Tribute to what I think I know about Steve Jobs

I didn’t know him, but I wish I did.

I was really hoping I would be able to meet him one day. That’s one of the things that saddens me most… I wanted to shake his hand and say “thank you for being totally f*cking inspiring, Steve.”

After all, I’ve had an Apple tattoo on my back for 8 years, and I wear a WWSJD t-shirt pretty regularly.

I think the loss could be broken down in a few ways…

The loss to his family. I can’t even wrap my head around that one. How would they go on after such a blow to their reality? My heart goes out to them.

The loss to Apple. I hope they make it, and I hope someone on that team steps up to the plate. I also hope they have someone on the team who can negotiate as Steve did, while also sticking to idealogical principles and a clear vision. I believe Steve was a man who really understood what people want and how they want to feel while using technology products. And he wouldn’t budge an inch in those quality standards.

The loss to the world. Another visionary is down. Someone who cared about people’s experience of life, about quality, about results. Someone who seemed to care about the world. The effects of his death are massive – especially in the lives of the people who won’t experience the work he might have done in the future.

My personal loss. I want to see what he would come up with next, dammit! I wanted to play with more gadgets, and experience my life made even better through his contributions to the world of technology and the end-user experience. I wish I could continue to be inspired by an alive version of him instead of all his great quotes plastered all over Facebook and magazine covers now that he’s dead.

Here are some of the things I find most inspiring about what I think I know about Steve.  🙂

• I love his commitment to quality, simplicity, and an exceptional human experience. He held true to that for his entire career, even when the people of the world didn’t want it. He never faltered on that. He was dedicated to the people having a really good, enjoyable experience with their computer. He was dedicated to people being able to create the products of their imagination, using his tools. Not everyone wanted that in the beginning. In the end, the people came around. Millions of them.
• The man was dying of cancer, slowly wasting away, and still managed to build a freaking spaceship.
• His perspective on living every day like it’s your last is awesome. I think we could all learn from that. Have you noticed how quickly a year goes by? If I really had a deep understanding of how short life is, if I could feel that urgency every day, I know I would take more risks and do more with my time. I feel time slipping through my fingers and always wonder what more I could be doing. I’m haunted by my vision of what could be if only I had more strength.
• The “here’s to the crazy ones” quote is fantastic. We’re all crazy ones. We’re all creative finger painting four-year-olds trapped in rigid and scared adult bodies, worrying about judgment and failure. That quote reminds me that more is possible, and reminds me that I’m unique and inventive. It reminds me that I’m a creative child wanting to play, wanting to dream, but with the means to actually create as well.
• His ability to reverse engineer from a human experience problem backwards to the technology solution. To see what the world needs, what the people don’t know they want, and come up with a product or idea that fills that gap perfectly. To put everything on the line and gamble a whole lot on an idea. Then, to keep it completely secret until the day it’s launched, braving ridicule and negative feedback on a massive scale on launch day and in the weeks following.
• …and “just one more thing,”
• His presentation skills. My god, that man can engage a crowd (and a world) with a Keynote presentation and some smooth talking. Hats off, sir.

Most of all? His bravery and persistence in the face of adversity. His commitment to quality without sacrifice. His dedication to bettering the human experience, and to helping people create the products of their imagination.

I know I could use more of that.

…The quotes referenced above:

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.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

…

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.

(unsure of exact sources, but © Apple Inc. or Steve Jobs for sure)