Let's talk about virtue

Patience is a virtue.  I've heard that all my life.  It's true a lot of the time.  Of course, the opposite is true sometimes.  The saying "Strike while the brand is hot," is an example that applies to certain instances in life.  But for many opportunities, patience is the the virtue that gets a person what he or she wants.

In 1984, Steve Jobs decided to switch from a very productive Apple II computer to a different model with a different idea for what happens on a screen.  It was the beginning of all the things we do now with a mouse.  Jobs is definitely the father of the non-keyboard capabilities of the mouse we have today, but not at first.  Apple's board didn't see the value of the new product.  They wanted to stick with the old Apple II because it brought in 70% of the company's revenue.  Jobs didn't budge on wanting to take revenue from Apple II to finish the Macintosh computer and stop production of Apple II.  So, the board fired Jobs.  His dreams were dashed.

Steve Jobs' determination was intact, however, so he started a new company, which had a couple of start-up failures in some innovations for computers.  But, not all was failure.  He teamed with George Lucas, who also had begun a new movie company, Pixar, to create the first computer animated movie, Toy Story, a smash box office hit.  A little later, Apple's stock tanked on the stock market because of advances by Microsoft and lack of new products by Apple.  How fortunate for Steve Jobs.

Apple forced out its CEO, asked Jobs to return to give them new vision, and gave him free reign in guiding the company back to profitability.  This happened in 1997.  Jobs had waited from 1985 when he was forced out to 1997, 12 long, long years (100 years in computer years), before he could once again enact his vision for the Mac computer.  In 1998 he launched his very profitable iMac line.  That was followed by the iPod, complete with iTunes and Apple Store (a virtual store), iPhone, App store, and finally his iPad tablet in 2010.  He revolutionized the computer industry, the music industry, the telephone industry, the virtual store industry, and actually led the computer industry into its next phase of computing with a tablet to replace nearly all of what desktops and laptops do, and not with a keyboard and mouse, but with a touch screen.

It's an incredible story of genius.  But, it would never have happened if Jobs had been an impatient man.  Or, if his story of invention had happened due to impatience, it might have been on a more scattered timetable or without the complete list of all his devices. Instead, his story is one of genius and revolution.  It's a story of having to wait from 1985 to 1998.  It's an example of patience as a virtue.

We could all use that.  Since we can't see around the next corner due to time constraints, we have to trust and hope that waiting is a good thing and prepare ourselves for the next time opportunity that comes knocking at our doors.  Then we're ready to go through that door and make a difference in the sphere we live in.