Welcome to One Thing Better. Each week, the editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine (that’s me) shares one way to achieve a breakthrough at work — and build a career or company you love.
Today’s edition is sponsored by Public— a platform where you can invest in stocks, bonds, and more —all in one place. Details at the end of the newsletter.
You’re facing a big decision, and it feels overwhelming.
Maybe it’s a job offer, a business opportunity, or a chance to try something new. The stakes feel high. Your next move feels critical.
But before you decide, ask yourself this question: Is this actually THE moment… or is it just A moment?
The answer could change everything.
Today, I’ll help you distinguish between the two — and show you why this simple shift in perspective can lead to better decisions and less anxiety.
But first, I’ll tell you about a friend who recently faced this same dilemma.
When opportunity creates panic
My friend Andrea runs a thriving food business. She’s constantly on the road visiting retailers, attending trade shows, and putting out fires.
Recently, a book agent reached out to her. The agent thinks Andrea should write a book — and this set Andrea’s head spinning.
“I don’t know what to do,” Andrea told me. “I’d love to write a book, but I’m exhausted and don’t have time. But also, I don’t want to miss this opportunity!”
So I asked her my question: Are you facing THE moment, or A moment?
Like, is this the only chance she’ll get to write a book? Or is this just the first of many chances?
The critical distinction we often miss
When we’re facing a big decision, we tend to raise the stakes on ourselves. We treat it as mission critical — make-or-break, do-or-die! Then we either freeze or act rashly.
But wait. Why do we do this?
The answer is fear: We worry this is the only chance we’ll have.
And why do we feel that way? Because of that word: chance. We worry that we’re not in control — as if, instead of creating our own luck, we’re at the whims of chance.
Occasionally, this actually is true: We might luck out, or have one shot at glory. But most of the time, life isn’t like that. We get many shots. We can do something now, or later, or maybe never at all — because we can’t do everything, and that’s OK.
So how do we figure it out?
How do we decide if this is THE moment, or just A moment?
Here are three useful questions to ask yourself:
1. What created this opportunity?
2. Is that going away?
3. What happens if I wait?
In Andrea’s case, the answers were clear: (1) Her business success created this opportunity. (2) It’s not going away; she sees a pathway to continued growth. (3) If she waits, her business will only get bigger, and her public profile will only grow — which means that tomorrow’s book deal could be better than today’s!
Andrea said no — not forever, but for now. She’s going to focus on growing her business, which is what matters most.
This works the other way, too
Sometimes, we’re not worried about missing an opportunity. Instead, we’re worried about having lost an opportunity.
For example, my friend James runs a tech company, and he once engineered a merger with his closest rival. He was about to be the CEO of this combined company — a huge accomplishment, and industry-shaking news.
Then it fell apart. The finances didn’t line up.
At first, James was crushed. Then he thought about Netflix. In 2000, Netflix famously offered to sell itself to Blockbuster for $50 million — and Blockbuster laughed them out of the room.
“I thought about Netflix CEO Reed Hastings during that moment,” James told me. “He must have been so crushed — like, I missed the moment. But as it turns out, it wasn’t THE defining moment of the company. It was just one little moment along a much longer rise.”
James realized the same was true for him: His failed merger was just A moment, not THE moment.
That was a few years ago. He and I just got lunch last month. His company is doing amazingly. He’s having a blast. He has many more moments to come.
Your moment will come, and come again
We can become slaves to the fear of scarcity.
- Someone offered us a job? We should take it!
- Someone likes us? We should date them!
- Someone wants to invest in us? We should take it!
- Someone invited us to a cool thing? We should accept!
And you know what? Maybe you should take that job, date that person, take the money, or do that thing! Maybe we seize the moment! Go get it!
But only say yes if it advances your goals.
You must know what you want first, instead of letting “chance” dictate your decisions.
So if you’re currently deciding between X or Y, start by forgetting about X and Y entirely. They are both just means to an end.
You must first decide: Where do you want to be going? What does that end goal look like for you?
Then give yourself permission to make choices — based on what’s truly best for you, not out of fear that you’ll miss your only chance.
“Yes” can mean “I’m in control.”
“No” can mean “I’m in control.”
You make the opportunities.
That’s how to do one thing better.
Save for retirement, invest in yourself
More than half of Americans feel behind on their retirement savings. Don’t let that be you!
Open up an IRA with Public. Public is an investing platform where you can invest in stocks, options, bonds, ETFs, and crypto — all in one place. And now you can open a Traditional IRA, a Roth IRA, or both, on Public.
Do something good for your future self and get started today HERE.
*sponsored (see disclosure below)
Public Disclosure: All investing involves the risk of loss, including loss of principal. Brokerage services for US-listed, registered securities, options and bonds in a self-directed account are offered by Public Investing, Inc., member FINRA & SIPC. Cryptocurrency trading services are offered by Bakkt Crypto Solutions, LLC (NMLS ID 1890144), which is licensed to engage in virtual currency business activity by the NYSDFS. Cryptocurrency is highly speculative, involves a high degree of risk, and has the potential for loss of the entire amount of an investment. Cryptocurrency holdings are not protected by the FDIC or SIPC.
Alpha is an AI research tool powered by GPT-4. Alpha is experimental and may generate inaccurate responses. Output from Alpha should not be construed as investment research or recommendations, and should not serve as the basis for any investment decision. Public makes no warranties about its accuracy, completeness, quality, or timeliness of any Alpha out. Please independently evaluate and verify any such output for your own use case.
