3 Things To Be Extremely Thankful For This Thanksgiving

Every year around this time, family and friends gather together around a plethora of food to celebrate Thanksgiving. It's also around this time where people slow down and reflect on exactly what brings them the most gratitude. 

2020 has proven to be a year like no other; it's shaken up the world, families, and businesses. However, with all this in mind, I still believe that if you can hear or see this message, then you can be thankful for something.

While I prepare to celebrate one of my favorite holidays, I want to share three of life's most valuable treasures which we can all be grateful for this year: opportunities, community, and family.

Opportunities

"Every morning starts a new page in your story. Make it a great one today." As a professor of patent law and a practicing attorney with over 25 years of experience, one thing which all inventors have in common is taking the initiative to pursue opportunities. Most inventions came from someone seizing an opportunity after identifying a need in the market.. Apple saw an opportunity to deliver music in a new, innovative way when they created the iPod. Tesla discovered a new way to be innovated with its mission to use sustainable energy for cars. 

Many new inventions were birthed this year out of new opportunities. 

These opportunities presented themselves at what may have seemed like an inconvenient time. Still, it lit a fire under many to take their future into their own hands and finally act on their wildest idea!

Community

The next thing to give special thanks for is your community. I define community as anyone who's in your corner supporting you or helping you reach your goals. My community happens to be my hand-picked staff. They've made seeing success easy because of the culture we've built and the passion for helping inventors we all share. This was also the year The Patent Professor ? was recognized by the prestigious Inc. 5000 as one of America's fastest-growing companies! 

This year we even moved into our new 10,000 square foot headquarters, making it possible to provide a unique combination of patent professionals all under one roof, unlike that of any other law firm in the country. Without having my community, I do not think any of this would have been possible.

Family

Lastly, we can all be grateful for family. As Michael J. Fox once said, "Family is not an important thing. It's everything." I'm more than just a patent attorney. I'm a husband, father, son, brother, and friend, and I'm thankful for those around me, like my wife and kids, who keep me motivated and inspired. 

This year may have disrupted some plans and caused you to pivot -- but it also created opportunities, strengthened communities, and helped us rely on family.

On behalf of all of us at The Patent Professor ?,

Happy Thanksgiving!

John Rizvi is a Registered and Board Certified Patent Attorney, Adjunct Professor of Intellectual Property Law, best-selling author, and featured speaker on topics of interest to inventors and entrepreneurs (including TEDx).

His books include "Escaping the Gray" and "Think and Grow Rich for Inventors" and have won critical acclaim including an endorsement from Kevin Harrington, one of the original sharks on the hit TV show - Shark Tank, responsible for the successful launch of over 500 products resulting in more than $5 billion in sales worldwide. You can learn more about Professor Rizvi and his patent law practice at www.ThePatentProfessor.com

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I’ve helped hundreds of inventors successfully prosecute their patent applications, from initial filing to final award and look forward to helping you with your new idea.

Note: All images included in this article were sourced from Pixabay.com under a Creative Commons license which permits use without attribution, or Google's patent image file repository. If your image was used here in error, please send me a message and I will be happy to remove it.