Steve Jobs truly understood what it meant to ‘be himself’, for better, and at times for worse, and that what kept him going through the toughest of times was his passion for his personal vision. It was his passion that created the opportunities which brought his dreams to fruition, and his authenticity that created a following of tens of millions of loyal customers around the globe. In the past few weeks since Steve Jobs’ passing we have heard and read a lot about this great visionary’s many achievements and his extraordinary success. One of the most replayed commemoratives is his 2005 Stanford University commencement speech, in which he laid bare his outlook on life, death and remaining true to oneself. In his own words, here is what Steve Jobs said about remaining true to your own authentic passions:
“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.”
When you truly love what you do your passion shines through to those around you and you don’t need to work hard to ‘convince’ anyone of what you are selling. At some point all of us have had the experience of dealing with the desperate sales person. Desperation speaks as loudly as passion but drives customers away rather than bringing them in to drink the Kool-Aid along with us. The greatest leaders and businessmen all share this same trait and we can learn from them. Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Henry Ford, Donald Trump and Tony Robbins to name just a few – they all succeeded tremendously because they live(d) from their authentic, passionate natures, and you can too. Take Mr. Jobs’ advice: “Don’t settle… Keep looking until you find it.”
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurmon