Grabbing the Moment

Good Morning,

Have you ever looked back on a decision you did or did not make and wish the opportunity would come along again?  While sometimes the chance presents itself a second time, often it does not.  That does not necessarily mean that you won’t have other opportunities in the future. Life is always bigger than a singular moment.  But those singular moments are still big.  I recently read about a man named Ronald Wayne who had a big opportunity.

If not for Ronald Wayne there might be no iPhone, iPad or iMac today. Steve Jobs convinced him to take 10% of the Apple company stock and act as an arbiter should he and Steve Wozniak reach an impasse. Wayne however, backed out 12 days later, selling for $500 a holding that would have been worth $72B 40 years later.  That is billion with a ‘B’!

Now I don’t pretend to know how Ronald Wayne feels about his decision to back out, he may have never felt an ounce of regret. What I do know is that it was a decision that cost him an amount of money that starts with 72 and is followed by a bunch of zero’s.

Sometimes we look at the opportunities in front of us, especially if there is significant change involved, and create reasons not to move forward.  Instead of looking at what could go right, we spend an inordinate amount of thought dedicated to what could go wrong. Instead of looking at how much we could grow and thrive, we circle the wagons and become stagnant.  And before you know it, the moment has passed us by.

I am reminded of a statement from author John Ortberg: “Change always involves risk and risk always involves fear”.  Fear is a difficult task master.  It leaves us stuck in park and comfortably unfulfilled.

The next time you are presented with an opportunity to grow try to resist automatically rationalizing why leaving it unseized is the best option. Give yourself a chance to grow and get unstuck by looking at the positives that can come from it.  Allow yourself plenty of freedom to dream about the “what could be’s” instead of just dwelling on “what if’s”.

Here is the lesson: If you are going to decide to forfeit $72 Billion, make sure you have a really good reason!

Live this week on purpose,

Ron Klopfenstein