Those recommended medical test are really important: A routine colonoscopy would have caught pre-cancer changes before they developed into stage four cancer. Today I am a cancer survivor, but not without paying a big price—three major surgeries, chemo, and radiation. All three damage the body and limit downstream physical abilities.
Success comes from opportunities not solving problems: I started my career as a CPA and transitioned to business after three years with Price Waterhouse. I envisioned myself as a problem solver. The difficulty with that was that there is always another problem right behind the previous one. I discovered that most problems work themselves out. They are solved in the course of opportunity pursuits. After years of on-the-job training, my motto has become “Not all problems deserve to be solved; of those that do, not all of them need to be solved by me."
Going second-class only costs a little more: That is a joke phrase, but it was intended to remind me that trying “to get by on the cheap” usually requires a do over in the end—costing more time and money than if things had been done right to start with. I wasted a lot of money and time because the people around me were always trying to save me money.
You must learn to manage change: “Change” is such a constant in business and life that I wish I had understood its behavior and how to manage it from the start of my adult life and business career. Instead, I had to learn it the hard way—from my mistakes.
Every decision, action or inaction defines our future: With an earlier deep appreciation of the Opportunity Wedge, I would have made a conscious effort to elongate the wedge—make it more like a rectangle—keeping the lines, that represent who I am and who I could be, parallel as long as possible.

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