Quotes- Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Part 3

Part 1 can be found here.
Part 2 can be found here.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, 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.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. 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.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

I spoke about this earlier this week, the key to happiness is to focus on a small core set of values. Here Jobs describes it as realizing that with death we leave with nothing, so pursue what stirs our passions. It's important to note that he says to reevaluate your life if you answer "No" to the question "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" for too many days in a row. Everyday won't be fantastic so you must look at the path. Is the path the one you should be driving down? Does this lead to where I am going. One of the most practical lessons for me has been to construct your ideal life and build backwards to today. Does your path get you there?

How I Lost 30 Pounds of Fat 2011

Howdy folks. Many of you read my story regarding How I Lost 30 Pounds of Fat over a period of several years as well as how I recommend others go about it. Many of you have asked me for advice based on these posts. So starting on January 17 we are going to do it together. I don't have thirty pounds to lose, but I would like to get to around 10% body fat which means losing 10-15 pounds of fat and would be the skinniest I have ever been. So without further ado here is the plan:

The Diet will consist of the following rules

- No white carbohydrates(this includes bread, potatoes, whole wheat, muffins, dairy, deserts, etc. etc.) only exceptions I know of are onions, cauliflower, etc. ie. non root vegetables

-Pick 3 or 4 meals for the week and repeat them This will help us maintain our diet and develop a no-thought routine that we can easily maintain.

-Don't eat fruit

-Eat breakfast and do it within one hour of waking

-20g protein per meal

-Cheat for 12 hours one day a week. Anything goes... anything and as much as you want

What we will not do:
-Count calories

-Not have our cheat day

-Go hungry

I will additionally be taking supplements to boost weight loss and engaging in ice therapy. If you would like more information on the diet or more details on the additional phases please email/facebook me. This diet and all that it entails can be found in the book 4 Hour Body. I recommend it for anyone wanting more background on the science behind the diet and additional information. If you have questions post in comments and I will answer. The diet starts Jan 17 if you would like to join in the fun. I will make some more posts outlining the best foods for the diet in the near future.

Quotes- Humility

Those who cannot feel the littleness of great things in themselves are apt to overlook the greatness of the little things in others.
-Kakuzo Okakura

I believe that the first test of a truly great man is his humility. I don't mean by humility, doubt of his power. But really great men have a curious feeling that the greatness is not of them, but through them. And they see something divine in every other man and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful.
-John Ruskin

American culture is one of independence. Carve your own path and live the American Dream; no one is stopping you. Yet the leaders that become truly great and develop lasting cultures are the servant leaders. Realizing you are not the first or the last, but one piece of the human experience allows you to harness the lessons, wealth, and knowledge of those before you and those around you. Learn to find value in everyone and everyone will find value in you.

A Lesson in Simplicity

I hate Apple. I find most of their products inferior. They typically cost more, do less, and don't allow for customization or upgrades. For a tech guy it sucks, but there is a lesson here. Apple is successful because simple is beautiful. Take for example below the two remotes of Apple tv and Roku:


Apple TV Remote


Roku Remote


They both have almost the exact same functionality, but Roku is bulkier and has more buttons (five more to be exact). You don't need them. I used the apple tv yesterday and perfectly/intuitively navigated the menus using the remote in about 1 min. You hit what you think you should hit and it does what you want it to do. The Roku remote which I have used for several hours still makes me prone to make mistakes as I hit the home button instead of the back button or the menu button when I mean to hit the back button, etc. From a functionality point they are the same; from an ease of use stand point apple tv and its remote is better (I loathe typing this).

This lesson in simplicity is a metaphor for life. When we add things to our life we complicate it. It becomes more muddied, the choices make things more complex than we need them to be. Instead of adding more and more take a moment to reduce your buttons. Identify your core values for a great life. Then just press. Focus on the big things and the little things fix themselves.

Quotes- Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Part 2

Part 1 can be found here.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

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.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. 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. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

Lots of great points made here. The most poignant for me is that life is a journey and happiness is a pursuit. If you aren't happy you keep pushing and keep searching. If you set yourself up to look for it, then it will come to you. Additionally, failure is one of life's greatest lessons. When we fail we learn more about ourselves than when we taste success. Failure either pushes us for success in our current field or causes us to pursue something else we deeply desire. Are not both outcomes ideal? Often, it takes a push for us to get started, a lesson. Ironically, most/all of the great men I have read about have had great failures. If you aren't failing then you probably aren't doing something innovative.

Part 3 can be found here.

Quotes- 'Tis the Season

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my head, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;

He had a broad face and a little round belly,

That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

I hope for the weekend that you truly share in the joy of your family and friends. Blessed are we for we have much. Enjoy Christmas and God Bless you all!

Quotes- Learn from Others

Every man I meet is my superior in some way. In that, I learn of him.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

The world is so vast and diverse and the human experience so unique that no person can ever begin to encompass all that can be learned from life. It's impossible, and so we must learn from and rely on the experience of others. Everyone has something to teach us. Take interest in other people, you'll grow and most likely acquire a new friend.