Five years ago, I started a blog called “Stuff Christians Like.” On day 9 of its existence, 4,000 people showed up.

Why?

Because timing matters more than you think.

I am not so arrogant to think that if I started Stuff Christians Like today it would grow as quickly or as large. The reality is that there are a lot more people in the water. There are lots of other Christians writing genuinely funny blogs about the foibles of Christians.

I would not stand out like I stood out in 2008.

But in that year, I was kind of unique. There were certainly pioneers like Matthew Paul Turner, but for the most part a lot of people had not done what I was trying to do.

Use timing as one of the ways to figure out which dream you should work on first.

If you have three things you’re passionate about, ask yourself, “Is timing a factor for any of them?”

For example, I have about 6 ideas for new books I want to write. One of the ideas is a little unusual. Right now there aren’t a ton of great books on that topic. In 5 years? There probably will be because it’s an important topic, so that idea could jump to the top of my list.

Look at your list of dreams with the timing filter and the right one will become more obvious.