Insanely Different: Life Lessons from Steve Jobs

Be different. Don’t try to be better. Be different. These were the words that caught my attention most from the movie: Jobs. The movie produced as a tribute to the departed Steven Paul Jobs who was the CEO and Co-Founder of Apple Computers Inc. As I watched the movie I learned a lot as I have always strived to do from every good movie I see. Here are some of the lessons I have learned from Steve Jobs:

1. Whatever your dream is, as long as you believe in it and as long as you have passion, you can achieve it regardless of the opposition you face.
2. It is easy to locate your purpose in life if you would look beyond yourself and try to see how you can meet the needs of people. Your purpose lies in the problem that you have been created to solve. There’s always a problem out there to solve if you can look hard enough.
3. The people that you surround yourself with are as important as your vision. If you surround yourself with the right people, it will be easier for you to achieve your dreams. However, do not let the level of your motivation border on the people you have around you because sometimes they can disappoint you. Let your motivation come from within.
4. People will betray you so be wary of them. Don’t ever think you can fully trust someone, as long as they are humans. Human beings are always liable to fail you, especially when things begin to get tough.
5. What defines you and your legacy is not the fact that things always go according to plan. What defines you is what you do when you face difficult challenges and have to make difficult choices.
6. Learn how to motivate people. This was Steve’s biggest asset: his ability to sell his vision and ideas to others and carry them along. It is a known thing that Steve was not a people person; however, he knew how to carry people along and inculcate his vision and values in his workers.
7. Leadership is not a function of the position you occupy. Steve exemplified this. Even after he was first voted out of Apple- the company he built- he never stopped there. He moved on. They had to bring him back in to save the company. Steve’s leadership abilities were internal, not as a result of his position.
8. Only those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world actually do.

I’d like for you all to watch the movie ‘Jobs’. If you have already seen it, it’s worth multiple views, go see it again. You’ll enjoy it. Make you sure you are determined to be inspired by it whilst watching.