Reaction Essay of Steve Jobs FINAL


Embracing failure and rejection: Jobs suggests that the experiences of failure and rejection can be painful, but when it comes to creating a meaningful life, these are invaluable experiences. Failure and rejection provide a definitive kind of feedback, telling us that something is not right and that we need to adjust the course of our lives. Without the sting of failure, many might not have the impetus to evaluate whether the work they are doing is the best for them, and though others may have found success, it might not be the kind of success that brings satisfaction and fulfillment. Whether the awareness of such a distinction is a result of a specific evaluation following failure, or the cumulative effect of a nagging sense of disillusionment, Jobs is indeed correct in his insistence that "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." When one is doing work one knows is not the best they are capable of, but does not want to risk forsaking a sure thing for a shot at something better, failure tends to be the catalyst for change. While traditional wisdom advocates pressing onward until success is found, Jobs is apt when he says that failure can often act as life's best agent for steering us in a better direction. Phone number at Stanford University, 2005. Following one's passion: Jobs commences this segment of his speech with the advice to "find what you love" and "don't settle". The bulk of his message is conveyed through a personal account of his experiences, beginning with the trajectory of dropping out of college due to financial strain, and migrating through his explorative "hippie" years, during which he attempted to uncover what it was he had a passion for. He illustrates this period with an anecdote about a particular calligraphy class that had no practical application to his life at the time, but held invaluable worth in later years after he had founded Apple Inc. Career trajectory is often not a topic frequently pondered by young adults, and it is certainly far more common to encounter someone who has settled into a job, than someone who is doing something they love. In this sense Jobs' advice is particularly pertinent for the graduating students, for being at the threshold of embarking upon careers of their own, it is better to reflect now, than to find oneself decades down the track having wasted years in a field that was chosen for its economic viability, or ease of access, rather than any genuine passion. Connecting the dots: The colloquial phrase "connecting the dots" is something Jobs employs to underline the retrospective element in recognizing the ways in which seemingly unrelated past experiences can later contribute to a valuable skill set. He tells of his own a similar theme in Jobs' speech comes with the suggestion that life can only be understood looking backwards, an assertion which immediately follows his reflection on the significance of the calligraphy class he took. It is a simple example Jobs uses, but through it he demonstrates the unforeseen nature of how diverse life experiences yield a benefit in the long term, and thus why it is important to continue following one's passions, rather than to accept attainable employment in a field one has no genuine interest. A belief in an interconnectedness between past experiences and future opportunities is an optimistic view of how our past failures and success are not isolated events, but rather the building blocks of a foundation from which we will draw to craft our futures.


In his post about working with Steve Jobs, Mike Evangelist wrote: "In my dealings with him I've seen one thing vividly: Steve Jobs is the real deal. This is not some sort of act". Indeed, Steve's way of life proved that he applied the same values at home and at work.

Apart from his wife and children, Steve Jobs's inner family circle also included his biological sister . The daughter of Abdulfattah Jandali and Joanne Schieble, Mona was a brilliant writer whom Jobs discovered in 1986, after tracking down his biological parents. "My brother and I are very close," Simpson said in 1997. "I admire him enormously." Jobs said: "We're family. She's one of my best friends in the world. I call her and talk to her every couple of days." They remained friends even after Mona published her second novel , which was heavily inspired by Jobs's relationship with Lisa. In her essay Driving Jane, Lisa recounted her stupefaction at seeing her personal history described in great detail in her aunt's book. As for Jobs, he didn't read the book so as not to get mad at his sister.

Reaction Essay of Steve Jobs FINAL

Steve Jobs spent the last twenty years of his life in . Although the house is larger than your typical suburban house, and relatively expensive at around $4 million, it does not stand out in the wealthy city of Palo Alto, and is a testament to Jobs's modest lifestyle. Despite his net worth of over $8 billion, his garden had no walls and he did not even lock the front door.

This essay demonstrates the power of positive thinking and how it can help individuals focus on the positive aspects of life, much like Steve Jobs did.

Most people desire to follow their passion. This is easier said than done. "Follow your passion" has become so cliche because the idea that you should do work you are excited about has been repeated to us so many times. But Steve Jobs brings up instances in which this may not always be easy and straightforward. In order to start following your passion, many times it will not be something that will immediately allow you to pay the bills. In these situations, you will be forced to take on work that does not excite you in order to sustain yourself and your families. This can be indefinitely, which will lead to a lifetime of unhappiness and discontent. Failure to ever try to follow one's passion can indeed lead to a life full of "what ifs" and an enormous amount of regret in the long run. The man Jobs speaks of in the next anecdote is one who does nearly the exact opposite. He tells the story of a man who at 25 decides he wants to start a family. This man now is thinking he needs to go out and find a job to support his new family, so he takes the job that he thinks will be most reliable for the well-being of his family; here starts his divergence away from his passion. The thought process is a common one and the intention is always good, but there are many instances when this mindset leads to disappointment. This is exactly the case in Jobs' story as the man takes several jobs for the same reason, and that reason was to put his kids through college. Unfortunately, he was laid off for the last time at 55 and the prospect of finding and switching to a new job that would put his kids through college was grim. It was at this time that he knew that he had to give up his dream for his kids.

Jobs, who was also 'strictly business' at work, suffered no waste of time. In one interview, he explained that it was why he wore the same thing everyday, his famous black mock turtleneck: so he didn't have to waste time picking what to wear every morning. There are several explanations as to how he ended up wearing so many turtlenecks. In the biography Steve Jobs, Isaacson recalls Jobs explaining, "So I asked Issey [Miyake] to make me some of his black turtlenecks that I liked, and he made me like a hundred of them. [...] That's what I wear. I have enough to last for the rest of my life." John Lasseter remembered a slightly different story: "He found this one really great black turtleneck which he loved –I think it was Issey Miyake– so tried to buy another one and they didn't have any more. He called the company and asked if they would make another one, and they refused. So he said: 'Fine, how many do you have to make before I can buy them?' So they made them. I think he has a closet full of them.'"


Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview * Steve Jobs--One Last Thing.

In this section, the writer talks about how Jobs' speech inspired those students to become entrepreneurs. Not only did he introduce them to the idea of how entrepreneurship could change the world, but he also merged the idea of death and the importance of doing what we love to do. He also stated how learning calligraphy has no useful application to his life, but ten years later it all makes sense when he built the first type of Mac with beautiful typography. This section also tells us the story of Drew Houston, an MIT graduate who eventually builds Dropbox from an idea he got after listening to Jobs' speech. The last story that he brought is the speech that he had with Jobs at his parents' backyard while having a beer, where Jobs asked him about what he would like to do after acquiring a computer science degree from a prestigious university because he looked like someone who has an idea to change the world and not just get a high-paying job. All these stories tell us how the speech had inspired these graduates to pursue their ideas and do some innovation to change the world. Steve Jobs' speech delivered an understanding that entrepreneurship was not just about being a boss or starting a company that mainly oriented to gain money, but entrepreneurship is about having an idea and pursuing it to make it happen. Jobs started the speech with a little humor by telling the audience that he had just read that morning a public survey which states that people with death will greatly 7 out of 10 are regretting what they choose to do in life and a staggering 8 out of 10 wishes they had done something different. This survey had opened Jobs' into the idea of how death is the best invention that God ever made because he had known that it will come to him eventually, and with that on his mind for the past 33 years, he can get back to reality, which is he does not want to look himself in the mirror and think that he never achieved something. Another idea that Jobs conveyed in the speech that relates to the meaning of entrepreneurship is when he tells the story of how time-consuming he is in convincing himself when he is about to quit Apple and thought he had lost what he had done 10 years ago. But he realizes that the only thing that makes him continue is the love of doing what he does. This is the same idea with an entrepreneur in doing a business because many ideas in this world come from a problem to solve, and the idea will not be realized into a solution if the person does not love what he is doing. This is why Jobs emphasizes the importance of doing what they love to do for the graduates so they can understand the meaning of real work and how to change the world. This is an important part of the speech in relating to the graduates themselves because at that time, the age of between 20-30, many people go into a career or a job, and this is also the right moment for the graduates to open the gates to the idea of entrepreneurship. Because by understanding the meaning of entrepreneurship and having an idea to change the world, it is very challenging if they can do it in their own way and not work for someone else. And even if they fail, they can still take another chance because the age is still relatively young, so there are many lessons that can be taken. This is exactly what Jobs wants, a change. Step back to the history of when Jobs is persuading Wozniak to quit his engineering job that pays him a thousand more dollars than he gets from Apple because he believes that Wozniak can still do something better with his capability and not just prove that he is smarter by stating that he has no degrading quality. And that's what happened. From all of that, Jobs had planted ideas in the graduates, telling a story of his life about the moments he thought and left a work. With that, it is no doubt that this is the best part of the speech in introducing the idea of how Jobs has changed the world in his own way and the same idea with the story that the graduates would make. But that's just half of the speech; Jobs confidently continues to the second theme.

Introduction essay about steve jobs

The reason why the speech is considered to be inspirational, timeless, and thought-provoking isn't because it was eloquent, but because Steve Jobs spoke from the heart and in a sincere way. He relayed to them that he did, in fact, achieve the success that the graduates were seeking by entering into a career. He was a prime example of following one's heart and intuition. He suggested that the key to finding and excelling in a great career is to do what you love and love what you do. It's a simple concept, but too often people become sidetracked by money and power, and in turn sacrifice their happiness. He noted that death is a great motivator, that we have little to lose and not to waste it living someone else's life. We are already naked to the naked eye, so there is no need not to live with some enthusiasm. This is where his speech is truly timeless because the wisdom he shared is ageless and invaluable to all generations. Though culture and technology may be different, the basic ideas of life remain the same. Death is still the best way to remind us that we are losing time and the ability to make a difference and find what truly makes us content.