Thursday, January 10, 2013

Veering from the beaten path- Steve Jobs


                 One of Steve Jobs’ main characteristics is breaking conventional ideologies. He talks indirectly about veering off from the beaten path, this does not just apply to his innovative tech designs, it also drives his life. In his Stanford commencement speech he talks a lot about how he had very high expectations for him to go to college, even before he was born and that they were part of the terms of his adoption. Jobs attempts to go to college but it does not jive well for him, many people would have stuck it out just to appease and keep other’s expectations, but not Jobs, he quits. Instead he takes side classes here and there and learns skills he find valuable. He goes on to create Apple and Pixar, and be hugely successful.  

 It is clear that Steve Jobs’ must have a sense of self because he makes huge decisions on his own with basically no regard for other people’s views or opinions. He focuses on what makes him happy, and clearly, it worked. I think our lives are so full of rigid lines we are supposed to stay between it is hard to think of simply stopping what we “should” do and start what we want to do. What is interesting is that Job’s Apple products promote a lot of individual involvement, in the sense that you don’t really use one ipad as a group, maybe you use facebook on your ipad and keep it touch with friends, but for the most part Apple devices are based on personal use, as well as private. Steve Jobs’ personal philosophy is to do whatever you want, it seems simple but in all actuality most of us don’t do what we want very often. By focusing on “the self” Jobs’ is able to focus on his dreams and make them a reality. We could probably all use a reality check once in a while, and take a step back to think about if we are truly happy, and if not how can we change that.

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