I was reading a popular magazine the other day and there was a story in it about a famous inventor. It was about how he almost never became an inventor and how he became an inventor only because of a diagnosis that didn’t become true. That made him take a chance with his life and the world is a better place because it.
If I remember right, the inventor’s name was Bob Schneider. That’s “Bob Schneider” not “Rob Schneider” like that terrible actor!
Anyway, Bob came home from his doctor’s appointment dreading telling his wife, Barbara, about what he had just learned. He had always been the “dreamer” in the family and Barbara had always been the one who made “practical plans”. They were madly in love and had been since high school. Finding out he had an expected “expiration date” long before either of them would have imagined was going to devastate Barbara.
When he asked Barbara to sit down, she knew he was about to hit her with bad news.
“Honey, the doctor says I have a rare condition that’s going to worsen over time” he said. “He expects I might live 18 months, 2 years tops. I don’t want the kids to know for a while and I know you’ll be making sure we plan things so we can do that”.
He paused for a moment and then continued “I’m not sure I can go back to the office knowing what’s in my immediate future. It just seems like a waste of time.”
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Barbara hugged Bob a hug like he had never felt. It was as if she channeled all of the love they had expressed over the years into that one physical contact.
As they both shed some silent tears, Barbara finally broke the silence with what would turn out to be a profound idea:
“You should quit the office. Spend the rest of your time doing what you’ve always expressed was your reason for being here. You have such good ideas and bringing them to fruition could have such a positive impact on people’s lives. You owe it to yourself to pursue those dreams”.
Bob quit the office that week and set up a makeshift work area in the corner of his garage. Over the next 9 months, Bob worked 12-16 hour days trying to bring the first of his inventions into something real.
His former office mates were surprised by his decision to leave the corporate life to pursue his inventor’s dreams. But, they had listened to him speak passionately about those dreams at the office water coolDown toer, over numerous lunches, and during too-many-to-count trips to the local watering hole.
They would occasionally stop by to check out his progress. Barbara always made sure to provide finger-food and plenty of drinks when they would show. Occasionally, one of his old coworkers would pull her aside and ask “Aren’t you concerned Bob is wasting his time pursuing a dream he will never reach?”
Barbara would just laugh them off and say “Well, if that’s what he wants to do, I’m just going to support him the best that I can”.
Of course, when their kids would ask similar questions about their father, Barbara would sort of modify her answers by speaking of Bob’s pursuits like they were a “temporary insanity” and he would snap out of it over time.
You can imagine everyone’s surprise when Bob revealed his first invention and that he was in negotiations with Motorola to buy the rights to it. Bob made more on that sale than he did with 3 years of pay at his old job.
When Intel came knocking with a 7-figure offer for Bob’s second invention, people took notice.
As Bob’s anticipated “expiration date” got closer, Bob and Barbara finally shared his condition with their kids. There were lots of tears shed as well as a few “how could you hide this from us” shouts. In the end, Bob told them all how having the condition was what drove his inventive juices and that he was just happy he could leave all of them with a nice amount of money in the bank when he “expired”.
Over the next several months, Bob’s “inventive juices” flowed. He produced multiple inventions for the computer manufacturing space each resulting in minimum 7-figure paydays.
Life was good. But, Bob knew he had a follow-up appointment with his doctor in the coming week. He dreaded what he was sure he was going be told. That his expiration date was upon him.
Bob didn’t want Barbara or any of his kids at his doctor’s appointment. He didn’t think they needed to hear all the gory details about what he was sure would be the ultimate bad news.
Barbara and the kids waited for Bob at home. They were prepared to comfort him as soon as he walked in the door. To their surprise, Bob came bursting through the door with a huge smile on his face, flowers in one hand, and a bottle of “something” in the other hand.
“I beat the odds. The doctors said the odds were totally against me, worse than winning the lottery. Well, I WON the lottery. My condition has totally disappeared. My doctor says my new anticipated expiration date is ‘who the hell knows’”!
Well, this story about “Bob Schneider” is mostly fiction, it does serve to illustrate an important point:
If your doctor told you you had an “anticipated expiration date”, what could you accomplish?
Imagine what you could do in 18 months in your business if that’s what you concentrated on with no distractions. I’m not saying you’re going to experience 6-, 7-, or even 5-figure days or months. But, it is possible. Other people have done it, are doing it, and will do it.
Why can’t one of them be you?
