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Wednesday, October 5, 2011

"Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith." Steve Jobs

Time is short. People have less and less time to read their e-mails let alone the news or a blog. So, I will keep this short and simple. Success hinges on keeping our lives simple. It goes beyond who we are, our connections, our age, our gender, our race, and our environment. If we need to find an answer, it is usually within ourselves. We have the ability to understand what it is we have to do, sometimes we are blessed with people to help guide us there. We are blessed to have been inspired by people like Steve Jobs who left this world a better place, a more advanced world that was not so without him. He conquered his fears with his actions.

He made no excuses, he just executed his vision and he powered through his fears with constant invention. He did this having tasted failure, having tasted defeat but he never let it get to him.  A successful man like Jobs managed his life simply. Everything in our lives are connected and our ability to manage our time is the key. If we can manage our time, we can manage our tasks and if we manage our tasks we can cross them out as we complete them. If we manage our tasks we can get to our goals and if we get to our goals we become closer to succeeding. Do you see how things connect? How simple it can be if one thing is thrown off, how our entire day can be? So, do not let this happen. Seize control of your life by the tiniest steps. It is amazing how the simple tweaks in the way we do things can make a huge difference. Going to bed a half an hour early. Saying yes to new opportunities you would normally say no to. Not complaining instead of opening your mouth and muttering your usual grumble. Being thankful instead of taking the things you do have for granted. Counting your blessings especially when you feel you have hit rock-bottom. Knowing that it can always be worse. Knowing when you are spread too thin. Knowing when to let things role off your back. Knowing when to not take things personal. Stopping yourself first before you speak, letting others talk and being more interested in what they have to say.

Simple. It is all very simple.

There are simple ways to become brilliant. Sometimes brilliance begins with the most simple steps, the ones that people forget. To create, to achieve, to succeed we must master the smallest of things before we can tackle the larger tasks. I say this to myself as much as I say this to others that we can get a lot done in our lives by examining the tiniest things. Here are the things that I feel the "Steve Jobs" of this world did well and excelled.

1. Be unafraid to follow your intuition and trust your instincts. 

2. Never compare yourself to another person ever. Every circumstance is different. Every person is different.

3. Use your time wisely. Be on time and manage it. This means managing your time even when you suddenly find yourself with extra time or knowing how to turn around a negative situation such as when Steve Jobs got fired from Apple. Knowing how to use your extra time when an unfortunate event occurs.

4. Use your imagination, do not be afraid of exploring new ideas, you never know what your idea can develop into, so do not doubt yourself or your ability.

5. Never take your life and your health for granted and especially the people in your life that love you.

6. Do not hide behind your environment, your past, your childhood, your disabilities, your shortcomings, we all have something we wished we could change.

7. Have confidence that you have a purpose and a reason. It is your job to find the reason why you are here and your purpose.

8. Take care of yourself because if you are run ragged, you will soon burn out and being burnt out is unproductive.

9. Do not get discouraged by set backs, rejections, or failures. Everything happens for a reason. Set backs make you stronger and is a new reason to invent something new.

10. Love what you do.

And if you have not listened to this speech Steve Jobs did at Stanford in 2005, you should take the time to listen.