Steve Jobs is well-known as the co-founder of Apple, a company that has transformed the daily lives of billions of people around the world. But you don’t get to that point without having a good bit of common sense about business and life in general. Those of us in our 50s can use that kind of advice. We’re at the mid-point and taking stock of where we are and where we’re going. In this article, we’ve selected some of Jobs’ quotes that Gen Xers might find particularly inspiring for their personal and professional life goals. 

1. You Have Nothing to Lose

• “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.”

Steve Jobs passed away at the young age of 56, which is sobering for those of us at or near that birthday. When we’re younger, death seems like such a distant concern it doesn’t have much bearing on all the exciting living we’re doing. As the years pass, seemingly at an accelerated pace, we can feel our best achievements are behind us and spend our time living in the past. Steve reminds us that thinking about death does not have to be depressing. Instead, it can liberate us to realize we have nothing to lose by living, truly living, and creating the life situation we want to experience in the time we have. 

2. Time is the Most Precious Resource

• “My favorite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.”

This is a poignant quote coming from a man who passed away young. However, it’s also obvious that Jobs used his time incredibly effectively, creating a trillion-dollar company with products that have impacted nearly everyone’s life. What’s important, though, is that he was doing what he wanted to do with his time, not wasting it on priorities that were not his own. How can you free up your time from obligations that don’t take you in the direction you want to go in your future years?

3. Little Things Are Important

• “Things don’t have to change the world to be important.”

It’s easy to imagine how playing a game, reading a book, or watching a cartoon with your child are little things that are important. These build a relationship and they build your child’s knowledge and sense of security. This can have a lifelong impact on the quality of their relationships. But other little things are important, too.

This world is a miracle, an intricate ecosystem with beauty and drama at every scale from the sub-atomic to the cosmic. And you only get to experience it once. So spending 5 minutes marveling at the beauty and precision of a hummingbird sipping from a flower can be an important use of your time. The hummingbird, the flower, and you will never be aligned in that moment again. Taking a moment to wonder at it all can help you recognize your place in the universe and be reassured that what concerns you will pass. 

4. Getting Fired Sets You Free

• “I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”

In 1985, the board of Apple fired Jobs for interpersonal problems, particularly his confrontational style. After a 12-year hiatus, he served as CEO again from 1997-2011. Most of us have had the experience of getting fired at some point in our careers. This can be especially jarring when it comes at a later stage of our professional lives, leaving us concerned about whether we’ll be able to find something else that pays enough to support our families and reach our financial goals.

Jobs realized getting fired was a blessing in disguise, releasing him from heavy obligations and freeing him to pursue other creative projects. Even if your current job is secure, it’s worth considering whether you’d like to transition to something else to experience that same kind of liberation and burst of creativity. 

5. You Need a Team

• “My model for business is The Beatles: They were four guys that kept each others’ negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts.”

Who’s on your team, and who might need to be kicked off? These questions apply not just to managers who need to find the optimal mix of employees to create productive synergy. But all of us need to look at who we allow into our lives: employers, clients, friends, family, neighbors. We can “fire” any of these who are bringing nothing but toxicity into our lives, even if that means distancing ourselves from relatives who bring us down.

However, notice what Jobs pointed out about the Beatles: they kept each others’ negative tendencies in check and they balanced each other. Some people in your life might infuriate you by drawing attention to your faults or setting boundaries you think are unfair. Or they might irritate you because their personalities and interests are so different from your own. But do they bring an element of accountability to you to call you out on your BS? And do they broaden your horizons and show you different ways to look at issues? Some of the most annoying people might actually be the most useful members of your personal “team.”

6. Have Unique Experiences

• “If you’re gonna make connections which are innovative… you have to not have the same bag of experiences as everyone else does.”

Steve Jobs had a lot of diverse interests, including dance, calligraphy, and Western history. He became a practitioner of Zen Buddhism and spent 7 months in India to explore it more deeply. These decidedly non-technical experiences influenced his ideas for Apple products—particularly his passion for simplicity and clean, elegant design. 

What about you? Just because everyone else is playing pickleball doesn’t necessarily mean it’s for you. Try Brazilian jiu jitsu. Whatever you pursue will help shape your mind, body, and spirit into a unique combination that is “you.” And that very unique “you” will bring new perspective, energy, and innovation to everything else you do.  

7. Do Something Wonderful

• “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what matters to me.”

Would you trade your life for Steve Jobs’? What if that meant your life would be as short as his was? Would the money, the world transformation, the place in the history books be worth it to you? What if that meant you didn’t have your current spouse, children, or friends? Would you give them all up to achieve the kind of material success Steve had?

It’s more than a hypothetical question. Every day ordinary people make hundreds of daily choices about how they will spend their time and money. For some, work is all-consuming, at the expense of relationships. At the end of the day, will you be happy to be the “richest man in the cemetery” if there is no one who cares enough about you to mourn you? Or is there a more wonderful way to spend your time?

8. Love What You Do

• “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”

Let’s be honest here. When you’re a billionaire, yes you have infinite options to explore and find exactly the way you’d most like to spend your time. Ordinary folks living paycheck-to-paycheck often have to stuff down their feelings and do what they can do to provide for their families. 

Your attitude about your current job can make a difference in how you feel about it. Two guys were laying bricks. Asked what they were doing, one of them responded, “laying bricks” while the other said “building a great cathedral.” Your job might be mundane, but can you see how it fits into a bigger picture, even if that picture is just that you’re building your muscles, developing character traits like patience and perseverance, or making a noble sacrifice for your family? Attaching a larger meaning to what you’re doing, whether it’s your ultimate dream or not, can help you not just tolerate it, but maybe even thrive in it. 

9. Time for a Change

• “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.”

If you knew factually that today were the last day of your life, you might make some choices that are not really sustainable. It might be pretty satisfying to quit your job, eat all the bacon you want, blow your bank account on a motorcycle, or just lay in the grass watching the clouds go by. But you can’t live your whole life that way. 

Perhaps instead we could ask, “if every day of my life were going to be like today, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” How could you create a rhythm of work, rest, and social life that would feel satisfying, but still be disciplined enough to power through things you don’t like to achieve important goals?

10. Don’t Be a One-Man Show

• “Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.”

“It takes a village” not only to raise a child but a leader. Steve Jobs could not have revolutionized the world with his products without teammates who brought knowledge, skills, and connections he didn’t have. He needed help setting up the manufacturing process, hiring and training the right workers, distributing and marketing his products, crossing the i’s and dotting the t’s legally, and communicating with the public effectively. Apple became a force to be reckoned with not just because of Jobs, but because of the hundreds of thousands of people who made his visionary ideas possible and practical. 

It makes sense for each of us to realize we stand on the shoulders of others to achieve what we have. No one works their way to the top solely on their own. All along the way we have had people in our lives to teach and mentor us, correct us, and do things for us that we can’t do for ourselves. Remembering this can help us have more humility and gratitude, and those qualities, in turn, can attract quality people to our team who feel similarly grateful to be there and ready to contribute their best efforts. 

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