I’ve never met the man who impacts my life each and every day; his advice to me is priceless. Everyone in the western world has been touched by him in some way…we’re the “iWorld” because there was a man named Steve Jobs born in February of 1955. I remember the first time that I ever used the gooey interface that made Macintosh computers – all computers – what they are today.
Steve Jobs
Today, although I love the movie Cars and Toy Story and I am listening to iTunes – the impact of Steve Jobs on my life is more about his advice on connecting the dots, how to live before I die. It’s based on his commencement address at Stanford many years ago.
Jobs is a hero of mine…not just because he’s wildly creative but becasue he never gives up.
Personally, I’m disturbed over two meetings on Monday – it’s going to be an interesting set of moments where I am hoping and praying that the dots between this day and the next make sense to me. My spirit is unsettled…or it was, until I watched this beautiful man deliver a “sermon” more honestly than I could have heard in church.
How to live before you die…by not being afraid, by engaging the world as a public and private person. Jobs is my inspiration on more than one front: I don’t feel so alone now, being rejected by the industry that you are still in love with, being afraid and encouraged all at once. Knowing that change is the only real constant, but that those scary choices to take the path less traveled aren’t the easy ones to make.
It’s funny how he has changed my world, this man that once nearly quit and gave up on what he loved, feeling like a failure. By starting Pixar he changed the way that we watch movies, the IPhone and iPad changed the way we communicate with one another, and the iPod changed the way that I listen to music….but it was something he said that really changed my life.
“You’ve got to find what you love. Do what you believe is great work. Don’t settle.”
Jobs is one of those people who have heard the same sentence that Brian heard when his cancer was diagnosed – get your affairs in order. My husband had dual renal carcinoma, two softball sized cancerous tumors, one per kidney. Chances of survival? Low, low, low. It’s been a decade since the surgery to remove them, and our affairs are still not “in order.” We’re still growing and changing, and I still have the kidney that I’m donating the moment he needs it. I remember a few months back when a routine MRI indicated that there was a “shadow” on that 1/3 of his remaining single kidney. That is code for something that shouldn’t be there. It left us waiting for two days to find if that deadly cancer returned. As I watched my husband play golf at Sawgrass this weekend, I could only smile as I witnessed one of his bucket list dreams come true. Wow. Connecting the dots of what life means between that doctors office and today rekindles my faith and squares my shoulders to face Monday.
I’m humbled by life and death today.
It’s a change agent, clearing out the cobwebs and allowing you to focus on your life. Don’t be trapped in dogma – living in others opinions – don’t let life slip away. I’m going to leave you with the YouTube link for this amazing 15 minute video from the man himself. Don’t miss it – you’re going to be blessed.
He asked a question that I’ve been using as a guide for life, the idea that has helped me achieve peace and balance most days. “If today is the last day of your life, would you want to do what you’re going to do today?” When the answer is “no” I know that I’ve diverged from who I really am, what my faith calls in me.
What is your answer?
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