Why Fear of Failure is Preventing Your Success

Your failures are the stepping stones to your success.

Failures are only truly failures when you give up on your way.

F. Failure. I failed. Another great F word, next best after Focus.

No matter how many times you fail, you are not a failure. Please reread this sentence and engrave it into your memory. Why? Because the world, your parents, teachers, coaches, and peers all seem to engrain and espouse the opposite: that failure is bad and that when we fail, we are failures.

In my first year of university, I failed all of my midterms. I had never failed so badly in school before. Why did I fail? Because I didn't study. I thought I could cram as I had in high school, but these university exams were much harder. Being unprepared and not doing my best were my failures. I was a student. It was my duty to study. This I did not do. But even though I had failed miserably, I knew I was not a failure. I decided to study a minimum of two hours every day. By Christmas exam time, my lowest mark was 92, and my highest was 98. But even if I had failed again, I would not have felt like a failure.

As we age, we stop trying new things because we become afraid of failure. If we don't try to learn new things, we can't fail, but our circle of knowledge, experience, and influence remains stagnant and limited. The law of life is growth and experience. 

Failure Lays the Foundation for Success

The repeated pains of failure harden the cornerstones of success.

Dr. Kevin Ham

Sara Blakely was told during her family dinners that failure should be celebrated and embraced. This, along with seeing her best friend dying, gave her the courage to do what she believed in. By embracing failure, she created the billion-dollar clothing business called Spanx.

If you think about how you became good at anything you do, it is through practice. Practice makes perfect. Hidden inside this statement lies dozens, hundreds, if not thousands of failures to gain perfection. Playing a song? Playing a sport? It's the amount of repetitions multiplied by the intensity that leads to your result. So, when someone says they practice medicine or law, it means they are making mistakes along the way. It's human. 

# of Repetitions x Intensity x Intention = Level of your Result

Larry Bird, one of the greatest shooters in NBA history took 500 free throws every morning before school. My youngest son started practicing three-pointers daily during the Covid pandemic. You raise the level of how many times, then change a few variables. 500 free throws at 90% success in 1 hour, jumpshots, eyes closed …

What Matters is Not Whether You Win or Lose

Whether you win or lose, you can be proud when you’ve given it your all and your best.

Dr. Kevin Ham

Life is not a scoreboard of wins and losses. Every day you are alive, you are in the game of life. The game is not about how much money you can make or how many titles or awards you can get.

What is the scoreboard, then? What is the purpose?

Look around you. Look at how the ants, the bees, the birds, and the butterflies live. They propagate life. 

We are alive this day and each day to enter our cocoon. It's a unique cocoon, just for you to transform anew and be reborn in your mind and heart. Have you ever marvelled that what constitutes you came from just 46 chromosomes? But these body parts are not the real you. Your philosophies, values, beliefs, dreams, and purpose are your core. 

Are you being you?

Thrive on Failure

Just a reminder:

You are allowed to fail. Really.

See your Magnum Opus, believe in your Magnum Opus, live your Magnum Opus and be your Magnum Opus.

Today’s Life Question:

Are you truly being you?

Dr. Kevin Ham

Just be you.

Next week:
Why Fear of Criticism is Stifling You

Your confidence is made either of sand or bricks. You determine which.

There is a time to listen to others and a time to listen to your heart.

See you next Thursday!

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

Leave Your Mark in This World

Timeless relevance in a world where it’s hard to stand out

Paradise Lost was missing its mate, Paradise Regained, as blind John Milton saw Paradise in his darkness.

From the age of 12, John Milton dreamed of writing an epic story like Homer's Iliad. He believed he would and could. He trained himself in the works of the great writers throughout history, learned all the classical languages and dreamed of the epic he would one day write. Then, in his early 40s, he lost his eyesight. He lost all hope, believing that his dream had died with his blindness. He even wrote a sonnet, "On his blindness." Then, a flash of light arose in his heart; perhaps he could memorize his book and dictate it to his daughters to pen for him. In his blindness, he could imagine worlds beyond their mere physical appearance. He regained his belief that he could write something epic, something so transcendent that the world had never seen before.

Paradise Lost was his labour of love for the next 13 years. In his 10,000-word epic, he coined the term pandemonium. He combined his love of God, and the fall of man into a mesmerizing poem of epic proportions. He is one of my big role models, alongside Bach, Handel, Beethoven — who composed his last symphonies while deaf (listen to Symphony No. 5 and No. 9 full blast) and Helen Keller — though blind, deaf and mute from a young age who could see better than all of us (read a selection of her writings.)

In Your Weakness lies Your Strength

Most people believe their weakness is their weakness, but within your weakness lies your greatest strength. Thus it has been throughout all the ages.

Dr. Kevin Ham

Because I was bedridden with an autoimmune disease at age 14, I have always appreciated each day of health. This drove me to become a medical doctor. This past week, I was bedridden again from a itty bitty virus. It reminded me once again of just how weak and fragile I am. A little virus could wreak such havoc upon me in a short time. 

The martial arts of Judo show us that another person's strength can be powerfully leveraged against them, and their weakness can be even more so. When I separated my left shoulder in Judo, I had to protect my left side a lot, so I attacked my opponent's left side, which was typically a person's weaker side. I won a lot of matches this way--as I was a right-handed fighter fighting like a left-handed person.

But when it comes to life, your deep desires and dreams arise from some essential deep need. Out of sickness, I sought health. Out of poverty (my parents were immigrants with very little), I sought to be wealthy. Out of weakness, I sought to be physically strong and fit. I've discovered that I can be in the top 1% through simple discipline, starting with just one sit-up per day.

What do you really desire deep down inside? Ask yourself why. It may be rooted in one of the six great fears of humankind:

1. Fear of poverty

2. Fear of loss of love

3. Fear of criticism

4. Fear of loss of health

5. Fear of old age

6. Fear of death.

(...Or maybe it is rooted in one of 7 great faiths--a topic for another time).

We tend to overcompensate for what we are weak in as we seek to complete ourselves. We want to be whole, holistic beings. But we all know that we each have an expiration date upon which we must return back to where we came from. And that which we fear the most is death, for upon that day, which we do not know, we cease to be. And so, deep down, we wish to leave our mark in the world so that we may live on.

We Exist Beyond This Present Time

That which is, will always be, forever and ever beyond the passage of time

Dr. Kevin Ham

We are blessed with life each day. And each day has enough of its own troubles and worries. We often wish that all the troublesome and hard things could forever go away and we just be left with the good. But we know that life teaches us that before joy there must be suffering. It is shown with the labour that birthed you, and so it is with every labour of love.

We must remind ourselves that what the world teaches us about success is not truly success. It is good to define what words truly mean to you. I used to think success meant fame, riches, high positions, titles, and awards. I have received many of these, but they have never fulfilled me for very long. But I am very fulfilled when I think of my loved ones and deep relationships. However, I also have a strong internal drive to accomplish my Magnum Opus. Like Milton wrote his Paradise Lost, his true Magnum Opus was Paradise Regained. Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 is epic but not as much as his No. 9. And what of all the works that led up to these? 

Success is doing what you were meant to do or believe you were meant to do.

Only you can define what this is. To know thyself is great work only you can do. Just as Milton displayed that even blindness could not prevent his Magnum Opus when he believed it was possible to accomplish his great works, even so, it is with faith and perseverance you do your Magnum Opus to transcend time. Do not let time, space, criticism or any other constraint prevent you. With faith comes miracles.

I want to say a huge thank you to those who reply to this newsletter and let me know your thoughts and heart. Thank you dearly.

Bet on You

Just a reminder:

You are such a unique individual. No one will truly understand you 100%. Seek to understand yourself as deeply as you can. That is your insight. That is your true power.

I had a realization last week. I told my daughter why I love hugging her so much, and it is because I do not recall being hugged by my parents. Lately, I have been hugging my father, but he still doesn't hug me back :). He is 89.

My daughter has freely hugged me since.

See your Magnum Opus, believe in your Magnum Opus, live your Magnum Opus and be your Magnum Opus.

Today’s Life Question:

What truly lights you up?

Dr. Kevin Ham

Lean into this 100%, over and over again.

Next week:
Why Fear of Failure is Preventing Your Success

Your failures are the stepping stones to your success.

Failures are only truly failures when you give up on your way.

See you next Thursday!

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

Don’t Miss Your Window of Opportunity

Timing is everything and your best decisions discern time, place and person.

Timing is the gateway to all opportunities. That gate is passed by far too often.

I was completing my final year of medical residency in 2000, at the height of the dot com boom. Then, suddenly, it all came crashing down — a monumental crash where Amazon fell 95% in months, and so many dotcom promises got buried in the avalanche of fear. I knew then that this was my golden window of opportunity to be a part of the Internet. My choice was between practicing medicine, a dream since age 14, or jumping into the waters and grabbing ahold of Internet real estate and domain names, as people had given up on the Internet as a fad. Most people thought I was crazy, but I felt that it was my one big opportunity of a lifetime. Looking back, I see that I've had many such opportunities. I just didn't recognize them as such because they looked like danger. Even when these opportunities cried out to me loudly, I was deaf to many of them. How about you? 

What opportunities have you passed up?

How to Recognize Opportunities

When your heart stirs, that is your opportunity. Take it or it evaporates like the clouds of time.

Dr. Kevin Ham

Just as life sparks when sperm meets egg, there is a moment when opportunity implants into your heart and moves you to act. But this is before logic prevails. It is your heart's essence that stirs, deeply inspired and feeling moved to act. It will likely not make any sense. It will require an act of faith. All the great works of mankind begin in this way. The seed of opportunity begins, but unless the heart of fallowed ground is ready, the seed will not take root. 

We are taught to decide by logic and reason. Life teaches us otherwise: to live by faith and listen to your heart. The heart is deeper and knows more than the mind. The mind plans and sequences the steps, organizes and adapts, but the heart moves before any semblance of plan.

It is with the eyes of your heart that you can discern the times, the hearts of others, and the opportunities that are crafted uniquely for you. We call these dreams of our hearts, our heart's desires. Most never heed these calls, and so they die unplanted, the heart never prepared.

Spend an hour or half an hour just daydreaming or writing freely from your heart. Imagine. Dream. All the works of art, which are but creations of the heart, are born by removing oneself from reality, from the opinion of others, from the bureaucracy and order of the world. After birth, then the order comes forth like the placenta.

The Sands of Time Fall in the Hourglass

Most people are unaware of how much sand they have left in their hourglass.

Dr. Kevin Ham

There was a King named Hezekiah, who was told by the prophet Isaiah that he would die. Hezekiah prayed that he might be given more life so that he could praise God more. Isaiah came back and told him that God had heard his prayer and granted him fifteen more years.

When I was 14, I thought I was dying. I had an autoimmune disease. I vowed that if I lived, I would become a doctor and help people with their health. At 30, I became a doctor and knew I had to be part of the Internet. At 37, I was on the cover of my favourite business magazine. The title? "The Man Who Owns the Internet." How did that come to be?

In 2007, I was unknown, but I asked God to make the unknown known and knew it would happen. I had no plan. It manifested, and I recognized the opportunity when a reporter, Paul Sloan, approached me at a domain conference in Vegas.

I have this thought, an ask, a prayer, about a potential next cover article, "The Men Who Own the Internet." It is not out of vanity that I ask or pray. If it were so, I would not dare pray. "Humility comes before honour" (Proverb 18:12) is a proverb I love dearly.

Some people think I have the gift of prophecy because I have a great vision of the future. While my eyesight is near blind, my heart sees clearly at times, far into the future.

I thought that if I lived until 40, I would have lived a long life. I am turning 55 this year. I wonder, how I got so old so quickly? Each day, each year, is bonus time for me. When will the last sands of my life fall in my hourglass? I do not know. But I have a handful of things left to do in my life and complete my Magnum Opus. It is very clear to me what they are. But how to do them is very unclear and unknown to me. So I pray, I ask, I seek and I knock continuously so that I may discern the opportunities and grab ahold of them.

At this time, I have delegated almost everything so that I can focus on my one calling this year- How.com. Each day, I discover the steps I must take. I constantly match the hand dealt to me and see if it pairs with my heart. When it does, I call it and grab ahold of it. Each day I awake, I search eagerly for that match. Each day I go to bed, I ponder, pray, and ask whether I missed it. There is less sand in my hourglass each day.

Steve Jobs passed at age 56 in 2011 from pancreatic cancer. Walt Disney died at age 65 in 1966 from lung cancer (he was a smoker). What could they have done to add more sand to their hourglass to allow them to grow the dreams in their hearts for longer?

What can you do today to add more sand to your hourglass?

If you want a list of 3 health principles you can act on today, reply to this email with the subject line "Health Principles."

Crisis is Your Opportunity

The word Crisis consists of two words: Danger and Opportunity. These are the two sides of life that travel with you.

Dr. Kevin Ham

Most do not recognize their opportunity because it is covered with danger and risk. Most flee. It's natural, instinctual. The poor odds and the risk outweigh any great benefit.

They say the fear of loss and pain is ten times greater than the courage to gain. I've learned how to ask and pray for wisdom to guide my feet and my hands so that such fear is overcome by faith—and by faith, to derisk those fears and potential losses. 

I lose as much as I gain when I am not vigilant of both sides. When I am too fearful, I have little to gain. But when wisdom prevails and de-risks the pains and levers the gains, I have gained considerably beyond measure and imagination. My power is my faith and constantly seeking wisdom because I know I am foolish.

When crisis comes upon you, take a profound moment to see what opportunity has also come to you. Take courage. Do not fear (too much). A little fear. A lot more faith. That's the formula if there ever was one.

Never Give Up on You

Just a reminder:

1. Each time you have had a crisis, you have had the opportunities of a lifetime.

See your Magnum Opus, believe in your Magnum Opus, live your Magnum Opus and be your Magnum Opus.

Today’s Life Question:

What is the great opportunity of each of your life stages?

Dr. Kevin Ham

Your life transitions in seven-year stages, just as the moon becomes full each month and the year marks the earth's annum around the sun.

Next week:
Leave Your Mark in this World

Timeless relevance in a world where it’s hard to stand out

Paradise Lost was missing its mate, Paradise Regained, as blind John Milton saw Paradise in his darkness.

See you next Thursday!

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

Becoming a Renaissance (Wo)Man

You are made to unify wisdom from all walks of life liberally.

You are neither just reason nor just rhyme. You are an epic poem in time.

To my dear friend, Rob T.,

When you didn't show up for lunch on Monday, I knew something was wrong. Something was so gravely wrong that I felt profoundly sad all day Monday and Tuesday. Today, I heard what happened.

When your business partner called me this morning, I knew my intuition was right. He told me you passed away in your home in San Francisco before your flight up to Vancouver. Just the day before, on Sunday morning, you texted, "Great…. Looking forward to it. See you then." You were such a wonderful person. I will miss you so much. You were only 58 and so full of life.

What is life when such moments come upon you? Each breath is so precious, and each life is ever more precious.

---

You are whole. You are human. You are soul. You are spirit. The psyche is the mind. You have two sides to you: logic (with sense and reason) and creativity (with imagination and innovation). Most people are right-handed, so the left of their brain, the logic side, develops more. We say, "It makes so much sense." "That's reasonable."

But we are creatures, creative beings who dream, imagine, make these dreams reality, and innovate. We aspire to what might not make sense, be reasonable, or be logical. This is the heart of the entrepreneur, the entrepreneurial spirit.

Which side do you lean on? I believe that we should develop both sides to realize our full potential. Those who do this are called "Renaissance men and women."

What is Renaissance?

Renaissance means rebirth. You must be reborn, like a caterpillar from its cocoon to a flying monarch adorn.

Dr. Kevin Ham

Leonardo da Vinci was trying to find a job when he was young. For ten paragraphs, he touted his engineering abilities to design bridges, waterways, cannons, buildings, and military engines. In the eleventh paragraph, he wrote, "Likewise in painting, I can do everything possible." Da Vinci is the perfect example of a Renaissance Man who mirrored the "infinite works of nature" that knit together the world in a tapestry of wonderful mathematical patterns with beauty and creativity.

You, too, have this within you. Both a scientific and engineering mind and a creative, artistic mind. The left and the right. Imagine if you were taught to use both the left and right hand to write? The left hand taps and develops the right creative side of your brain, and the right hand develops your brain's logical, scientific side. It is not that we are incapable; we haven't developed these two sides of ourselves evenly or with intention and practice. Even now, you can develop these parts within yourself to a much higher level.

I grew up with a creative mind and a musical spirit. Still, when I received a C+ in art, I decided to no longer take any courses in the arts that might affect my grades, as I believed at that young age it was essential to focus on mastering the sciences so I could get into medical school. Looking back, I wish I had a liberal arts education as an undergrad, as medical school was all science, logic, and process, with very little invention, art and creativity. I have this strong internal desire to excel in music and develop some musical and artistic masterpieces, even though I am a novice in these fields, having only played the piano for ten years.

The Generalist is the Specialist

Go deep like a microscope and see far like a telescope.

Dr. Kevin Ham

I had to decide whether to be a specialist or a generalist. I loved all the specialties as they delved deeper into each part of human health. Pediatrician if I wanted to work with children. Maybe a Geneticist, as I loved genetics. Surgery is known for its fast pace and immediate outcomes for patients. Oncology was interesting because cancer was/is such a devastating disease. Ophthalmology because the eye made an impression on me. However, I chose family medicine because I could learn about everything and meet so many people with so many different types of health issues. It allowed me to think about the whole person. Not just the body but also their soul and their spirit. About nutrition, exercise, the environment, family history, and genetics.

Steve Jobs took a calligraphy class he wasn't even enrolled in. This led to his love of typography and fonts, which became core to the beauty of the Apple computer. What if he hadn't taken this class? What would Apple products look like?

Which Voice Should You Listen to?

Which Voice Should You Listen to?

Prayer is the voice of the heart asking to be heard.

Dr. Kevin Ham

A Renaissance person is a holistic person, with a big worldview, with multiple points of philosophy that may seem to be opposing but fit in the construct of the imagination. Sometimes, the path that does not seem reasonable or make sense is the path that should be taken. That is the voice of the human heart. The voice of the logical mind cannot make rhyme or reason of such voice. So, which voice do you listen to?

In such times, I ask to "sleep and pray on it before making a decision." My logical mind and past experience already lead me to a decision, but I wish to give time and space to my heart to hear her voice, which quietly whispers and feels. People are often surprised because I follow my heart, which does not seem rational at that moment, but after the heart's decisions are all laid out in plain sight, it usually makes sense.

The senses operate from logic and avoid risk and danger.

The heart operates from love, compassion, generosity and grace and is willing to sacrifice itself.

Never Give Up on You

Just a big reminder:

• You are one of life's greatest creations. You are here for many reasons. Cherish life.

See your Magnum Opus, believe in your Magnum Opus, live your Magnum Opus and be your Magnum Opus.

Today’s Life Question:

Of all life’s beauties, there is none more beautiful than your human heart.

Dr. Kevin Ham

1. What can you do to develop your heart and mind more fully?
   • Choose one thing:

   • Heart: love, generosity, compassion, meekness, humility, kindness, or nobility.

   • Mind: Reason, memory, perception, imagination, intuition or will.

Next week:
Don’t Miss Your Window of Opportunity

Timing is everything and the best decisions discern time, place and person.

Most times things don’t make sense, but it is the right moment in time to embrace the irrational and follow your heart.

See you next Thursday!

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

Resilience in Adversity

Every journey to Your Magnum Opus involves brutal setbacks and adversity.

Resilience is the mind to get back up even when everyone believes you can’t.

There comes a moment when you feel like giving up when it's just too hard, and you feel so trapped. You are about to throw in the towel and let life take you into the ground, but then a spark of resolve arises, whispering, "It's not the end yet. There is hope. You can live."

Have you ever had that moment?

This is the resilience in your heart, imploring your mind beyond reason that there is a purpose for you in this world. You just haven't discovered it fully yet. The setbacks, obstacles, adversities, and humbling blows push you down and drown you, but…

Adversities Are Your Mentors

We often seek mentors we admire, but the great mentors of our lives are the great adversities in which wisdom lies hidden.

Dr. Kevin Ham

Without resistance, there is no need for force to push forward. Without gravity, there is no dream to push upwards into space. If there is no adversity, what will shape your character, integrity, or resolve?

Just as weights, lifting reps heavier and heavier, tear and build new muscle and blood vessels, the weights of life come like waves, bigger and stronger as you confront them. If you are not pushed back, it will be difficult to develop your core values, mindset, and skillsets. These hardships are your mentors, just like coaches make you practice above and beyond your current abilities and capabilities.

I call this the "Hill Principle". I used to be very scared of riding up big hills. I once saw a cyclist fall because her chain snapped on the very hill I was about to ride up. After that day of riding, my knees hurt so much I could barely walk. This was a charity ride for cancer I was doing for my good friend Elliot Koo, who got a devastating cancer, sarcoma, at age 28 and died a good life at 30. I started riding up hills without fear when I thought of Elliot battling cancer. I could not imagine such a fight.

Now, I ride up large mountains, steep 25% hills, not merely to train my body but more so to train my mind and conquer my fears of the impossible. I started to ride standing up to generate more power up these 25% hills. Then, I developed the courage to ride up these steep hills sitting on my bike seat. Then I decided to ride up in the bigger, harder gear standing. Then, sitting, thinking that I would fall over. I got stronger and faster, climbing up the hills this way. They are still super hard, but now my body and mind are stronger.

The Hill Principle. Embrace it in everything that signals fear and conquer it by confronting it in bite-sizes until you can climb up that mountain of fear, pedal stroke by pedal stroke.

Resilience is the Hard Path to Your Magnum Opus

Life is just a series of setbacks to a dream placed deep in your heart that upon accomplishing it, you are ready to go onto the eternal stage of life.

Dr. Kevin Ham

The more you dream of doing your Magnum Opus, the more setbacks you will encounter, and they will become harder as you dream bigger. Each setback will either make you fall or make you stronger. 

When I read the story of how God allowed the tribes in the land of Canaan to remain in order to train the younger generation in battle, as they had not yet experienced battle, it made me reflect on all the adversities I have had in my life. There were times when I was depressed, in despair, and sometimes suicidal. Still, looking back, I see how they made me resilient and full of grit — a tenacity to relentlessly overcome obstacles in different ways to advance to my dream.

Never Give Up on You

Just one big reminder:

When you think it's over, remember that it's not — you are just in the cocoon stage, and when you eventually emerge from your cocoon, you will be bestowed with a life-changing transformation. And unlike a butterfly, you will have many cocoon experiences that will transform you.

See your Magnum Opus, believe in your Magnum Opus, live your Magnum Opus and be your Magnum Opus.

Today’s Life Question:

What great mentor did you not see because she was dressed as Adversity?

Dr. Kevin Ham

1. What big hills do you still need to face?
   • A hill that is not confronted will repeat in various forms (patterns) until you face it and eventually climb that mountain.

2. Reflect upon the cocoons of your life.

Next week:
Becoming a Renaissance (Wo)Man

You are made to unify wisdom from all walks of life liberally.

You are neither just reason nor just rhyme. You are an epic poem in time.

See you next Thursday!

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

Relentless Iteration to Mastery

Greatness is a process of relentless iterations from failures to insights.

I used to wonder how people did great things and became great. What is greatness?

Greatness is the relentless pursuit of improvement and progress toward your vision, even in the face of failure, pitfalls and seemingly insurmountable obstacles. To achieve your Magnus Opus, your great work, you must embrace experimentation and its many iterations by learning, pivoting, and refining your mind and actions toward your Magnum Opus.

Relentless Iteration Cycles

Greatness is inspired by greatness and what is greater than the heavens and the earth. The grandness of the sky and oceans, the majesty of the mountains, the ardour of the trees and plants and the preciousness of life and our fellow humans.

Dr. Kevin Ham

1. Set Clear Goals Just Outside Your Comfort Zone

Going through life without a clear goal or target is like driving without a destination. Give your mind a clear goal to accomplish, and it will work day and night, even while you sleep, to figure out a path to that goal. An achievable goal that you know how to do is rote. 

Map out the 5 or 10 steps to your Magnum Opus and make them just out of reach. This will force you to think bigger, and for that, you need to step just outside your comfort zone. Then, break down your first step into 3-5 smaller steps and make those steps happen.

Do you feel a little stressed? Perfect! Don't know how to accomplish your goal exactly? Perfect!

2. Embrace Failure as Learning Feedback

Every failure is just a lesson in disguise. It provides hints on what not to do and how to figure out a better path to take. It provides deeper insights into first principles, the insights into your own human nature and those around you. It allows you to push your boundaries beyond the limits of what you think is possible into the impossible.

This is how you make the impossible possible.

As I started raising money for our big AI idea on How.com, our first friend said he would pass. It felt like a heartbreak at first. But then it became our resolve to make our vision bigger and grander. It also became the fuel that lit our hearts on fire. Sixty of our friends and family have since invested, and we've raised over $8m USD with more to come. We are printing and putting this rejection on our wall as our reminder that rejection is a gift.

3. Continuous Iterations to Improve

Your goal in continual iterations is to improve and figure out the best path to reach your Magnum Opus. This is the compound effect in motion each moment, each day. 1% better daily is 38 times better in a year. In two years an astounding 1500x. Simple in principle, but takes intention, action and providence relentlessly.

4. Persist through setbacks

Life is just fractals of setbacks and forward momentum. Each setback positions you to slingshot forward as you solve or gain insights from each setback. As you solve each setback, the compounding solutions and insights become your foundation to spring forward.

For six years we tried to get approval to get the dot.co wildcard deal with the country of Columbia, gaining approval by 90% but unable to get the last 10%. We then pivoted to working with Cameroon to get the dot.cm wildcard deal. It was done in 3 months as we had figured out most of the deal points from Columbia. This was to get the data for all domains in the dot.com, which was to assist us in predicting the traffic from any given domain, allowing us to predict the revenue for any domain name. This put me on the cover of one of my favourite business magazines and on the front page of almost every major newspaper in the world. It was just an idea as one way to overcome many setbacks.

5. Embrace Insights and Wins

Instead of celebrating the final big victory, revel even in the small insights, the small wins. They may be the hope of something better, the realization of an insight or experiment. These become your stepping stones so that when you look back, you can see these moments that set your foundation as you step to the next level of your Magnum Opus.

We just received our first wire transfers. $30,000 USD and $100,000 USD. Before this, we received our first signed investment agreements.  We just got our latest of 60 investors signed at $10,000 USD but even though the amount is smaller, we value our relationship with him, coming from the VC world, family office world and a great product guy.

Your Mindset to Relentlessly Iterate

The heart should rule the soul and the soul should rule the body. But why does it often go the opposite way?

Dr. Kevin Ham

There are many mindsets to iterate relentlessly, but what stops us are four key mindsets. The hardest of these is patience and resilience. I think of the tortoise as my role model in these two as well as ants, as I watch them relentlessly plod along in endeavour for the colonies.

The other two are humility and open-mindedness. Humility allows you to connect and help others, who in turn wish to help you, according to the law of reciprocity. Being open-minded allows you to connect more deeply, understand things and people, and ask curious questions that can unlock insight into their hearts and into the fabric of life.

1. Patience

2. Resilience

3. Humility

4. Be Open-minded

Be Relentless

Just two big reminders:

1. Those closest to you will either support you dearly or, out of concern and sometimes envy, be resistant to you going for your Magnum Opus.

2. Be contrarian and make it right for you. You don't have to be right with the world. You have to make it right for you.

See your Magnum Opus, believe in your Magnum Opus, live your Magnum Opus and be your Magnum Opus.

Today’s Life Question:

Being relentless means also pondering what direction you are going and whether that connects with your ultimate destination.

Dr. Kevin Ham

If you haven't been relentless yet, what is the tiniest-while-still-being-relentless step you can take this week to follow through?

You'll come to realize that you gain confidence as you relentlessly figure out each step and gain insight and ability. It's like how you learned to walk and talk. Now walk and talk your vision step by step.

Next week:
Resilience in Adversity

Every journey to greatness involves brutal setbacks and adversity.

Resilience is the mind to get back up even when everyone believes you can’t.

See you next Thursday!

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

The Courage to Your Magnum Opus

Greatness requires bold action and willingness to stand alone.

Your Faith

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

Martin Luther

Deep in your heart, you feel you have something of note, something important to do in this life you are granted. Perhaps that is buried so deep in your soul that you have forgotten what that might be. When you were younger, did you dream of doing something, of being somebody?

I used to stare at the sun, seemingly so close yet far away — an apt analogy to the dreams in my heart — so near, yet so distant. I pondered my life. I felt extremely depressed at the ripe age of 11. I felt some hope, but I felt more despair. I thought about the struggles of life and felt it was too hard. Perhaps I could make it all disappear if I stepped out into busy traffic. But I didn't want to make my mom sad or disappoint her. So, I thought about what I could do in life to make it meaningful.

The answer came to me at 14; I became so ill that I could not walk or move, and at that point, I resolved to become a medical doctor. I knew. I believed I was going to be a doctor right then and there. Nothing was going to stop me.

My faith drove me from age 14 until I became a doctor at age 30. Even though I failed to get into medical school immediately after my undergraduate degree, I still believed I would eventually get in—even if it took another four years. The failure fueled me to think, act, and pray even harder. I was accepted a year later.

Find your faith in life, and you will conquer any fears or doubts.

Your Vision

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

What visions have you had?
What visions have become deeply embedded in your heart?

• In 1984, at age 14, I saw that I would become a medical doctor.

• In 1993, at age 23, I saw thatI would become an Internet entrepreneur.

• In 2000, at age 30, I saw that I would build a great media company in 20-30 years.

• In 2017, I saw that crypto would be a big trust layer of the Internet.

• In 2018, I saw that NVIDIA would be an essential part of singularity and traded my Google stock for NVIDIA.

• In 2018, I also saw that I would make a Broadway musical and movie in 10 years.

• In 2019, I saw that I would be co-owner of a pro cycling team, helping Canadian riders.

• In 2024, I saw that I would create a great AI company.

• What do I see in 2025? That is the question I ask, think and pray about in January.

What do you see for your life?
What visions do you have?
How strongly do you believe in your visions?

Alfred Hitchcock visualized all of his movies. Then, he wrote the scripts and described the visual scenes on paper. Then he shot the film.

Jordan Peele said the same thing for his movie ‘Get Out’. He visualized it every night.

What do you visualize and see for your life?

What Edison Visualized

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.

Thomas Edison

Many people know Thomas Edison, who was sent home from school because he had learning difficulties. His mother told him, "Your teacher says you are a genius, and this school is too small for you. They don't have the resources to teach someone as brilliant as you, so I will teach you at home."

But his teacher's note said that he was 'addled,' meaning he was mentally deficient and not fit for the school. His mother homeschooled him and fostered his sense of curiosity and love of learning.

Learning implies that failure or not knowing is essential, and curiosity eventually reveals the truth.

In 1877, at 30, Edison had a vision for a recorder that could play back telephone messages.

"I want to record the human voice and have it speak back."

How determined was he?

"I am going to invent a machine that will record and reproduce sound, and I will do it if it takes the rest of my life."

Amazingly, it took him less than a year, but he resolved to do it, even if it took him the rest of his life.

After that, he went to work on the light bulb.

Edison said he found 10,000 ways that won't light up the light bulb. He didn’t say he failed. He was determined to find a way. How many more times was he willing to ‘not succeed’? How did he have the courage to continue?

He had a great vision and great faith that he would find a way. He had great courage to continue to learn and experiment.

And what was his vision? He saw a city of lights. In an era where candles were the only source of light at night, he saw an electrical system. It became his quest to deliver on his vision of a city of lights that inspired him to invent the light bulb.

"We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles."

Do you have the vision, the faith and the courage to dedicate your life to your dream?

Courage is sacrifice and acting despite your doubts and fears.

The courage to act comes from the roots of your faith and your vision.You must stand and believe in yourself and what you dream in your heart.

Faith requires steady, consistent actions to make your dream a reality. A miracle is just speeding up the time to be miraculous, and time is sped up with faith, vision, and action.

Visualize Your Vision

Just two big reminders:

1. Your heart is your soul's eyes. Look and see from your heart.

2. Have faith in you. Have faith in your vision. This faith is in your heart and not in your head.

See your Magnum Opus, believe in your Magnum Opus, live your Magnum Opus and be your Magnum Opus.

Today’s Life Question:

See your life from your heart, not your eyes and your current reality. This is how greatness is born. It's born in your heart and then seen in the world.

Dr. Kevin Ham

What are the visions of your life?

• Every night, dream and visualize it.

• Upon waking, daydream, visualize and pray about it.

• Write them down in your notebook.

• Write them down in your Notes on your mobile phone.

• Just one or two sentences like Edison did.

Next week:
Relentless Iteration to Mastery

Greatness is a process of constant refinement from failure to discovery.

Step by step walk the thousand-mile road.

Miyamoto Musashi

See you next Thursday!

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

The 10 Obstacles Holding You Back From Your Magnum Opus

These 10 Obstacles to Greatness hold you back from your Magnum Opus.

Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.

C.S. Lewis

(The trials of life shape the character needed to complete great work.)

Your Magnum Opus

Good is the enemy of Great.

Jim Collins, author of Good to Great.

Have you ever felt like you were meant to do something GREAT..? And you've been searching for what that might be? You thought it would be this, that, but you felt ill-equipped, untrained, not good enough, not worthy, or someone told you it was a bad idea? Self-doubt, lack of confidence, lack of courage, lack of self-belief … And the list goes on why you cannot do something GREAT.

It's just a handful of things that truly hold you back from your GREATNESS.

I went to a Hans Zimmer concert. He's the guy who puts great music to movies, like Batman and all of Christopher Nolan's movies, like Interstellar, as well as the soundtrack to Gladiator and Dune. I love his music. He said that he's been trying to do his great work (his Magnum Opus) and almost obtained it with this song. He started to play his Interstellar and played on the church organ. It was mesmerizing and beautiful. But he's still seeking to play his Magnum Opus song. 

Hans is 67. He's received 12 Academy Award nominations and won two for Lion King and the recent Dune movie. He's still on his quest for ultimate greatness.

What's preventing him still?

Welcome to week 2 in our 12-week series on "The Journey to Your Greatness: Overcoming the Obstacles to Your Magnum Opus."

Many fail to realize their Magnum Opus, their life's great work, because of Ten Common Obstacles that derail their journey.

Let's uncover these 10 obstacles to greatness.

10 Obstacles to Greatness

Visualize your Magnum Opus as if it was the only purpose of your life. And ask God for the eyes to see from your heart.

Dr. Kevin Ham

Solve these 10 Obstacles:

Creating a magnum opus — a defining work of greatness — requires a rare combination of overcoming three big fears and seven significant lacks. This requires vision, persistence, courage, and opportunity. Most people never achieve theirs for these key reasons:

---

The 3 Great Fears:

We had great faith when we were young, but we placed an emphasis on avoiding our fears as we grew older. Embrace faith once again. Believe in yourself and your mission.

1. Fear of Failure

• Barrier: Fear of failing, being criticized, or not meeting expectations prevents people from even starting. We never had this fear of failure when we were young. You learned to walk, talk, and do so many things without fear of failure. Why now?

• Root Cause: You are taught not to take risks. Society often discourages risk-taking, promoting "safe" choices instead.

• Example: Michelangelo faced enormous pressure while painting the Sistine Chapel but embraced the challenge. Many avoid similar risks, fearing they might fall short. Aim for greatness.

2. Fear of Judgment

• Barrier: The desire to fit in and avoid criticism leads people to conform rather than push boundaries. This can come from the people who care most about you.

• Root Cause: Pursuing a magnum opus often requires going against the grain, which can attract skepticism or hostility.

• Example: Vincent van Gogh was ridiculed in his lifetime but persisted. Many fear rejection and abandon their ambitions.

3. Fear of Sacrifice

• Barrier: Achieving a magnum opus often requires significant sacrifices—time, relationships, resources—that many are unwilling to make. 

• Root Cause: People prioritize short-term pleasures or stability over long-term legacy.

• Example: Newton spent years in isolation during the plague, developing his revolutionary ideas in Principia Mathematica. Many aren't willing to endure similar solitude or effort.

The 7 Great Lacks

We think we lack, but we lack nothing.

1. Lack of Vision

• Barrier: It's hard to have vision until you see it. Ask, and you shall receive. Ask what the vision of your Magnum Opus may be. There will be a revelation.

• Root Cause: Don't get caught up in the day-to-day grind or settle for mediocrity, never asking, What is the one great thing I want to leave behind?

• Example: Einstein envisioned a unified theory of the universe over ten years, doing thought experiments.

2. Lack of "Why"

• Barrier: Without a deep sense of purpose, most struggle to sustain the energy and passion needed for a magnum opus.

• Root Cause: People often pursue external validation (money, fame) instead of an internal drive to create something meaningful and personal.

• Example: Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was driven by a profound desire to express the human spirit, even though he was deaf. A shallow "why" cannot sustain such efforts.

3. Lack of Focus

• Barrier: Most people live in a constant state of distraction and cannot dedicate focused, deep work toward a single vision. Even an hour of deep work per day can produce remarkable results.

• Root Cause: The modern world encourages multitasking and shallow work over sustained, focused effort.

• Example: Isaac Newton spent years obsessively focused on a few key problems, producing Principia Mathematica. Most people never dedicate themselves fully to one pursuit.

4. Lack of Discipline

• Barrier: A magnum opus requires relentless focus, hard work, and time—qualities many struggle to maintain.

• Root Cause: Modern distractions (e.g., social media, entertainment) and an inability to delay gratification derail long-term projects.

• Example: Kobe Bryant spent countless hours refining his craft, getting an extra practice in at 4 a.m. just to practice three times instead of the pro's two practices a day. Most people aren't willing to sacrifice comfort or leisure for such dedication.

5. Lack of Resilience

• Barrier: Setbacks, criticism, and failure often deter people from pursuing their goals. This, perhaps, is the most common obstacle.

• Root Cause: Most people lack the mental toughness to persevere through challenges and rejection.

• Example: Walt Disney faced bankruptcy and countless rejections before creating Snow White and Disneyland. Many give up after their first few failures. Edison said he failed 10,000 times in the creation of the light bulb. Wow.

6. Lack of Mastery

• Barrier: People often attempt greatness without first mastering the fundamentals of their craft. You cannot break the rules if you don't know the rules.

• Root Cause: Focusing on shortcuts and impatience prevents the years of effort needed to build expertise.

• Example: Bach composed over 1,000 pieces before his Mass in B Minor. Many lack the patience to invest in such rigorous preparation. This mindset does not bow down to time but lets time ferment mastery.

7. Lack of Drive to the Finish

• Barrier: Settling for "good enough" prevents people from striving for greatness.

• Root Cause: Once people achieve modest success, they often stop pushing themselves, mistaking comfort for fulfillment.

• Example: Steve Jobs was never satisfied with "good enough," which drove his constant innovation. Most lack this drive. Why? Observe the ants the wisest King Solomon pleas to you.

How to Overcome These Obstacles

1. Define Your Vision: Ask yourself, What do I want my legacy to be?

2. Embrace Failure: Recognize that failure is part of the process and a sign of growth.

3. Cultivate Discipline: Build habits that prioritize long-term goals over short-term gratification.

4. Seek Mastery: Invest time learning and refining your craft before attempting greatness.

5. Find Your Why: Connect your work to a purpose larger than yourself.

6. Build Resilience: Treat setbacks as stepping stones, not dead ends.

7. Eliminate Distractions: Create environments and routines that foster deep, focused work. Start with just 10 minutes daily. Then, increase as you build momentum. Think about doing it for a month, a quarter, a year, two years, three years and keep going. You cannot but progress with such a tortoise and ant mindset. Don't be the hare.

---

Make Your Legacy

Just two big reminders:

1. You do not lack. In time, you will gain all that you need. This is an incredible journey, adventure and purpose of your life.

2. Pursue faith over fears.

Most people never create their magnum opus because they let fear, complacency, or distractions hold them back. Greatness requires a clear vision, relentless effort, and a willingness to sacrifice comfort for impact. Those who overcome these barriers—like Newton, Einstein, Michelangelo, and Kobe Bryant—leave legacies that inspire generations.

Today’s Life Question:

There is often a big bottleneck in your life. Figure out what that is and flow through life.

Dr. Kevin Ham

What is your main constraint or obstacle for your Magnum Opus to be?

• Start with the one that holds you back and work through them one by one until there are no more obstacles.

• Write them down and figure out how to overcome each obstacle one by one.

Next week:
The Courage to Your Magnum Opus

Greatness requires bold action and willingness to stand alone.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

Martin Luther

A timeless expression of trust and courage in the face of uncertainty.

See you next Thursday!

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

Unlocking Your Greatness: Your Journey to Your Magnum Opus (Your Great Work)

Patterns of Greatness do have reason and rhyme. Follow them and you rise to your Great Magnum Opus.

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

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)

Your Magnum Opus

Do great things, for you are destined for greatness.

Dr. Kevin Ham

Welcome to the first edition of 2025 in our 12-week series on "The Journey to Your Greatness: Achieving Your Magnum Opus."

Each week, we will delve into the lives of extraordinary individuals who achieved their magnum opus — and their contemporaries who fell short — to uncover the patterns of greatness we can apply to our own lives.

Achieving your Magnum Opus revolves around seven patterns of greatness — universal traits that drive success. Many fail to realize their Magnum Opus, their life's great work, because of seven common obstacles that derail their journey.

Let's first uncover the seven patterns of greatness.

Seven Patterns of Greatness

The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.

Pablo Picasso

(Sharing your magnum opus with the world is one of your life’s great purpose.)

Achieving your Magnum Opus requires mastering these seven patterns:

1. Vision Beyond the Immediate: Visualize a bigger picture and work toward a purpose greater than themselves. 

• Steve Jobs envisioned computers as tools for creative empowerment, not just machines.

2. Relentless Iteration To Mastery: Greatness is a process of constant refinement from failure to discovery. 

• Marie Curie spent years isolating radium; even when progress was slow, setbacks pushed her back, and obstacles seemed insurmountable.

3. Resilience in Adversity: Every journey to greatness involves brutal setbacks and adversity. 

• Walt Disney faced bankruptcy and repeated failures but persevered to create an empire of happiness, imagination and magic.

4. Courage to Act: Bold decisions define legacies. 

• Steve Jobs risked everything to return to Apple in 1997, which was on the verge of bankruptcy, and radically transformed it when others thought it fruitless.

5. Synthesis of Diverse Disciplines: Innovators integrate knowledge and wisdom from many fields. 

• Da Vinci combined science, engineering and art to revolutionize art and human thinking.

6. Mastery of Timing: Understanding when to act, balancing patience with seizing opportunities at the right moment. 

• Walt Disney delayed the opening of Disneyland until his vision aligned with the necessary resources and technology, ensuring its monumental success.

7. Timeless Relevance: A Magnum Opus endures across generations.

• Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 Ode to Joy remains a masterpiece.

Today’s Life Question:

If you can dream it, you can do it.

Walt Disney

(A magnum opus begins with a vision that dares to dream beyond the ordinary.)

What do you wish for your Magnum Opus to be?

• Walt Disney envisioned a magical kingdom of happiness for families.

• Steve Jobs envisioned making a dent in the world by creating innovative products that push humanity beyond the status quo.

• Martin Luther envisioned freedom from religion and state.

• What dream of greatness has been set in your heart?

  • Being a great father, mother, son or daughter?

  • A great teacher? A great doctor? A great author? A great entrepreneur? A great athlete? A great reader? A great thinker? A great driver? A great friend? A great lover? A great poet?

  • A great _____ by doing ______?

Next week:
The 7 Obstacles Holding You Back From Your Magnum Opus

Just as the 7 Patterns of Greatness lead to success, the 7 Obstacles to Greatness hold you back from your Magnum Opus.

Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.

C.S. Lewis

(The trials of life shape the character needed to complete great work.)

See you next Thursday!

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

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!

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

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.