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I attended the federally mandated screening of "The Hangover". It's the plucky story of personal triumph and perseverance in the face of insurmountable odds.  

It's also really crude and hilarious.  Zach Galifianakis takes the raunch to a whole new level.  Ed Helm is priceless.  Bradley Cooper has just cemented his status as a huge movie star.

It's a flick about a Vegas bachelor party gone very wrong.  A turning point in the character's lives.  After the movie my buddy Brad says, "You know, there are only about 12 truly life-changing moments in a lifetime."  I think that is profound.  It challenged me to really ponder that for a second.  We only have a finite number of moments on this planet, and of those moments, how many of them truly change your life?  Change the way you see the world? 

Fate is often thrust upon us.  The moment the doctor looked me in the eye and told me I have cancer was an immediate perspective-changer.  It's amazing, though, how one single decision can profoundly impact your life.  We make hundreds of decisions every day, millions over a lifetime.  Think about this: which of those decisions irrevocably altered your life, or set in motion a chain of events that allowed a fateful event to occur? 

Here's an example: I started my broadcasting career in Great Falls, Montana.  As a 25-year old single guy, Great Falls was a tough place to be.  I knew every available girl in town .  I had compiled exhaustive scouting reports, and believe me, that cupboard was bare.  I was offered a job at KFSM in Fort Smith, Arkansas.  I talked them into flying me down to see that station, and I was underwhelmed.  I had decided not to take the job.  It was a long way from home for a kid from Seattle.

The movie that was playing on the flight back to Montana changed my life forever.  The movie was "Blue Chips", a silly basketball yarn about an iconic college basketball coach (Nick Nolte) who is pressured to win at all-costs, so he cheats by paying recruits like Shaq.  I remember sitting in my seat, thinking, "If I took that job in Arkansas, I could be covering that."  Led by fiery head coach Nolan Richardson, and his vaunted "40 minutes of hell" defense, The Arkansas Razorbacks were national contenders.  I would be covering SEC sports every day.  Plus, the girls were really cute and had great accents.  I decided right then to take the job, and ended up covering two Final Fours with the Razorbacks.

I didn't get much of a chance to scout the girls in Arkansas.  On my first day at KFSM,  just as I was settling into my new office, a beautiful, tall, brown-haired girl with a gorgeous smile walked in.  Her name was Catherine.  We've been married 13 years.
 
So, as weird as it sounds, I credit the movie "Blue Chips" for changing my mind about Arkansas, and bringing my wife and I together.  

The moment Catherine walked into my life was a Top 12 Moment.  So were the days my kids were born.  The day I landed a TV gig in my hometown of Seattle. Witnessing the devastation of a killer tsunami in Sri Lanka.  Running the New York City Marathon.  

I challenge you to try to come up with your own Top 12 Moments: those moments, so indelible, you can play them back in your mind like an OnDemand movie. They will come to you.  Write them all down.  Good, bad and ugly.  Clearly, there have probably been far more than 12 life-changing moments in your life, but by limiting it to 12, we are forced to decide which moments are most prescient.  I'm still working on my list.  I encourage you to do the same and see what you discover about yourself.