Exactly 20 years ago today, at 10 AM on the tenth day of the tenth month, I received a phone call that would change my life.
The call asked me if I’d like to volunteer my time for the Focus Humanitarian Assistance Agency helping refugees in Asia. At that time, I was a senior partner at a successful accounting firm, resplendent with three accounting degrees ((ACCA, CFP, CGA/CPA) and the trappings of success. The phone call came to me when I was consulting with a client who had won multimillion dollars in Canada’s national lottery.
My inner voice and the encouragement from my wife made me say yes, and what I would go on to learn shook me to the core. These refugees had nothing and were forced to live their lives on a knife-edge. But some inner strength gave them a resilience that affected me profoundly. If they could handle such adversity, what was I doing with my comfortable life? Then came the decision. I would jump off the cliff backward and devote my life to speaking and writing about ‘giving’.
Not that it was plain sailing. I struggled immensely in this new career for many years. However, if I was to turn back the clock, I would do the same all over again! I do not remember a single moment in these 20 years, barring one, where I doubted my decision. The only exception was after I had spent countless hours writing my first book but still could not get it onto bookstore shelves. This low point was followed by yet another sign via a book that fell into my lap. This book, written by an author who had once contemplated suicide, sold 10 million copies. And this nudged me into thinking – if he could do it, why can’t I?”
Today, exactly twenty years later, not only am I a hundred times ahead in my new career than I was in the accounting career but also I have lived a dream life of 20 years and continue to do so every single day. Therefore the 10:10:10 moment was for me a priceless lottery winning!
How about you? Do you have your very own 10:10:10 moment?