“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.” – Steve Jobs
I wasn’t going to write about Steve Jobs today. Even though the news of his death filled me with sadness and a genuine sense of loss. But then, I talked to my ex-husband this morning, and I knew. I had to throw my Steve Jobs blog post out into the blogosphere along with the other millions of other Steve Job blog posts being written today.
If I hadn’t talked to my ex-husband John this morning, I might have written about what Steve gave to this world and to me through his company, Apple. After all, I’ve been a devoted and, at times, evangelical Apple customer. From the moment I first used a MacIntosh computer, after having a PC way back when, I was sold. For life.
Now, I have an iMac, and iPhone and a MacBook, and I love them all. And I’m so grateful that someone cared enough about me to create these great products. That’s the beauty of Apple. They make you feel like they created their products just to delight you and you alone.
I mean, look at a Mac. Someone cared about creating something that looked great on your desk or in your lap. Only if you have an iMac will you know what I mean when I talk about the sensation of pushing that slightly recessed “on” button. That, in itself, is an experience. Someone cared enough to make the actual experience of pushing the on button remarkable!
From their ads to the way they run their retail stores to the actual experience of using a Mac, Apple lets you know that they’re not merely interested in creating a product that works; they want to create an experience that satisfies our need for things to be easy, friendly, helpful and esthetically pleasing.
Oh, and I could say more. About the Apple Store. Whether it was the one in Santa Rosa, CA I used to love to visit or the huge monolith on 5th Ave. Again, great care and attention is placed not just on selling but on creating a great, soul-satisfying experience for the customer. From the t-shirt clad hosts who greet you and immediately ask how they can help, from the patient computer techs at the Genius Bar to the friendly sales people always ready to answer questions, demonstrate anything and answer any question they can.
But I won’t say more because when I spoke with John this morning, and I said, “And I know you heard about Steve Job,” he got so choked up he could hardly talk. Not because Steve Jobs was the creative genius behind Apple. Not because he created a legacy of products, functional esthetics and a level of customer service that are extraordinary. Not because he cared about every phase of a customer’s experience relative to his company.
No.
He cried because of what Steve Jobs said about life and death. About following your heart. About how if you were to wake up and know that you would die today, would you still do what you had planned? My ex was affected by Steve Jobs death not because of his experience using Apple products, not because he loved Macs and esthetic functionality (though he does love those things) but because Steve Jobs, the man, said something about living life, about what’s important, that shook my ex to the core:
“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.” – Steve Jobs
It’s no wonder that John cried as he tried to talk about it, because he wakes up every day to go to a job he hates. And he’s been doing it for a very long time.
But these quotes and Steve Job’s commencement speech at Stanford, which I share below, woke me up as well. For while I love my work, there are many areas in my life where I sacrifice what is truly important in order to tend to stuff that means nothing to me. I put off projects that thrill my heart in order to do the ordinary, please others and get paid.
And I know this is part of the journey. But perhaps, if we are to live a remarkable life, if we are to make our greatest contribution, if we are to be happy, fullfilled and all of who we are, we need to take a different journey. Throw away the roadmap given to us and create the one written in our hearts. Maybe we need to live life like we’re going to die… because we are.
“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. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” – Steve Jobs
Thank you, Steve Jobs, for the wake up call. Thank you for being an exceptional creator, leader and visionary. Thank you for all you gave to the world.