Friday, December 9, 2011

Beyond Your Wildest Dreams

The year is around 1970 and two high school students were members of their high school programmers group. The group received free computer time in exchange for writing computer programs. Someone came to them one day about the need to process traffic information so engineers could make good decisions on how to adjust traffic lights and improve roads.


These two friends dabbled with an idea. They kept after their dream with a passion; even making friends with some college students who helped with developing the hardware to a machine. You see, their idea was to develop a device that would process traffic data cheaper and faster than local companies. They graduated from high school and went their separate ways off to college but maintained their dream. They finally got to know enough friends with the hardware knowhow to build a device that would work with their computer programs which would read traffic tapes directly and eliminate the tedious manual work.  


It was a useful device and they started a company called Traf-O-Data. The company produced a few thousand dollars of revenue but later the states started offering free traffic processing services to cities. This ended the need for their device so the company never did take off.  


It was a lesson learned though. They may have failed with their first company but they gained experience in developing software for computer hardware that did not exist. The experience gained in this venture later was used to write a program that started a very successful company. In 1975, the two young friends named Bill Gates and Paul Allen established Microsoft to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for Altair 8800. Microsoft rose to dominate the home computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by the Microsoft Windows line.  


The lesson learned in the story above applies to each of us today. Dream and imagine where you want to go or want to be. Don’t be afraid to take big steps and think about things no one else has thought about. Thinking, believing, passion, and working together may lead to something beyond your wildest dreams.


Check out my other blogs where I receive a constant supply of inspiration for my writings by clicking on the links below:


Step Ahead
This Day with God Devotional

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