Anyone who knows me well knows there are two modern day individuals who I have come to respect more than any other. I will save a blog for one of them for another day. Today, I’d like to write about an incredible individual who was taken way before his time.
Steve Jobs passed away this week after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Steve was a hero and a mentor to me, even though I never met him. He exemplified the purpose of my blog as well as anyone. You’ve no doubt read or heard countless stories of his hundreds of admirable traits, as well as some of his feared traits (from ex-employees.) However, in my opinion, no word embodied Steve Jobs more than “passion.”
Passion is defined as any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling. Steve epitomized passion. He loved Apple, in my opinion, like no other CEO has loved their company. He was almost psychotic about creating the right products for the consumer…products which people love to use, are easy to use, which give them immense utility and helps them solve problems. As one simple example, we are still in the first inning of the App revolution, which will add never-imagined-before utility to consumers and businesses worldwide.
If I’ve tried to teach my kids anything at all for the past decade, it’s that they should be passionate. It doesn’t matter if they’re working, singing, doing their homework, working on becoming a better athlete or cooking a meal. If you’re passionate about everything you do throughout life, it will be a life well worth living. As Confucius once said, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Steve said it best when he gave the commencement address at Stanford University
Peter Lynch has often been quoted saying, “invest in what you know”. I’m not sure if someone else said “invest in what you love”, but after losing money for years on almost every stock I have ever purchased, I recently started following both of these philosophies. Although the stock market is in the tank, I’m (relatively) confident knowing over time, investing in what I know and love will serve me well. Why am I telling you this? Because I love and I know Apple.
How much do I love Apple and their products? Let me count the ways. Over the past 10 years, I have purchased nearly 100 Apple products (not just for myself and my family, but for dozens of gifts for others). Specifically, I have purchased two imacs, a macbook, 8 iphones, 3 ipads, 3 ipods, 2 ipod mini’s, 3 nano’s, 58 shuffles, 1 itouch, 1 Apple TV (although I admittedly returned this due to frustrations with my wireless cable connection) and many Apple accessories. If that’s not love, what is? And best of all, I never had to pay for any of these products (well, kind of.) The few Apple shares I have purchased over the years have self-funded my Apple product purchases. Invest in what you know and what you love. Too bad it took me 20 years to figure this one out.
The people who work for Apple should all be proud of what they’ve created. Their products have made my life so much more enjoyable and efficient and I would imagine they’ve also made millions of other lives better as well. I don’t go anywhere without my iphone, I don’t run without my shuffle, I don’t wake up in the morning without turning on my ipad. There is not a single day in my life when I am not using an Apple product. Every company should strive to replicate perfection like Steve Jobs and Apple has for years. Every company should be passionate about their products as well. Thank you Apple. And thank you Steve, for being so passionate. You will be sorely missed.
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