N.O.W. Moments: How Many Have You Had?

Phil Keoghan, host of
The Amazing Race

Phil Keoghan's book No Opportunity Wasted, makes you want to bungee jump and sail around the world.  I love this excerpt, which is his mantra in life, as well.  

What is a N.O.W. moment?  Think of it as an immortal memory.  Something you did that stays with you.  It makes you smile when you remember it, and you tend to tell others about it years later.  It was a singular experience in your life.  It needn't have been a momentous accomplishment.  A friend recalls discovering a golf driving range in the Caribbean that faced out toward a beautiful ocean horizon.  At sunset, he got himself a tropical drink in a plastic cup and spent the next glorious half-hour sipping his drink and driving golf balls into the golden setting sun.

That's a "N.O.W. moment," and he made it happen by being alert to the possibilities.  Occasionally, such moments are handed to us by fate (the birth of a child, for example).  But those are relatively rare.  If you want more N.O.W. moments, you must shape and create them, using ordinary moments as your clay.

So let's take stock:  How many immortal moments in your life can you think of?  Jot them down on a piece of paper.  Take some time to think about this.  Mull it over, and ask your friends and family if necessary.  When you've exhausted your memory, see how many moments you have written down.  And ask yourself:  Am I content with the number of N.O.W. moments I've had?  If you've come up with, say, 10 moments, that doesn't seem too bad -- except when you consider how many minutes you've lived in, say, the past 25 years (to be exact that would be 13,148,640 minutes).  So: Ten great moments out of 13 million - are you really happy with that ratio?  Don't you think you can do better?