishment of oxygen in our blood is essential, removing waste is just as essential. 

A basic form of waste in the human body is carbon dioxide, which we breathe out. During the pandemic, I was running with an N95 mask. As I arrived at the restaurant to reserve a table for my family, I fainted — too much carbon dioxide built up, and I was breathing in my CO₂ for ten-ish minutes.

To remove toxicity from your mind, rid yourself of negative thoughts, regrets, and worry. Rid your spirit of sin and anger in your relationships. Purify your being from the inside out.

5. Life protects

Our immune system is the guardian of our body. Our principles are the guardians of our soul.

We also have white blood cells (WBC), which are part of our immune system. They protect us from foreign invaders like viruses, bacteria, and parasites that can infect our bodies. Some are memory cells that produce antibodies — guards who remember the 'most wanted list'. Others are natural killer cells that act like assassins, taking out dangerous intruders.

We have so many bacteria in our bodies- in our guts, skin and mouths. Our immune system has learned how to live symbiotically with other organisms inside our bodies, and the wise have learned to do so with nature.

Heed the lessons of our immune system. Can we protect and serve our fellow humans and find ways to make peace and forgive instead of exact revenge and war?

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1:1 Meeting with You

I'd like to do a 30-minute 1:1 with you.

Email me your thoughts and feedback each week, and I'll choose someone each month for a 1:1. Thanks so much. I appreciate your feedback and thoughts. It fuels me to write each week, knowing it is planting seeds in your soul.

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6. Life is integrity

Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you.

H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (1940-)

Platelets maintain the structural integrity of our blood vessels so that we don't lose blood. Remember your nose bleeds? Females menstruate each month to prepare the uterus for possible life. Life requires sacrifice, preparation, and repair. The highways of life must be maintained.

For our true selves, which reside in our psyche (soul/mind) and spirit, we must maintain our character. We fall short daily, but we must aspire to repair that which is hurt and harmed in ourselves, as well as the damage which we have done to others through our thoughts, words, and actions.

Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.

C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)

7. Life rests

Rest is not idleness. It is the soul’s way of recharging for its next great move.

The lungs inspire air and then relax to expire. The heart beats to move blood but then rests to fill itself. The eyes see but then blink. The body moves actively but then must rest. Even God, who created the world in six days, rested on the seventh day, the Sabbath. 

There is not enough blood in our bodies to actively supply every single cell. We only have 5L of blood, like a big jug of water. That's it. Blood is a scarce resource. The air, liquids, and food we consume become our blood. We must be very careful what we allow into our blood, for it becomes our body. It affects our mind and our spirit.

We must allow our bodies to rest, but our souls, minds, and spirits also need rest. 

The body needs rest to restore, the mind needs peace to think, and the soul needs stillness to feel.

My Life Questions:

To ask the right question is already half the solution to a problem.

Carl Jung (1875-1961)

1. What life lesson has blood taught you?

• I write this newsletter and receive some feedback but I'd love to get more feedback so I can become better as a person, as a writer and for you.

My Life Lessons Then (from my younger self):

The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.

Charles Du Bos (1882–1939)

1. Life is so precious but I often take each day for granted.

• I thought I had a lot of time, but the days, months and years have passed by quickly.

2. I mostly sought my own goals and interests, not so much others.

• First is surviving, then thriving--but to transcend, one must find and know oneself so that one can be of service to others.

3. Life requires sacrifice and so many people sacrificed their lives for me and believed in me.

• My parents, family, forefathers and foremothers, compatriots, friends and Lord, God, my Saviour.

• I want to do the same for others.

Life Advice Now (from my present 54 year old self):

Life is short, and it’s up to you to make it sweet.

Sarah Louise Delany (1889-1999)

1. Life is short and very precious.

• I wish to be extraordinary by living a life with a greater vision than just of myself. For the future generation. With the remaining time I have left on this earth, I will live it with all my heart and with all my might. 

• My prevailing thought: Strong body. Stronger mind. Strongest spirit.

2. Life is long and full of opportunities that must be focused and chosen.

• If I find only one or a handful of things to focus on, there is a lifetime, which we think of as very long, to do all that is truly put into my heart to inspire others to be their true selves and live brightly like lights in this world.

3. Life is eternal.

• We will live on into eternity, like a star that passed a while ago, but its light still shines forth for many years. This is our legacy. We build our legacy each day. It's not at the end. It's from the beginning. It's our life story. You do matter. You do have a legacy. Live it.
  

Next week:
The Few Things that Make you Unique

What are you a triathlete of? Explore your blend of unique abilities that make you truly unique.

Why fit in when you were born to stand out?

Dr. Seuss (1904-1991)

See you next Thursday!

Subscribe to my Compounding Wisdom newsletter and start transforming your life.

7 Principles of Life

Are You Really Living Each Day?

You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life?

Rumi (1207-1273)

I am now 54. How many more years? How many more days? To live. To matter. To dream. To do. If I am average, I have just 10,000 more days!

When I was in my 20s and 30s, I thought I had lots of time. Now, I think I have about five projects I can do with strength and vigour. I am more aware of why Warren Buffet reserved ten slots to invest well. He said he envisioned a punch card with ten slots, and every time he invested, there would be one less slot. Quentin Tarantino only planned to make ten movies. He has made nine thus far. One more left. Wow. I can't wait for his 10th and final film.

I have many dreams, but I have narrowed my list to the following: a Broadway musical, an AI company, a health and wellness retreat at Camp Howdy, publishing a series of books, three movies, and Gospel Media Network… Which ones shall I do first?

Life is short, but there is enough time to do what you are uniquely positioned to do, that only you can do. I have thought a lot about the principles of life. There are many, but if I had to boil it down to just seven, these would be the top for me.

1. You are a miracle. A unique miracle who will never walk this earth again.

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)

Out of the tens of millions of sperm cells from your father and one of the half a million egg cells, you are the unique genetic and environmental combination that will never exist again. You are truly unique. You seek to belong, to have purpose and meaning. That which we seek will eventually be found, but you must ask, seek and knock with all your heart, all your mind and all your strength. The world is waiting for you to reveal your heart. Someone is waiting for you. That has always been my philosophy, even when I was in despair or felt invisible. But after decades of seeking, I am discovering myself, finding my tribe, and voicing my heart. It may be one person (me) or some others who feel similarly or aspire to a greater vision and version of themselves, but I know each of us is here for a reason. Just like your chair, your table, your bed.

2. You are born upside down. You need to be born upright.

Being born again means becoming who you were always meant to be.

Siri Mitchell (1965-present)

My first child, Jessi, was about to be born, but she wasn’t coming out. She was feet first. A footling breech. We had an emergency C-section. She was fine and it was one of the most glorious days of my life to hold her in my arms.

The natural way to be born is head first. This means almost everyone in the world is born upside down. I believe that while you walk this earth, you need be once again be born rightside up- upright. We all wish to be upright before a Creator and our fellow man. Sometimes we lose our way and feel like we are tumbling around all over the place, stuck in sin and in guilt. We honour those who have integrity, who admit their faults, who are humble, who sacrifice, who serve, who are trustworthy, who are good and kind. We do so because they are being upright. Plant your feet firmly on the ground and stand upright, stand tall, and be who you are meant to be.

3. Your days are numbered, but you believe you are immortal.

Teach us to number our days so we may have a heart of wisdom.

Moses (1391 BC - 1271 BC)

We say ‘Friends forever’, ‘Love always’. We have eternity in our hearts and yet we know that just as we have a birthday, we will also have a death day. Most do not think about this latter day. We see it on tombstones. In my quotes, I reference the year of the quoter’s birth and their death. It is a reminder that we are mortal, that we should be wise to spend each of our days, as if it were our last. Memento mori - ‘remember death’ is wise. It seems sombre and grim, but it reminds us to be grateful for each moment, each breath, each person, whether good or bad, for everything is a tutor for us, if we have the eyes and ears to sense. Steve Jobs never believed in an ‘off’ button, because he believed life persisted forever. His products tried to eliminate this on/off button. We will one day have an off button but our souls and spirits will persist. That is forever in our hearts.

Don’t count the days; make the days count.

Muhammad Ali (1942-2016)

4. You are just water, dust and air. But you have a soul and spirit too.

The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond, and must be polished, or the luster of it will never appear.

Daniel Defoe (1660-1731)

We are 70% water, just like the earth. Why water? We are but recycled dust for the remainder of our bodies. We have iron. Why? We have metals like Selenium, Magnesium. We breathe air, but why? 80% of our cells are red blood cells. 20-30 trillion red blood cells (rbc). Each rbc has 270 million hemoglobin! Each hemoglobin can hold 8 oxygen molecules. This blood must flow so that it supplies this oxygen to the rest of our cells- to produce energy (ATP) in the mitochondria in our cells. It’s complex but we don’t even have to think about it. Just breathe and life happens. We can then use our thoughts, our minds and our spirits to create amazing things that nourish and inspire one another. This is the gift, our creations, our innovations. We have become like gods, creating and destructively innovating to the heavens above. Our bodies are just temporary vehicles for our soul and spirit that longs to live forever.

5. What separates you from life and death is just a breath. But that breath of life has more power than anything in this universe when combined with love.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

We breathe 12 times a minute all the time. The minute we stop breathing (try holding your breath for a minute), we start to suffer. Four minutes without oxygen, our brain stops working. After five minutes, we are no longer alive. Just 5 minutes separates us from the living to the dead. Grim. How are we so fragile?

While we have breath, we desire to share this breath with others. With some, it is a deep and lasting love. Others, a seasonal love. And sometimes heartbreak, when our breath ceases, we part from loved ones.

When breath combines with love, it is the most potent force in the universe. There is nothing more powerful. This is the most important principle in the universe and is contained in one word: LOVE.

When the breath is unsteady, all is unsteady. When the breath is still, all is still.

Hatha Yoga Pradipika (15th century)

6. You are love, but that love is trapped inside your soul and spirit.

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

Rumi (1207-1273)

We are love incarnate, but that love is wrapped and encased in protective layers we have built so that our hearts never get hurt. Love wishes to escape and express itself through thoughts, emotions, words, works, and actions, but rejection and criticism imprison it again. The layers of encasements over the years make us invulnerable, 'protected,' but we are now entombed alive, our hearts buried, and the grounds of our hearts hardened and loveless.

Let love be free. Let it endear other's hearts. Love hurts because it is sacrifice.

The 30 trillion red blood cells each gave up its nucleus, its life, and thus lived only 120 days in the service of the rest of your cells. This is an expression of love embedded in your life, in your body, for an example to follow. Serve, provide love and life to others, and forgive and take away their hurt and wastes of life.

7. You wish to do all that is in your heart, but to do that you must rest deeply and be still.

He that can take rest is greater than he that can take cities.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

While we spend most of our thoughts and time in activity, the law of life requires that for one day a week, we rest completely, pondering life and our purpose.

Each day, we are also required to rest, not only sleep. And each hour we also require rest. Each moment we blink, we rest. Each moment we breathe, our heart and our body rest. After we exercise intensely, it is followed by rest.

We must be still and rest, not only in our bodies but also in our soul and spirit. Our minds must rest. But we are bombarded more than ever, and there is no separation between work and life, family and self. COVID tried to teach us and ask us, "What is essential? What really matters? If you are quarantined alone, what is life without anyone else?" We must rest a short while, but then we must reconnect deeply with others, with the world, to serve and give.

My Life Questions:

The purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things.

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)

1. What will you start doing today that you dreamed about all your life?

• Only you can search deep into your heart and mine this out. Seek it deeply and start today, as soon as you can. What is your first step? Do it. What is your next step? Place the last step to your dream and work backwards. And pray. Amen means "Let it be so."

My Life Lessons Then (from my younger self):

God has given us two hands, one to receive with and the other to give with.

Billy Graham (1918-2018)

1. I thought I had lots of time to do all that I wanted.

• Experiment to find the ten things you want to do in life. Write and narrow your list down to 10. Continually revise and replan as you discover yourself.

2. I dreamed a lot but realized action is equally as important as dreaming.

• We only have one life on this earth. Please don't waste it idly. Press on diligently, like the ant. In their short lives, they teach us that we are part of a community that serves.

3. I am a romantic idealist.

• I always dreamed of 'happily ever after in love.' My mother died in 2006. I fell sick and ill. I was heartbroken many times. I failed many times in school and business. But I still dream of 'happily ever after.' I get back up after I am knocked down. One day, I won't be able to get up. But my spirit will live on. Happily ever after.

Life Advice Now (from my present 54 year old self):

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.

Mark Twain (1835-1910)

1. Love deeply, self first and then others more.

• Seek to know yourself deeply. This is the first law. But even more is to love yourself deeply. Then, love others deeply. Besides, there is only one greater law. To love God. But if you cannot love yourself, how can you love others? If you cannot love others, how can you love God?

2. Forgive always. It is the greatest gift you can give.

• Whether someone apologizes or not, forgiveness is the greatest expression of love and is even more powerful when given without an apology.

3. Wander outwards but eventually come home to your heart and then give your heart everywhere.

• You always have to come to your true home—your heart. All life and love stem from the heart. Keep your heart pure and cleanse it from the stains of this world and yourself. Love always.

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.

Lewis B. Smedes (1921-2002)

Next week:
7 Principles of Blood

You understand life If you understand blood.

In every drop of my blood, there is life, and in every beat of my heart, there is love.

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

1. What you love to do

2. What you are good at

3. What gives value to others

4. 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.

7 Life Crisis Moments - The First 4: Identity, Belonging, Purpose, Relationships

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)

Life is a miracle. The sun, 192 million miles away, gives us light and warmth. The clouds give us rain. The seas and mountains are the calm and majestic grandeur of being. Like the waves that toss to and fro in the storm, some moments in life swell our souls up and down through the vortex of crisis. We have seven major life crisis moments. Each one a major challenge, but also necessary as steps for growth. These crises are universal, through which every person must traverse. I am in the final two life crisis moments, having passed five.

Crisis of Identity (Youth)

The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.

Carl Jung (1875-1961)

Who am I? I am not my body. I cannot see my soul or my spirit. The world tells and taunts me to conform — just fit in. They tell us who we should be. Don't stick out and be myself. Societal norms and our education label us and conform us, and we tend to gravitate to a standard, and so we lose our individuality and the development of our soul and spirit.

I often stared at the sun, pondering this question. I read books to explore the human spirit. I travelled in these writings far and wide and felt I was not yet myself. My family life was in disarray. My father left us, and my mother, reconciling with him, moved us from London, Ontario, to Vancouver, Canada. 

You are not defined by external labels or circumstances, I realized. I am shaped by my values, and my words and my behaviour shape my reputation. I was both a sinner and a saint. I would try to lean into the saint side of me. I would embrace this journey of self-discovery, a lifelong process to answer this age-old question: Who am I?

I am me. I am Kevin Ham. I am a dreamer who dreams of doing something great for my fellow humans — to inspire, to help others unlock the heart of their human potential, and also do great things myself. I would be a healer of souls. I would be a renaissance man, living and creating the dreams in my heart. Diving deep into my heart, I would explore myself, unearth the gold deep inside of me, and show it through pictures, words, poetry, books, musicals and movies.

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Crisis of Belonging (Adolescence)

True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are.

Brené Brown (1965-)

My father left his job at Ford and started his own business, a grocery store called Pinto. I would see the bags of coins he brought home. I would take handfuls of coins, go to school, and give them to my classmates. That was my way of quickly making a lot of friends. I did this until the teacher told my parents.

Where do I belong? That is the next question we need to answer. While we start to discover ourselves, we quickly realize that we need to be part of something greater than ourselves to fit in yet be authentic. Peer pressure to conform to the group to belong outstrips the desire to be who we truly are. Do we fit into predefined, predetermined moulds and lose ourselves in the pursuit of acceptance?

It forces us to absolve our identity in return for acceptance and belonging. We encase our spirit and soul with layer upon layer of armour that protects us from being hurt. We shield our inner selves and mask ourselves to look and feel part of our tribe. We no longer unsheathe or unclothe our hearts to be vulnerable.

But despite being part of the tribe, we don't feel we truly belong until we find a person or cause that allows us to put our guard down and be truly vulnerable — to speak and feel with our hearts.

True belonging comes from self-acceptance, not the airs of conformity and camouflage. It happens when you connect with people who see and appreciate your authenticity.

Value depth over breadth of relationships and seek out people who value you for who you truly are rather than what they want you to be.

The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.

Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

Crisis of Purpose (Early Adult)

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)

But why am I here? I want to do something in this world, but what? I want success, but what is success for me? We are told to get a good education, a good job, a good salary, and a good title and position. Without a deep purpose, these feel hollow. 

It is said there are two most important days in your life: the day you are born and the day you understand and know why. The first was September 25, 1970. The second was August 5, 1986, the day I first believed in God, when I was born again. 

It is the reason I keep going. I dream of building God.com, Religion.com, and Heaven.com once I get Jesus.com. I obtained the first three over 7 years, and the last one is still pending after 24 years.

I just came back from Guatemala, where I gave two health talks on the 7 Principles of Life and the 7 Principles of Blood. I felt that this is what I love to do. I connected these principles to body, mind, and spirit.

The pursuit of purpose isn't about achieving a title or status. It's about finding work and a way of life that brings deep meaning to your life and fills your spirit with joy and peace. Instead of focusing on external reward and validation, focus on internal fulfillment and peace.

Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.

Viktor Frankl (1905-1997)

Crisis of Relationships (20s/30s)

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

I am a romantic. Aren't we all? We dream of princes and princesses, fairy tale endings, and happily ever after. The Bible tells the story of Adam. He was given authority over all creation. Then, he was asked to name all the animals. As he named them one by one, he saw that each animal had a mate, male and female. This is what he lacked. He had no soul mate, even though he was all-powerful and perfect. His soul lacked love.

Then, from his rib was made a woman, Eve, bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh, and the two became one — two bodies, one heart.

In the pursuit of success and ambition, relationships are in the background. Instead, they should be the most important. It isn't for what we live but for who we live our lives for and with. Our spirit and soul desire a deep-seated connection with someone who matters most to us and who matters deeply to us. This feeling of love on so many levels, whether it is friends, family, or a life partner, fills our souls with love.

Love is the most potent force in the world. Kings fall under its sway and give up their thrones. Love is blind because it does not adhere to the rules and laws of cultures, religions and countries. Love has no boundaries. Who matters most in your life? Prioritize them always. All that you do is for them.

Relationships are not just maintained; they are nurtured and cultivated with love, genuine care, and empathy over a long time. Make sure you create these moments, taking the time to make people feel special.

Find your true loves in all facets of your life.

Intense love does not measure, it just gives.

Mother Teresa (1910–1997)

My Life Questions:

Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides.

André Malraux (1901–1976)

Who am I?

• Sometimes, it is helpful to break this question down into sub-questions.

• What are your three core values? Write them down.

• What are the dreams in your heart? Write them down.

• What are the plans to make your dreams come true? Write them down, experiment, and redefine this plan often as you navigate them.

My Life Lessons Then (from my younger self):

The most common form of despair is not being who you are.

Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

1. Be true to yourself. Focus deep.

• You may go far and wide, but eventually, you must go deep into your heart and explore its depths for your fears, dreams, and being.

2. Never quit.

• It's easy to quit because sometimes life becomes too hard. I often thought of suicide when I was younger. But I didn't want to disappoint my mom. If I had lost her early, I perhaps would have had no hope. When we are in moments of despair, we may call it quits. At these times, we must go deep and resolve never to quit. I made that decision. I think it was the best decision of my life. Maybe I will fall into despair again in the future. But this lesson has stayed deep in my soul.

3. There is always hope. There is always love.

• I thought I would never find love. But as I found love, I marvelled that love found me. It wasn't perfect, but love is overlooking all the imperfections, yet still loving. I realized that love is everywhere if you open your eyes and heart widely. There are so many people in this world looking for love. It's not just one soul mate you have in this world, but potentially millions—each unique and different. Like hide-and-go-seek, you must seek the love, define that love and let that love grow once found. 

Life Advice Now (from my present 53 year old self):

One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

1. Forever in my heart

• I seek eternity in things--to live a life beyond myself. Out of this body, I wish to pen words and thoughts for future generations. I want to make modern musicals and movies that stir the soul and move the heart.

• Forever is a lifetime of being and living and dreaming.

• Each of us has this within us.

2. Only one

• You don't need a whole lot. Just one. One love. One purpose. One friend. It helps to have one more just in case something happens to the one, which we know, given time, it will. Then, we live in the moments, in the memories. My mother died in 2006, but I still think of her often. It was hard growing up under her strictness and her high expectations for me to do something great, to live her dreams. But I am who I am because of those struggles, those expectations. I did not let them put me in despair but rather used them as stepping stones to build my character and life as I struggled through them.

• Find that one.

3. Purpose. Never forget.

• Just do it. Let His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Next week:
Life Failures, Mortality and Legacy.

Are you doing what you are born to do?

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.

Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968)

See you next Thursday!

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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)

1. What were your dreams as a child? 

2. Who did you want to become? 

3. 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!

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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:

1. God.com

2. Heaven.com

3. Religion.com

4. 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.

Starting a Side Hustle in 5 Steps

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)

Step 1: Start. It’s the Hardest Step

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.

Arthur Ashe (1943–1993)

In today’s day and age, if you want to gain wealth and have optionality, you must create. In order to create, you must dream, imagine, and think of what brings you joy. In the beginning, there will be nothing but thoughts, ideas, and dreams.

To go from nothing to something is alchemy.

There will always be a beginning, and there will always be an end.

All great dynasties, empires, companies, organizations, products, and people adhere to this life cycle.

But you must still begin. 

You must have the courage to start. You must take the first great (and hardest) step. Take a leap of faith.

In my final year of medical residency, I took a leap of faith in the new year 1999. I registered my business name, Hostglobal.com, incorporated the company in Nevada and launched my website within three months.

I got my first client, who paid $300 per month. then, I got another one at $3,000 per month and then a third at $20,000 per month. All of a sudden, I was making more in one month than I was in a year as a medical resident.

Step 2: Own a Niche

Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.

Walt Disney (1901–1966)

Back then, I had many ideas (I still do)—some great and many bad—but I had to choose one. I had to make one idea work.

I wanted to build a Yellow Pages online, but that idea was too big and too broad.

I didn't have the time, resources, or skill set to go big, so I niched down to one category: Web Hosting (because I believed every business would eventually have a website and therefore need a web host).

Hostglobal.com was born when I registered the domain, created the website, and populated it with web hosting companies. I built a system to get reviews and ratings on each web host and then had these web hosting companies sponsor Hostglobal each month, pulling in $25,000 USD per month.

I started with a web hosting directory.

Amazon started with books.

Netflix started with mail-order DVDs.

Apple started with a personal computer.

Meta (Facebook) started as a networking site for Harvard students.

What's your niche?

Step 3: Have a Singular Clear Vision

And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-1944), The Little Prince

What is your vision? 

What do you see as your end destination?

What is the success metric that measures your progress to your vision?

When you have clarity and can clearly see your idea's destination, it is much easier to navigate all the obstacles and resistance you will encounter as you embark on your side hustle journey.

After all, life is a journey full of obstacles that either strengthen or weaken one's resolve and spirit.

Envision your destination and articulate your vision. Simplify it to its core so you can express it in one paragraph, then one sentence and possibly in a few words.

All great companies, movies, shows, buildings, and relationships start with a person with a dream, then an idea, followed by thoughts on how to express that idea. Then, formulating and creating and building word by word, brick by brick, scene by scene, and editing it over and over again until it felt just right—until it worked just right.

Bringing an idea to life takes enormous energy in the form of thought and effort. But there are many ideas in your heart waiting to be born. Don't let them reside in the womb of your heart too long, for time passes impatiently.

Here are some of the world's most famous ideas; imagine if they had never been brought to life.

FedEx: Connecting the World Responsibly and Reliably (Overnight delivery)

Google: Organize and Make Accessible Information (Search)

Tesla: Accelerate the World's Transition to Sustainable Energy (Electric Vehicles)

Amazon: To Be Earth's Most Customer-Centric (Everything store)

Ford: Build the Best Vehicles Possible (Cars)

Southwest Airlines: Affordable Travel with Exceptional Service (Cheap travel)

IKEA: Create a Better Everyday Life (Cheap Furniture)

Costco: Deliver the Best Value Always (Cheap goods)

Netflix: Entertainment On Demand, Everywhere (Entertainment)

Disney: Make People Happy Through Magic (Happiness)

Step 4: Have an Executable Plan

A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.

George S. Patton (1885-1945)

What is your plan?
Can you execute it?
In what timeframe?
What are your constraints?
How will you overcome them?
What are your top 3 risks?

Design your plan in three to five steps, and start on the first step to make your idea real.

Your plans will change as you learn, encounter obstacles, meet new people, and get feedback. Adjust your plans. This process is called the path to product/market fit. You try to fit your product/service with your dream customers like a jigsaw puzzle.

This past year, I wanted our church lands to launch a tea lights festival. I had no actual position, only influence. We decided to go for it in October and launch in November. We had no product and very little money but many volunteers. I put together a website, 123festivals.com. I used artist renditions to show people what the experience would be like until we could make it real. I promised an amazing dining and guest experience, asking people to pay upfront, including a 20% tip.

Five days before launch day, the Parks Board told us that our customers could not use their section of the road to access our property. What?!

Fortunately, our property is on a waterfront, so we were able to charter boats to transport our guests to our festival by water. However, this created significant logistical and financial nightmares.

It was one of the most challenging things I've dealt with in business due to the extreme time constraints, obstacles from the Parks Board, and lack of expert resources. Ultimately, we chartered 1,800 guests over seven weekends.

Here are images from the first rough mockup by me.

Initially, our dome dining started at $79. However, by the last weekend, we had such high demand that we were able to increase it to $170 per guest.

We felt God's guiding hand as Vancouver's social media channels filled with free promotions for our Christmas Tealights event, and our guests shared their experiences on Reels and TikTok (that story is for another newsletter).

Here is the finished website (in the span of two months)

My executable plans typically fit on half a page of handwritten notes. They have 3-5 steps, 3-5 risks I should consider mitigating (e.g., boats instead of cars for the festival), and how I can execute the first 3 steps, listing my assumptions. 

Keep it simple and execute the 80/20 tasks.

Step 5: VPD. Vision. Plan. Determination.

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Thomas Edison (1847–1931)

Now that you have your vision and plan, the last step is determination. Persistence and perseverance are essential.

Can you imagine failing 10,000 times like Edison to invent a city of lights with light bulbs?

Can you imagine getting rejected by 222 Venture Capitalists like Howard Schultz did for his Starbucks idea?

Can you imagine practicing like Kobe Bryant to become one of the greatest basketball players of all time, waking up at 3 am to have extra practice at 4 am to get in one extra practice than every other player?

The chapter on Persistence, a key principle of the 13 principles in the book "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill, is worth reading monthly. One of my mentors, Bob Proctor, read it daily for a month every year for 30 years. He practiced Persistence by reminding himself of the principle of Persistence.

Be determined. Persist. Persevere.

My Life Questions:

The purpose of life is a life of purpose.

Robert Byrne (1930–2016)

What have you always wanted to do but have not yet started?

• Set aside an hour each day (morning is best) and write your thoughts, dreams, and plans with a timeline.

• Just do it :)

My Life Lessons Then (from my younger self):

Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot, but make it hot by striking.

William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

Life is going from hustle to hustle. Sometimes, it starts as a side hustle, but it often grows into a full-time hustle.

• You might as well love and enjoy your hustles so you can hustle well.

You are much bolder and more fearless when you are younger because you have nothing to lose, only to gain.

• Start young and focus on learning rather than earning.

• Seek good mentors and memorable experiences.

See who does it the best and make it your own.

• We are all inspired by something or someone. Find what and who thinks and operates at a level of excellence and extraordinaryness, and then practice becoming excellent and extraordinary.

Life Advice Now (from my present 53 year old self):

Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.

John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937)

Imagine you only have ten big life decisions that you can make in your lifetime.
What would those ten choices be regarding how you spend your precious time on earth?

My list:

1. I knew that I wanted to help people with their health ✔

2. I knew that I wanted to ride the Internet wave ✔

3. I knew that I wanted a loving family ✔

4. I knew that I wanted to praise God ✔

5. I knew that I wanted to ride the crypto wave ✔

6. I know that I want to build an amazing wellness retreat

7. I know that I want to write books

8. I know that I want to make movies

9. I know that I want to make a Broadway musical

10. I know that I want to live a healthy, strong, fit life to at least 108 years old

Study and know the basic principles of life, for they apply to all areas of life, including business.

• Many people don't realize that one of the best business books is the Bible, which contains life principles that can be applied to business. Some of the wealthiest people in history were blessed with this wisdom, like Abraham, Joseph, King David, King Solomon, and Daniel. I especially enjoy the books of Proverbs and Luke for business.

• I'd like to focus on the 80/20 principle, the compound effect, and network effects in future newsletters.

Dream big. Whether you dream small or big, it takes similar thought and effort. Default to big, but take small action steps to start making your dream real. 

• You started as one cell and multiplied to billions over nine months. Everything starts from zero to one. That first step is the beginning of something bigger. Travel that path of your heart.
  

Next week:
Your Vision. Your Purpose.

Bach. Handel. Beethoven.

I play the notes as they are written, but it is God who makes the music.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)

See you next Thursday!

Subscribe to my Compounding Wisdom newsletter and start transforming your life.

Fear VS Faith

To Lead or Not to Lead

Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Will You Live in Fear or by Faith?

Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

As the subprime financial crisis smacked the world into fear and trembling, entire industries started to crumble: the financial industry, the real estate industry, and then the tech world and other sectors.

This doubt and uncertainty about whether we were going into a global depression as industries suddenly went on life support made everyone, including me, fearful of the uncertain future.

Fear infected the entire world. Much like the global pandemic did for everyone's health, this fear infected every heart with the fear of losing house, business, and wealth. With banks collapsing, people's savings and deposits were at risk. Wall Street shut down, and brilliant finance MBAs had nowhere to go for jobs.

I started emailing Harvard MBAs in early 2009 and offered them jobs at Reinvent. One of them was willing to come to Vancouver. Her name was Michele Zaitlyn. Then, at the last minute, she emailed to tell me she decided instead to start a business with her classmate, Matthew Prince. That business was CloudFlare. I wish I had been more curious and funded their startup idea. They are now both billionaires and have done a fantastic job of providing cybersecurity for Internet businesses. And Forbes has listed Michele as one of the world's richest self-made women in 2024.

My business peaked in 2007, and I saw the downtrend cycle happening all over the domain world. Fear started to slowly infect my heart, too.

I purchased my last $20 million domain portfolio in Dec 2007 and stopped buying domains.

Though I was alive, my heart stopped believing

Every man dies. Not every man really lives.

William Wallace (1270-1305)

As subprime continued into 2009, I decided to be prudent, go back to foundations, and reduce the size of the team to the essentials. It was the most difficult business decision I had to make. I decided to keep tech but downsize all other departments. I couldn't sleep or eat a single meal, and I felt heartbroken having to let so many of my team go, to let the dream of becoming a great company die.

I would often hug my children and cry inside.

As I addressed my team about our decision to let two-thirds of the team go, my voice trembled with sadness and care. Many came and tried to give me solace, saying they understood. Some were upset and disappointed.

Reflecting on this time, I realized that whatever I felt was ten times worse for those impacted by my decision. A part of me died that day. I felt it was time to leave business and return to my original passions: health and God. I had only planned to do business for three to six months back in 2000. It had now been nine years.

I made a cowardly and difficult decision to also part from my Director and mentor, Dr. Chris Hartnett. I took the easy way out and cut it off quickly, without an explanation, thanking him and giving him something for his heart and mentorship. It's a decision I regret immensely.

I asked three team members to take over the business, and I would start transitioning management to them: Rob, Mona, and Don.

I would move on to the next phase of my life. I would play the piano to console my soul and study the Bible more deeply to come closer to God.

A New Heart

The heart has reasons that reason cannot know.

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

I played Moonlight Sonata and Disney songs, as well as played and sang hymns. It helped me. I thought a lot about life.

As the days, weeks, and months passed, new ideas began to flood my heart like lightning.

Three dreams took hold of my heart.

1. Social commerce

2. Gospel Media Network

3. Three movies I envisioned

In the next six months at home, I was absorbed in network effects and social commerce. The network effect is one of the most powerful effects in the world, and I believe it is even more powerful than the compound effect. During my time at Harvard, I studied network effects intensively. 

What are Network effects?

A network increases in value with every new user. A good example is a phone. It has more value as you have more people you can 'network' with. This is the principle that social networks, commerce networks, and movie networks are based on. If leveraged well, they have inbuilt virality.

Instead of starting from scratch, I thought I could buy an existing network. Startups are hard!

I tried to buy Myspace, the declining social network displaced by the uprising Facebook, but it sold before I could place my offer. Turns out Allen & Company could only be reached through a warm introduction and I couldn't make the connection in time. In 2011, Myspace sold for just $35 million, six years after Rupert Murdoch's (FOX, Newscorp) company had bought it for $580 million.

I decided to learn the ropes of social commerce. The latest phenomenon was Groupon, and I wanted to recreate it with a social cause component by donating 10% to a local charity. I hired a COO, Tony Lam, from Electronic Arts, who built a team for this new company, GoodNews.com.

Little did I know that the pattern above would repeat itself as I embarked on new startups in new industries over the next 15 years.

I had wondered why the people in the Bible didn't learn the lessons from the past, repeating the same mistakes despite the warnings.

Now I know. :)

My Life Questions:

A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

1. What decisions can you make when in fear?

• Flight or Fight? Run. Hide. Cower. Or the very few who Fight! Fight! Fight!

• Fight the fear.

• The remedy for fear is hope and faith.
  

My Life Lessons Then (from my 29 year old self):

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.

Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

1. Are you making decisions in fear or by faith?

• Decisions are drastically different when based in fear versus based in faith.

• Fear crumbles and destroys while faith believes, making even the impossible possible.

2. Life always gives you chances to learn the lesson over and over again until you do

• It, too, shall pass. That is the lesson of the Bible and life. Everything passes.

• We have one life to live, learn, and make a difference for someone else—even just one person. Sometimes, that person might just be you. My goal is to make a difference to more than me, one by one.

3. You will make bad decisions.

• You do not have to be mean, demeaning, and uncaring when you make hard or bad decisions. Even if it is wrong, do it with care and compassion.

• You need to make tough decisions. It's part of the seasons of business. Leaves fall, trees become barren. This happens to all businesses in time, to mighty empires, and to us in our seasons of life. There is a beginning and an end to products, businesses, and life. Be grateful for life's journey and those who walk the same path with you.

Life Advice Now (from my present 53 year old self):

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.

Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931)

1. You do not have to make hard decisions in haste.

• You did not have to lay off your team suddenly, with no warning, explanation, or compassion. Give people time to adapt, even at your expense.

2. You did not have to be so extreme.

• Instead of abrupt changes, think of transitioning and succession planning. Be gracious and help grow leaders. Build your systems to innovate and, believe and operate at the highest levels. Be great. Make those around you great.

3. Do good even at your own cost.

• A good name is more important than ego, money or power. You must endeavour to keep your character and name, as well as respect and honour.

Next week:
Starting a Side Hustle

Making it work for you

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)

See you next Thursday!

Subscribe to my Compounding Wisdom newsletter and start transforming your life.

The Entrepreneur of the Year

The Oscars of Business Awards

Entrepreneurship is neither a science nor an art. It is a practice.

Peter Drucker (1909-2005)

Are You an Entrepreneur?

Risk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical.

Howard Schultz (1953-) Starbucks Chairman

What is your definition of an Entrepreneur?
Just take a minute to think about it.

Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi (Saviour of the World) painting sold for $450 million in 2017. What was it worth in Da Vinci’s day? The fruits of an entrepreneur’s labour are often better appreciated over time, far after their death.

The term Entrepreneur was derived from the French verb “entreprendre” (“to undertake”) and first coined by Richard Cantillon in 1730 to describe someone who was taking a risk and making decisions in uncertain conditions.

Later in 1803, Jean-Baptiste Say described the entrepreneur as taking things of lesser value and creating higher value. Joseph Schumpeter in 1911 said the role of the entrepreneur was as an innovator and a driver of economic development through creative destruction.

My definition? 
An entrepreneur is anyone who creates value for others and themselves. And everyone can create.

By my definition, God is an entrepreneur because I believe God created the world and us. A most beautiful creation. I’ve received so many business lessons from the Bible, which describes the entrepreneurship of God.

To All the Unsung Entrepreneurs

The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.

Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

It’s not just business people who are entrepreneurs.

Artists, poets, writers, philosophers, musicians and scientists are also entrepreneurs. They use paint, words, thoughts, music, theory and experiments to create and express the beauty, joy, and wisdom of life and nature. 

Bach’s music was for the church. He died relatively unknown until Felix Mendelssohn resurrected his work 70 years after Bach’s death. They later searched for Bach’s unmarked grave to give recognition to his great works.

Those who scale their works of creation are recognized as Entrepreneurs, but it’s the unsung heroes who have allowed the greats to stand on their shoulders to whom we should also pay homage for making a dent in the world.

I further describe entrepreneurs as those who have the courage to live their dreams.

This was my father and my mother who left Korea with the shirt on their backs. My father went from an almost non-existent elementary school education to the German mines and then to Ford in Canada. He then had the courage to set up his own grocery store and laundromats. My mom left Korea as a nurse to come to a new country to learn English and work as a nurse in a small town in Ontario Canada called Owen Sound.

I am especially impressed by entrepreneurs who bootstrap with little money, few resources, little education, and little time because they are typically working many other jobs. This requires ingenuity and persistence along with the 12 hallmarks of entrepreneurship.

Do You Have the Credentials of an Entrepreneur?

There’s no shortage of remarkable ideas, what’s missing is the will to execute them.

Seth Godin (1960-)

I had dreamed since 14 of becoming a medical doctor, so I took no liberal arts courses or any business courses in university. So when I started my side hustle in 1999, I often had the impostor syndrome. I just did what made sense. Offer a unique service that gave more than I asked for. It worked and then I expanded and raised the prices as I gave more value. And most of the other bootstrap entrepreneurs in the domain industry were just like me. 

Who were the experts in domains?

It was us, who spent 16 hours a day, figuring out how to value a domain, register great domains, and make money from the domains. We built systems to automate as much as we could, because we were one-person operations. We were the visionary, the executer, the financier, the marketer, the salesperson, the administrator all-in-one. We wore all the hats of the business.

I would argue that being a bootstrap entrepreneur is the best business education in the world. You learn everything first hand. The lessons of entrepreneurship are inscribed into your soul.

We had no unfair advantage except a dream we sought.

Our failures are our battle scars and oh do we have so many.
Our successes are built on these piles of failures.
We learned to iterate and test our assumptions quickly before spending much money,  time or resources.

But my Director pulled me aside and asked me to seriously consider going to the Advanced Management Program at Harvard.

My wife was pregnant. There was no way I could. Would this help me?
It wouldn’t hurt. And no one could look down on you.
It made sense. I asked my wife. She paused and considered the implications.
I would be in a Harvard dorm for two months. She would be 4 months pregnant, yet she gave her full support.

And the Winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year is…

The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.

Colin R. Davis (1927-2013)

I applied to Harvard’s Advance Management Program. They suggested that I apply to their Owner Management Program. My director Chris Hartnett gave them a call.

They accepted me. I was the youngest along with Gary at age 37.

I had applied to E & Y’s Entrepreneur of the Year for Technology. I was nominated as a finalist. I would have to fly from Boston back to Vancouver during my Harvard education and then fly back that night after the award ceremony for class.

We did 200 business case studies in two months. It was intense and I loved every minute of it. Harvard in the fall was beautiful. And then the subprime financial crisis I had predicted hit like a global hurricane in September. 

We had the most interesting speakers. Founder of Vanguard, Meg Whitman CEO of eBay, Michael Dell, and the list went on. We did the case study and then we were able to directly ask the founders and executives questions. Wow.

At the awards ceremony, it was like a red carpet gala event. I met David Suzuki, a finalist as well. It was so cool to be amongst so many great entrepreneurs. I had three tables. Fellow teammates, beloved family. It felt like the Oscars for business. I had a strong intuition that I would win in my category.

And the winner of the E & Y’s Entrepreneur of the Year for Technology goes to…

Dr. Kevin Ham

Wow, it felt like I had won an Oscar. I was hugging everyone. My father, my wife, my family, my teammates. It took me a while to get to the podium.

The MC said I had only two minutes for my speech. Two minutes. How could I thank and express eight years of emotions.

I thanked God by acknowledging the two words that sit 555 feet hidden at the top of the Washington Monument: Laus Deo, which is Latin for Praise God, along with the good book, my guide, the Bible. I thanked with all of my heart my wife, my family, and my team.

It brings tears to my eyes as I think of all that my parents and family went through for me to get to that moment.

Blood, sweat and tears… of many generations. I am shedding these tears even as I write this.

Here’s to all the entrepreneurs, who dared to dream, who dared to start what seemed like an impossible dream and got up after every No, after every failure, after every false start. Here’s to you. I believe in you, your heart to dream and make that dream come true. Never, ever, give up. Until your last breath, dream and live.

My Life Questions:

It is never too late to be what you might have been.

George Eliot (1819-1880)

1. What is your life dream that you wish for?

• Never forget the dreams in your heart. They are your life. Perhaps they lay buried deep in your heart. Mine those dreams out and make them shine. This world needs your light, your dreams. Disney showed you what is possible when you dream.
  

My Life Lessons Then (from my 29 year old self):

The harder the conflict, the greater the triumph.

George Washington (1732-1799)

1. Everything you dream about is possible, if you have enough faith and courage to pursue your dream.

2. Starting and believing results in learning about the obstacles you need to navigate around.

• These obstacles are there for you to grow stronger, to be more resilient so that you can be the person you need to become to fulfill your dream.

3. If you persist, someone or something will open the way.

• A door will surely open for you. You will find the right door.

• Howard Schultz had 222 No’s before someone said Yes to his Starbucks idea. Just lock into your destination GPS and the routes will go around the obstacles and find the path.

Life Advice Now (from my present 53 year old self):

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.

Mark Twain (1835-1910)

1. Cherish these moments. The highs and the lows.

• You have become resilient because you kept on the path and persisted. The lows have brought you high, The highs are heights where you can fall and are more dangerous than the valleys.

2. You made your father proud, I wish mom could have shared this moment.

• She passed too early from gall bladder cancer in 2006.

3. You had more faith and courage in your dreams than I do now.

• What happens as we grow older? Does fear of failure, self preservation, ego start to kick in or am I spreading myself too thin by focusing on too many dreams instead of just a few?

• Focus. Dr. Azra Raza sat me down recently and asked me, “What do you really want?” Take two days in nature and really ponder this question. Be certain of your answer. Great advice.

Next week:
Fear VS Faith

To Lead or Not to Lead

Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

See you next Thursday!

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