Steve Jobs

We took the family to the library last week. On the way out, a book caught my eye and I grabbed it. A biography on Steve Jobs by Patricia Lakin. I read through it that night.

I had heard a lot about Steve, but hadn't ever read much about his life. He's extremely impressive. Like anyone else, he had his weaknesses, but here's a little of what I found worth knowing and trying to emulate.

He summed up certain portions of his life in a commencement speech at Stanford in 2005. Summarizing that speech, Patricia tells us,

He told the graduates three stories. The first, he said, was about connecting the dots. For the first time Steve publicly spoke of his adoption by his devoted and loving parents, Paul and Clara. He then told of dropping out of college but dropping in on an amazing calligraphy class at Reed. He urged the graduates to let their life's path be guided by their gut intuitions and their passions. If they did, they'd look back and realize how their own random "dots" or life experiences would connect for them in meaningful and surprising ways. As for choosing a life path, he felt the key was finding what you love and pursuing it passionately.

In the calligraphy class, Steve learned a lot about fonts, spacings, and artistic beauty, all of which were instrumental in designing the Mac computer, particularly in creating a set of fonts based on the calligraphy he learned. Those fonts Apple created were copied by Windows, so Steve's random calligraphy class has touched millions, perhaps billions, of people. Patricia continues,

The second story told of his love for the work he was doing, his shame at being ousted from Apple, but how freeing it ultimately was. He said, "The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life." In addition to talking about starting NeXT and acquiring Pixar, he mentioned his wife and children as being an important part of this creative period.

Steve's third story was about death. He regarded is as a great "invention," for it cleared out the old generation and made room for the new. He also recounted his philosophy of using death to evaluate how he was about to spend his day. "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life ... Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.... There is no reason not to follow your heart."

Regarding death, Steve said in that speech,

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

For all Steve's weaknesses - and like all of us, he had many - I think his philosophy and approach to life had a lot to do with his success. The world is a different place because of him. I think I could be more productive and have a more positive impact on the world if I imbibed more of his philosophy on death, passion, and trust.

One last quote from that speech:

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Thanks Steve. And thanks Patricia for giving me a little insight into Steve's life. As a final tribute to Steve, Patricia ends her book with the words from one of Apple's ads called "Think Different:"

Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.