A DENT IN THE UNIVERSE

We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?

~ Steve Jobs

On Friday, when Steve Jobs died, I took it personally. I felt as if someone I knew had died. I didn’t know Steve Jobs but he has been a part of my life for decades and has shaped the way I communicate, I do business, I create and I entertain myself.

I bought his iMac the moment it came out. I loved the way it looked and how easy it was to use. It made computing easy and fun. That is one of the things I love about Apple, they cared about the way things looked, about making things simple and accessible, about self-expression. They weren’t just utilitarian and boring. They didn’t just make do.

When Jim and I married, he was a PC guy and I was a Mackie. He despised Macs and insisted on the superiority of the PC. I simply pointed to the endless crashes and viruses that afflicted his PC and rested my case. When we started a company together, the battle intensified. Eventually he won and we went PC at work and at home.

I suffered the PC years in silence as computers crashed and were replaced. After 6 years, Jim had finally had it. One day he came home with a Mac! A month later, he was a true Mac convert. Every computer in the office and at home was replaced. We bought iWorks, iPhone, iPads and everything Apple. Life became simpler and more elegant as these products worked in sync and communicated with each other. Just as Steve Jobs envisaged it.

Steve Jobs and the products that Apple created are woven into the fabric of my life. As he often encouraged his employees at Apple to do, Steve made a dent in my universe and in the lives of millions of people all over the world. Talk about the power of intention! My life is better because of Steve Jobs. I love his products and admire him for his extraordinary creativity, courage, tenacity, brilliance, vision and willingness to follow his own voice.

It is important to realize that as successful as Steve Jobs was, his biggest accomplishments were made in the last ten years of his life.

In 2001 Apple was an oddball company that made brilliant but incompatible products used only by a small number of people. Jobs was considered an unpredictable genius who had lost the PC-industry battle to Microsoft Windows. Today Apple is one of the most valuable companies in the world with one of the most recognizable brands. Here’s what Jobs created in 10 years.

● Pixar, one of the most successful movie studios of all time.

● The iPod and iTunes, which transformed the music industry and changed how we listen to music.

● The iPhone, which upended the stagnant cellphone industry and created the concept of a modern smartphone.

● The iPad, which defines a category and created a “computer for the rest of us.”

● The Apple store – one of the most profitable retail outlets in the world.

You may have heard his address to Stanford Graduates at their Graduation in 2005….it is well worth listening to again.

The life lessons are a clarion call to all of us if we are to live out loud – live our lives fully and squeeze every last drop of it.

I have made a promise to myself to live the remainder of my life embracing embracing the life lessons he shared. Here is Steve in his own words…

A compilation of life Lessons from Stanford Commencement Address 2005

On His Decision To Drop Out Of College And Follow His Intuition.

I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

On Getting Fired From Apple

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. 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.

On The Importance Of Doing Work You Love

You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

On Intuition and Death

Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. .…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.

Thank you, Steve and may you blaze an amazing trail in life after life.

You can listen to the entire Commencement Address here

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