I Keep This Clock in My Office Frozen on the Moment My Life Restarted It taught me an invaluable lesson about uncertainty, in life and business.

It's 2:04 p.m. on a summer day in August 2010. I'm at the Mayo Clinic. I have a tracheal tube down my throat, so I can't talk. There are wires all over me, and I'm in immense pain. It is incredibly uncomfortable. The day before, I had open heart surgery.

At 2:05 p.m., a doctor walks into the room. "I know you're feeling like death right now," he says. Since I can't talk, it's not much of a conversation, but I nod in agreement. "I promise you in 15 minutes," he continues, "you're going to feel like a new person. We're taking all the tubes out."

To be honest, I didn't believe him — but he was right. When the chest and tracheal tubes came out of me, life flowed back in. I was a new person. I went from death's door to reborn in 15 minutes.