5 Steve Job Quotes that Impacted My Life

I had a different blog post in mind for today, but yesterday Steve Jobs died. I cried. Whether he was philanthropist or not, had affairs or children out of wedlock - he stayed true to his vision, which is something few people do. There are the complainers and blamers, and there are the doers and shakers. I like to think I belong to the second group. He certainly did. I'm glad he lived to see his Vision come true. 

I can’t say anything he didn’t say better, so in tribute to The Visionary of our times, here are some of his best quotes on life. 

"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."

"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."

"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. ... Stay hungry. Stay foolish."

n  Stanford University commencement address, June 2005. (All of the above)

“I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.”

[NBC Nightly News, May 2006]

"Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes ... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. ... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things. ... They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do."

[Apple’s 1997 Think Different Campaign]

I may not be a visionary as he was, but I’ve followed my calling for the past twenty years, as a writer and a communicator, despite those who told me it wouldn’t pay the bills and that I needed to get a “real” job. I´m glad I didn´t listen. 

I’m a misfit, I’m a crazy one, a rebel. Writing is paying the bills, although I don´t do it for the money. Writing is my passion. It gives me the sense that I could die feeling I made a difference, however small. At least in that sense, so far I´ve life on my own terms, and I intend to keep it that way. 


RIP Steve Jobs. 

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Diario del Éxito (Success Diaries) will be published in book form late in 2011 by ediciones Obelisco.To read about my books: www.lorrainecladish.com