Only 56 years old, he still managed to become a success – one article even called him the ”Harry Potter of the technology world”. Is there really something of life’s magic in his story, or is there planning and a particular philosophy of life? After all, it’s not for nothing that a movie was made about Jobs, and he himself is so often quoted by motivational speakers.
The belief that someone famous from the beginning had an easier start to achieve success is unfortunately quite common. It is often expressed by outsiders who did not have the opportunity to see the hardships that accompanied this climb to the highest laurels. This cannot be said about Jobs. A man with a difficult family history – shortly after his birth he was adopted and was not given the opportunity to finish his law degree. Later in life, as the co-founder of Apple, he also had moments when it seemed that everything was over and he had to start all over again. For example, he had a conflict with John Sculley at , as a result of which he had to leave the company. However, after ten years he returned as a savior – saving his company from collapse. At the same time, it is emphasized that he was sometimes difficult as hell to work with. To what did he owe his success?
Steve Jobs was characterized by a visionary approach to life. He was still a seeker in it. Sometimes it caused problems that came down to harmful diets and experiments with LSD. Other times, the American went to India in search of the meaning of life or was able to stop the release of a long-announced device just because a secondary component inside did not meet his expectations. He was able to inspire and treated life without respect as if any idea could be successfully carried out – as long as the right method was discovered.
The aforementioned difficult character of Steve Jobs could make the lives of his co-workers not the easiest. Walter Isaacson in his biography of the famous visionary described him as a misunderstood character. Jobs was disillusioned with people, but still needed them to fulfill his visions and dreams. Obedience in the implementation of his ideas gained by various means – not excluding lies and manipulation, but also sometimes hysteria combined with crying were not alien to him. A certain tragic character of this figure, whose life ended prematurely, did not prevent him from stubbornly pursuing his visions even when others did not understand them. His famous speech at Stanford University was delivered in this spirit: to treat each day as if it were his last, because such a moment will one day come
It is also widely believed that Jobs was a ruthless workaholic in his life, who did not hesitate to sacrifice relationships and family for the purpose of his life. This was certainly the case, but one of the sources of his success was his attitude towards work. In the aforementioned speech, he emphasized that work takes up an enormous amount of time in a person’s life. So it is only worth doing what we actually love. If we haven’t found it yet – we have to keep looking
Steve Jobs was convinced that everything that happened to him in life, happened for something. There was some kind of lesson to be learned in the hope that God, karma or fate would give it meaning in the future. In a speech at Stanford University, he referred in this way to the calligraphy lessons he took after dropping out of college. At the time, they seemed to be meaningless in terms of his future. Later, they were the reason Apple devices got a beautiful typeface. Steve Jobs was a man who knew how to take advantage of opportunities. He found them in simple situations where others remained blind. The most important feature of the American visionary? Very possibly.
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