Apple Insight and Hurricane Irene

So as if the earthquake earlier this week wasn’t enough to talk about, the eastern seaboard is now preparing for hurricane Irene. Our New Jersey shore community is among the many areas facing mandatory evacuation.  I am sending many thoughts and prayers to everyone in the path of this bitch and hoping she passes swiftly without too much damage.

On a different note, most people have heard the news of Steve Jobs stepping down as Apple’s CEO. To put it simply, this man is a creative and technical genius with an uncanny ability to relate to people – as – people. I came across a great post on the Wall Street Journal blog yesterday which summarized excerpts from some of Steve’s greatest talks and interviews over the years. Some of them date back to 1985 so it’s interesting to see the vision he had even back then. But I wanted to share a couple of these with you all. These are all from his Stanford commencement speech in June of 2005, although they are excerpts taken out of order of the actual speech. These are great and applicable to anyone in any situation. Enjoy.

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

“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.” [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

“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.” [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]