The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture
By the time my mom returned, I was angry. “You left me here
with no money! This lady asked me for the money, and I had nothing
to give her!”
Now that I’m an adult, you’ll never catch me with less than $200 in
my wallet. I want to be prepared in case I need it. Sure, I could lose my
wallet or it could be stolen. But for a guy making a reasonable living,
$200 is an amount worth risking. By contrast, not having cash on hand
when you need it is potentially a much bigger problem.
I’ve always admired people who are over-prepared. In college, I
had a classmate named Norman Meyrowitz. One day he was giving a
presentation on an overhead projector and in the middle of his talk,
the lightbulb on the projector blew out. There was an audible groan
from the audience. We’d have to wait ten minutes until someone
found a new projector.
Yes, I’m a great optimist. But when trying to make a decision, I
often think of the worst-case scenario. I call it “The Eaten By Wolves
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“It’s okay,” Norm announced. “There’s nothing to worry about.”
We watched him walk over to his knapsack and pull something
out. He had brought along a spare bulb for the overhead projector.
Who would even think of that?
Our professor, Andy van Dam, happened to be sitting next to me.
He leaned over and said, “This guy is going places.” He had that right.
Norm became a top executive at Macromedia Inc., where his efforts
have affected almost everyone who uses the Internet today.
Another way to be prepared is to think negatively.