His life then sucked! He had no idea where he was heading. He was exploring things, He was involved in stuff which he did not know would lead where. It was chaotic: the life, the people around and he wanted peace. He wanted to know the purpose of his life. And so he kept moving, experimenting…
Sounds similar? To your life story?
But where an ordinary man saw Issac Newton, Thomas Edison, Martin Luther king, Mahatma Gandhi and ended up admiring these people; he saw himself standing with these great leaders right at their side. He knew he would be called a fool but that did not deter him. He stood with the confidence, with that smile, with that heart which makes him the legend for the millenniums….
Steve Jobs
The people like him aren’t born. They are created, here on earth. They are carved out of hardships, toil,criticism and solitude. They are mocked at first, at times left alone, at times humiliated but once the world gets to know their greatness, the decades worship them and the millenniums reiterate their tale…
Rejections are the worst part of anyone’s life. And when we do face them we often complain. Steve was the one who faced rejections right from his first breath. His birth parents Schieble and Jandali gave him for adoption as this kid out of wedlock was unacceptable to them. His mother wanted him to be given to a couple who attended high school so that her child attends high school as well.She chose a catholic well educated family for her child but the couple she chose suddenly had a change of mind and said they wanted a daughter so they refused for the adoption. It was then Paul and Clara Jobs who adopted Steve. None of them had highschool education but promised to give Steve one.
Steve was nurtured with all love by his parents. As a child he was a lonely kid who did not have many friends. Traditional teaching at school did not interest him and he was ill-famed as a prankster. But life had plans for him. Where this little monster created hell for his teachers, this tiny one also participated in fixing electronics with his father quite passionately.
As he grew up he eventually met Steve Wozniak, an expert in electronics . Wozniak and Steve became good friends owing to their common passion for electronics. He also developed interest in literature and read classics of Shakespeare and other writer. Also his girl friend Chrisann Brennan was also interested in arts.
After finishing his high school, he was enrolled in Reed’s college. But he found himself a misfit for the place. The hard earned money of his parents was being wasted for something which did not interest him. This was unacceptable to him. And so he made this huge decision to leave the college.
If you think leaders are tailor cut pieces, just know that Steve Jobs too was just like you: confused, wondering about where to heed, experimenting random things from spirituality, to arts, to electronics. He slept on floor in his friends room, returned empty coke bottles for money and survived on free food at Hare Krishna temple.
Steve Wozniak in that times made a video game. Jobs was always a good presenter and so Woz gave it to Jobs. Jobs took it to Atari company who thought Jobs had made the video game and appointed him as technician. Those were the days he did not know where his life was going. He thought about the truth of life. His curiosity took him to India to visit the Neem Karoli Baba. After staying for few months in India, he flew back to America. He also started practicing Zen Buddhism. Some random things were happening in his life which made no sense then. He later rejoined his old job at Atari.
And then came the time he was destined for. Wozniak had made the blue box for free long distance calls. Jobs thought this could help them make money and they started selling these illegal Blue boxes. It was when he realized that this is where his heart lies: Electronics, Innovation, Startup!
In 1973 Wozniak invented the first computer. When Jobs saw it, he suggested to sell them. And gradually Apple Computers Company took its first breath. Initially they assembled computers in Jobs’s garage. Jobs was worth a million dollars when he was 23, 10 million when he was 24, and over 100 million when he was 25.
But life was never an even road; it would never be…
The new companies like IBM were coming in the scene. With in the company there were two opinion. Sculley advocated open arcitecture computers like Apple II and Jobs advocated closed architecture computers like Macintosh. But Macintosh failed to beat IBM PC. It was Apple II which was giving the real sales to the company. Despite this at the annual meeting Apple II and the people behind its successful sales were given no mention. So disappointed with this many people left the company including Wozniack. Sculley suggested to remove Jobs from the Macintosh and make him incharge of ‘New Product Development.’ But this angered Jobs. He tried to take over Apple by deposing Sculley. When his plans came infront of boards he resigned from the company.
In 1985 he was fired from the company he started. But when failures make others give up, he used it as an opportunity to explore more. He founded NeXT. But its machines did not sell well. NeXT eventually turned completely into software development
During this time he also invested in Pixar and discovered a new world of animation. In partnership they produced great films like Toystory, Finding Nemo, Up, Ratatouille…
He wasn’t someone with extra territorial ideas, he was some one who always focused on the simple things, the basics. Things which were so simple that others easily ignored them. And this was the real key behind the innovations like iPod that he came up with.
In 1996 Apple took over NeXT and Steve jobs was once again the CEO of Apple. The king was back into his territory…
And if you thought the struggles were over, the pancreatic cancer was standing as another challenge in front of him. Jobs was diagnosed with a rare form of curable pancreatic cancer in 2003. But he delayed his surgery for nine months and relied on alternative treatments. His health degraded and finally he agreed to undergo Whipple’s procedure to remove tumor. After successful surgery he improved a bit. But his health degraded again a few years later and he underwent a liver transplant in 2009. In January 2011 he returned to work after liver transplant but his health degraded and he resigned from the CEO position at Apple in August 2011. But he remained chairman of the board and kept working for Apple until the last day before his death.
Wealth could conquer all, if this is what you believe in, then you were wrong because even he could not stop the hard hitting destiny from giving him the death. But what he made sure was before he died he could take his creativity to another level and give the world things they had never seen. The decade after being diagnosed with cancer was the time he was most innovative. iPad, iPod, iTunes, iPhones all came up during this time. When others give up, Steve Jobs stands up to set a new revolution and that makes him this man-‘The Steve Jobs’
‘Death is likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent.It clears out the old to make way for new.’said Steve Jobs. He saw this beauty in death and so he died enjoying his final breaths. His last words being – Oh wow, Oh wow, Oh wow…
A great man Steve Jobs was….
He wasn’t an extra territorial being with some extra ordinary powers, he was just like me and you. But where we start doubting ourselves he showed faith in himself; when we are afraid of giving up on things that do not interest us, he did it with all confidence; when we keep worrying about our future he allowed destiny to unfold itself. He did not settle for what is easy. He accepted the challenges. He explored, he took risks, he failed and then most importantly- He learnt… He learnt and then he rose, to achieve the height that seem unbelievable.
Was it all too difficult for him?
NO!!!
