The inspirational speech of Steve Jobs

Forgive my ignorance, forgive my poor knowledge - I wasn't even aware of who Steve Jobs is, until over a year ago. I had used the I-Pod at least 5 years ago, but I still was using it without actually knowing who would have been the key element behind the design and functioning of the device. My reading habit has been poor at best and my drive to know what’s happening in the world around has been pretty limited and I hope that explains.

Back in 1995, when I was first exposed to computers, the first thing that my tutor had to talk about was the Operating System. As always is the case, it starts with DOS and we continue to learn on what is so special about an Operating System, why it is required, what are the operations it performs and a few other related aspects. We gradually move onto learning Windows which is far more decorated to look at and fascinating to work with. An interesting questions here - How many of us do realize that Macintosh and not Windows introduced the usage of Mouse and a more friendly user interface as against the command-line? I didn’t - I’m sure many of my friends would but this information is for the ones who didn’t.

Today - as Steve Jobs breathed his last - I curiously searched his name in Youtube and I found a very interesting speech provided by the Great Man in the Stanford University all those years ago. In this session, Steve spoke about a few instances in his life which have supported him hugely to make him the Man he was. He did mention about the various risks he had to take without a clue on what life had to offer him in his venture, but was very confident that it won’t be all that bad. There was a tongue-on-cheek comment about Microsoft merely copying Mac (which is blatantly true). He speaks about the chronic disease that he had been diagnosed with but what would have given every listener a hope was, Steve did say that he went through a surgery and was alright then (in 2005). He expressed his desire to stay on for a few decades and what a humongous difference he would have made to the technological arena had it happened. Our Misfortune along with the World’s, it didn't.

I’m sure I can’t write too many things that people will not know about Steve Jobs. All I’m looking to furnish here is, what I learnt from Steve’s “2005 Stanford Commencement Address” and how fruitful it would turn out to be, if many of us decide to embark on the principles he preached.
 

- Identify what you heart wants and loves, follow it religiously. If you can’t find out what your heart really loves, keep looking out. Don’t settle unless you find that out.
Steve identified very early in his graduation phase that what he pursued was not what he wanted but what his biological mother wished. He dropped out without a second thought and to that day (2005 again), he considered that to be one of the most important decisions he had ever taken.

- Remember what you learn today: For you never know when it will come in handy 
Jobs learned Calligraphy techniques in his college after dropping out, at the time of learning he had zero idea on where he will put it to practice. He still learnt, more than learning, he REMEMBERED. Ten years on when Mac was designed for the very first time, Steve used the skill he acquired, by implementing the multiple type faces option, which has so much to do with Calligraphy. And he added on "If we had not done it, no PC in the world would have had the luxury of choosing fonts at will". In other words, none of us would have known what a Verdana or a Times New Roman is, we would have still been using the “Raster Font” or if we are kind to ourselves, the “Lucida Console”.

- Always be prepared for the worst and never take anything for granted
Being the co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs would have been forgiven if he had considered himself to be indispensable. But we live in a cruel world and rather unsurprisingly, Steve was fired when he was 30, as he had a fall-out with someone he himself recruited. The Board was with him, Steve was alone.
 

- Take blows, Make comebacks
By his own admission, being fired from Apple was one of the most devastating moments for Steve, because he considered himself to be a public failure. But he didn’t allow his dreams to die there. He continued with his adventure and within the next 5 years, he was to found companies named Next and Pixar. They eventually got acquired by Apple and Steve was back to where he belonged.

- It’s a short-life, live YOUR dream and not others’
As Steve repeatedly emphasized in his speech, living in others’ shadow and ideas is an easier thing to do but you would have lived a timid life. Chase your dreams and ensure you love whatever you do. Let there be no regrets when the final day arrives.

- Hindsight is beautiful but foresight is a gamble and the real challenge
It's easier to look back and see what life has done to you by taking the routine path. But the real thrill is derived when you start with very little support but lots of hope and belief and actually go on to achieve things you have been dreaming about all life. Steve firmly believed the path he took was the right one when he dropped out. He with a friend, made a company that was started in a garage into a 2-billion dollar worth in a span of ten years.



I read tons of Facebook messages conveying their condolences to Steve’s Family, I read thousands of blog comments talking about what a Phenomenal bundle of ideas the Apple-Man had. A few of those like “" Steve Paulison Jobs" 1955 - iNfinity”, “iSad”, “iSalute”, “iPeriod” really stood apart, but what I significantly understood was, what a stupendous achiever Steve Jobs had been and how highly he was rated by technologists and conventional users alike.

Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs

As someone wrote beautifully - The World is never the same without you