Steven Paul a.k.a. Steve Jobs is the man who created Apple. He was born genius and incredibly inspiring and intimidating at the same time. He was an American entrepreneur (February 24, 1955- October 5, 2011) who turned black turtlenecks into a uniform of power. Jobs was a visionary, pioneer, and a very unique individual right from the beginning. He never gave up on his dreams and loved what he did. He was born in San Francisco, California and his biological parents were two college students that gave him up for adoption at birth. He was a Reed College dropped-out where he developed excellent qualities.
Below Are Three Stories That Gave Him A Meaningful Purpose And Perspective In His Life.
Put Two and Two Together
He dropped from the college in the first six months but stayed there as a dropped in for another 18 months and finally quit. Why he dropped out, that remains the paradox in his life, and as stated by him that it started even before I was born. His biological mother Joanne Carole Schieble gave him for adoption immediately after the birth and she wanted that he should be adopted by the college graduates. All was set and he was going to be adopted by a lawyer and his wife. At the last moment, they decided that they wanted to adopt a baby girl. Unexpectedly, his parents got a call that they have a baby boy for adoption, do you want it and soon working-class couple, Paul & Clara Jobs took in little Steve. As his biological mother always wanted him to be adopted by college graduates and later found out that his parents were never graduated from college. So she refused to sign adoption papers but later she agreed when his mother promised that Steve Jobs will go to college.
After 17 years he went to college but he did not find any value and dropped out thinking that it would all work out okay. He never really enjoyed the college but he continued attending the classes that interested him. It wasn’t all romantic as he slept in the friend room, returned coke bottle for few cents to buy food with, and walk for 7 miles across the town every Sunday night to get one good meal at the Hari Krishna Temple. As he was a dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes so he attended calligraphy and learned everything about it such as typefaces, varying the amount of space between the letter combinations, typography which makes it great. He never thought about how this could have a practical application in his life.
There is only circumstantial evidence regarding calligraphy but connect the dots. After 10 years when he was designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back and a good way to connect the dots. It was his first computer in the era of the 21st century with creative font choices which later became a famous layout. If he never dropped out than he would have never dropped in that calligraphy class. Very rightly said by him “you cannot connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards”.
Rejected But Still In Love
He states in one of his speeches that he was lucky that he found what he loved to do early in his life. Steve Job and Steve Wozniak, the namesake duo started Apple in his parent’s garage when he was 20, as he used to work with his mechanic father in the family garage and taking apart cars and putting them together. This mesmerized him and started his love for machines. After 10 years Apple began to grow from just 2 employees to 4000 employees, from the garage to $2 billion Company with a first personal computer to use graphical user interface. He just turned 30 and drawn-out fight with the Apple board and got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started and can you get rehired after being fired? He hired someone trusting that he was very talented and can run the company with him with the same ambition. Initial years it went well but later they were at the crossroads and the visions of the future began to diverge and no longer be friends with one another. After an internal discussion, the board of directors sided with him. This shocking betrayal was very publicly out but he didn’t give up on his dream rather he protected it. As a public failure, he even tried to apologize to David Packard and Bob Noyce for screwing up so badly.
The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit that he still loved what he did. This part of him is called “starting over” to establishing his new company, NeXT, and invested in a startup called Graphics Group now popularly known as Pixar within 5 years. Pixar went on to create the world’s first computer-animated feature film Toy Story where he put his millions and after the release and instant success it paid back. A change in a situation, Apple bought NeXT and merge to give us iOS we have today. He returned to Apple again. During this time he fell in love with the woman who later became his wife and mother of his child. Everything was well so don’t lose faith and find out what you love to do. As said by him “If you haven’t found what truly satisfies you, then keep looking and don't settle until you find it.”
Health Issues and Death
He lived his life with a meaningful purpose and studied Buddhism in a Zen centre in Los Altos. When he was 17, he browses a quote which says: “If you live day by day as if it had been your last, someday you will actually be right” and he lived by this and whenever the answer was “No” for several days in a row, he knows that he needs to change something. Remembering that we will all be dead soon is the most important tool he had encountered in his life to help him make the big choices. In October 2003, he was diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer and should expect to live no longer than 3-6 months. His doctor advised him to go home and get all his affairs in order, a way of saying prepare to die. Jobs resisted medical intervention and followed natural methods such as vegan diets, acupuncture, and herbal juices to curb his illness. Which later he regretted as his health declined. Eventually, he had the surgery and successfully removed the tumor.
Until 2009 he kept working in Apple and later his illness forced him to leaves his job as he could no longer function normally. He wrote his resignation stating “A day when I feel that I could no longer meet my duties and responsibilities as Apples CEO, I would be the first one to let you know that and today is the day.” He passed away in 2011, at the age of 56 after his final working days and his final words were “oh wow. Oh wow.”
No one wants to die; even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. No one ever escaped it and it is the very single best invention of life. Your time is limited, thus don’t waste it living somebody else’s life. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your inner voice and don’t be trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.
Last but not least have the courage to follow your heart and intuition and don’t let somebody say that you can’t do something just because they can’t do it.
Comments