Indelible Adventures: Three stories, four words

I'm hoping to see you all this Tuesday at my book signing so please drop by Indigo Spirit and say hi.

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As you can imagine I read a lot of content over the course of week, and this week was no exception. During my browsing one item caught my mind, for which I have been reflecting on quite a bit. Its not a new piece, in fact almost ten years since it was first presented and in today’s day and age veritably ancient history!

I’m talking about the Commencement speech that Steve Jobs, then the CEO of Apple and Pixar Animation made to Stanford University in 2005. What strikes me most about the speech is his openness and his willingness to share three very personal stories and perspectives that most people aren't even willing to share with themselves let alone a live audience and now some ten years later another 8.5 million views on YouTube alone.

Steve Jobs is considered the father of the digital age and with good reason. The founder of Apple before his rather public dismissal early on in his career, then his phoenix like rise from the ashes of a once brilliant and high flying career to again lead another start up to stardom before being taken back into the fold at Apple. Many people don’t remember his big bet on acquiring the animation studio from Lucasfilms, and renaming it Pixar Animation Studio, which went onto to produce Toy Story - one of the most popular animated films of all time.

Then on top of all this he had a vision for a singularly digital and connected world, which he brought to us with the i-Series of devices (iPod, iPhone, iPad, iMac). What would the world look like without these contemporary artifacts littering our lives? I wonder?

Let’s face it, Steve was a polarizing figure and much has been said about him and his life but we can forgive him for being human and having foibles like the rest of us. I guess the difference is that he was always under a microscope because of who he was.

None of this detracts from the both eloquent and insightful commencement speech in which he truly bears his soul and beliefs for all to see. “I want to tell three stories from my life, that’s it, no big deal, just three stories” he states matter of factly up front in the speech.

His stories reveal a vulnerable, open and introspective Steve Jobs that few would get to see on a day-to-day basis, but for those sitting in the audience that day – wow!

As I listened to his three stories, it struck me that there are many parallels in my life with his…well except for the part where he was a multi-billionaire, the inventor of the digital age, oh and that he’s now dead but other than that – we're like twins…I swear!

Actually in all seriousness I love the part in his first story, where he describes when after he dropped out of college, even when he was destitute and sleeping on a friends floor and returning coke bottles for the 5 cent refund so he could eat – he loved it all and truly believed that it would all work out okay. It was during this time much of what he stumbled into was priceless by following his intuition and curiosity. He contends that by dropping in on classes that truly interested him (Calligraphy) he was able to gain a new appreciation for the beauty of the various typefaces, which ten years on would become, the cornerstone of the first Macintosh computers.

As he says when he wraps up the first story “You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards” – which is oh so true, just ask me!

His second story deals with “Love and Loss” and the very personal story of his rise and fall at Apple, but his silver lining was that he was freed and that he took on a lightness of being a beginner again with nowhere to go but up after being unceremoniously dropped as the CEO of Apple.

The core of his story is that you can’t lose faith and stop believing in yourself, no matter what, even when life “hits you in the head with a brick”. On this point he and I are again completely in sync as one of my core beliefs is that even in your darkest hour you have to believe…first and foremost you have to believe. As many of you know this is a common message that I often share with Zach and Sami in that self-belief is a critical and absolute foundation to growth and renewal, which we all need in order to thrive in life.

He then goes on to highlight another favorite topic of mine - is that “you’ve got to find what you love”, and that if you haven’t found it yet…don't settle. Seriously I feel like he’s been reading my mind with all this stuff, and although he used his self reflected wisdom to build his global empire I've been using it to teach my two teens the important lessons of life – actually I think I got the best of the two deals on this one, sorry Steve. J

His final story is on the topic of death, which arguably is pretty heavy stuff for a commencement speech, but as he shared the story of his original diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and the realizations that come with the uncertainty of the moment he was laid bare and vulnerable. As he said “no one wants to die” but living each day as if it were your last was no longer just an intellectual concept, for him, at the moment it was real. His message for the commencement class was “your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else’s life”. Clearly this resonated strongly with me and the transformation I've embarked upon over the last three years is a testament to the way I now view the world.

As he wraps up his speech he talks about Stewart Brand and the Whole Earth Catalogue (published from 1968 – 1972), which, as Steve puts it “was like Google in paperback format, 35 years before Google came along”. By 1972 it had runs its course and “on the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking along if you were so adventurous, beneath it were the words “Stay hungry, stay foolish” which, as he put it was what he had always wished for himself.

Listening to his stories made me reflect on all that is important to me in my life (Zach & Sami), and all the things that I’ve learned and now share with them and those around me. Yes, sometimes even in the form of a weekly blog!

It was a powerful week indeed. J

p.s. By the way, I find that personal reflection time is one of the most important aspects of my day and swear by the restorative and insightful powers it can bestow upon yourself...just sayin!

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This weeks photos are from my shoot last weekend in New York City, 2600 photos in 2 days