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
JJust 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:
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!
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