What
were your resolutions in January? Is it worth making them anyway?
Mine
include for this year: write more blogposts (check!); better health thru
sports; more and better music to soothe the souls…. And more time for friends.
Here
is a list of what you and I can learn from Steve Jobs: start ticking some
boxes:
1.
Love what you do
“What had been the focus of my entire adult
life was gone, and it was devastating, I even thought about running away from
the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I
did. And so I decided to start over.” — Steve Jobs
2.
Cut out or avoid the bozos
Bozos
are incompetent, stupid, and negative people. Steve Jobs had no time for these
people and got rid of them when he could. They are like weeds and they will
also hire like-minded people. They will have a negative impact on morale. Even
if you are unable to fire them, you can make strenuous efforts to have as
little to do with them as possible. Surround yourself with positive and upbeat
colleagues who will inspire you.
3.
Surround yourself with culture to be more creative
The
best way to be creative is to surround yourself with culture, art, and history.
Enriching his life with cultural influences was an essential element in helping
his passion for design to flourish. Apple products are the perfect example.
Serendipity and connecting the dots may be more important than we think.
“Creativity
is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something,
they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw
something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.” — Steve Jobs
4.
Don’t be afraid to take risks
“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.” — Steve Jobs
5.
Qualifications are not everything
Steve
Jobs never actually graduated from college. He discovered and taught us that
what really counts is to have a positive mindset and how you nurture your
skills. Paper qualifications are important, but they must always take second
place in developing our skills.
“Truth
be told, I never graduated from college. And this is the closest I’ve ever
gotten to a college graduation.” – Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Address in
2005
6.
Keep it simple
When
the engineers were developing the iPod, Jobs insisted that there should be no
buttons at all and that the only button would be the on/off one. The engineers
were skeptical to say the least, but Jobs would not relent. Keeping the whole
operation simple was essential to this and many other projects. In the end, the
scroll wheel was developed and is still a feature of IT today. We can learn
from Steve Jobs that laser focus can sharpen our minds and help us to
prioritize.
“That’s
been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than
complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.
But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move
mountains.” — Steve Jobs
7.
Money need not dictate your projects
Jobs
wanted to change the world and put a “ding in the universe,” as he himself put
it. His projects were all designed to create amazing products to make the world
a better place. Making money was not his primary aim. Here is a very valuable
life lesson. If we focus on making profit without worrying too much about
giving value or in helping society, then perhaps we should rethink our
objectives.
“Being
the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me… Going to bed at night
saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.” — Steve Jobs
8.
Learn to be bold
At
the age of 12, Steve Jobs telephoned Hewlett Packard to get some spare parts he
needed for a project he was working on. As a result of that telephone call, HP
gave him a summer job and he never looked back. The lesson we can learn here is
to always try, even if we are turned down.
“If
you don’t ask, the answer will always be no.” – Nora Roberts
9. Question everything
Steve
Jobs often told interviewers that he had always questioned everything. For
example, he questioned his religious beliefs when he saw starving children. He
advised people to question rules and assumptions. This questioning was the foundation
for many of his most creative ideas. That should be an inspiration for us when
we examine how we live and work. If we continuously question why something is
always done in a certain way, we are well on the way to success.
Steve
Jobs questioned everything about the building of his yacht Venus, which was to
be sleek and minimalist and cost $138 million. The owner of the Dutch shipyard
where it was built, Henk de Vries, said that Jobs was always telling them that
they could do better!
“Everything
was questioned and that made it very challenging,” — Henk de Vries
10.
Technology can change the world for the better
Apparently,
Steve Jobs as a kid was struck by an article which listed the most efficient
species with regards speed and locomotion. He noticed that the condor was in
the first place while human beings were way down the list. Put a human being on
a bicycle and that combination shot to the top of the list, way ahead of the
condor. Jobs later used this in an ad for Apple when he called his computer the
bicycle of the mind. That sort of smart technology is the way to change the
world for the better.
Steve
Jobs was an inspiring example we need to follow.
- Reading: Wrecked by Charlotte Roche
- Viewing: re-viewing the entire X-files episodes, on a stationary bike, practicing for a 1/4 Triathlon
- Listening to: David Bowie, Under Pressure
- Thinking: Today is a good day to create better memories than yesterday
- Travelling: back from BCN, looking forward to Zürs, racking up my mileage on the #Thalys this year; and then onwards to maybe Brazil and Abu Dhabi. Ended last year with a trip from Bremen to London to Jordan to The Hague to Dakar to Marseille.....
- Last pictures
