I get asked this question often. Most of the time, it’s from people who haven’t even read my book, which is fascinating to me, because it indicates that the challenge really isn’t even to write a “good” book. Rather, the challenge is just to write anything at all.

“Where do you find the time to be a physician, businessman, father, and an author?” one person asked me. “I’m not certain,” I answered.  But, I’ll tell you a story.

I’ve got a good friend. He’s a smart guy. He lives on a several acre lot. He is not a farmer. He is not a rancher. He’s got a professional degree and does well within his profession. Regardless, one day, my friend decided to buy a goat and put it in his yard. A goat? Yes, a goat.

Evidently, my friend had some weeds growing on his lot at the time. A person that he knew told him that a goat would help to keep his weeds more tame. So, my friend bought a goat, and put the goat in his yard. He knew absolutely nothing about goats.

I really hope my friend will write a book one day. Entitle it something like “Goat Tales,” or “TAILS,” or whatever, but just to recap in detail the dozen or more stories that he has already told me about his goat. You will laugh until you cry. I guarantee it. And, laughter is one of our best medicines.

His goat colony ended up growing to something like nine goats, all living next to his house on his generous-sized residential lot. At first, my friend and his young son enjoyed going to feed the goats. After about one month, his son lost interest, so all duties returned to my friend. One goat had four babies. One goat broke her leg, and my friend’s spouse thought he needed to go examine it. My friend is not a veterinarian. My friend couldn’t even catch the goat who was limping around the pen to examine her. That goat lived.

Two other goats died and had to be buried. Ultimately, the last straw was when my friend found himself in the middle of the night, during a frigid winter blizzard with subzero temperatures, outside shivering with an ax in hand, trying to break up the ice that had frozen the surface of the goats’ water supply. My friend finally gave the goats away. They ultimately got a better home. Ironically, the weeds in my friend’s yard were still there. But, the goats were gone, and there was suddenly so much more time to devote to other things.

Look, you may be a goat farmer. You may have goats and really enjoy them. And, if that’s the case, I’m not telling you to get rid of them. But, if you are like my buddy, and you have goats that you aren’t passionate about, let them go. You will find that you have more time again.  You might just even write a book.