1. Learn how to anticipate the future
Steve Jobs once quoted Wayne Gretzky, saying:
“I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”
Steve Jobs has been a living proof of this quote all of his life.
Apple has reaped the benefits from Steve’s ability to anticipate future
trends. They dominated the digital music sales (shrinking the market of
CD music sales), while the iPhone has also revolutionized the phone
industry by introducing a very sophisticated touch screen based phone.
The ability to anticipate the future is very important if you want to
achieve your goal and be successful. An example of how we can apply
this to our life is by visioning what we want to be in one year (or five
years, ten years, and so on) from now. By having the vision, we can
anticipate future roadblocks and prepare to overcome them. For example:
if you are currently working as an employee, but see your future self as
an entrepreneur, you can start learning the skills that might be
beneficial for the future you.
2. Focus on the positive
Steve Jobs was an adopted child. He could have easily hated his life
(and his parents – both biological and adoptive) and started to get
involved with negative things during his teenage years.
However, young Steve Jobs kept focusing on the positive: he was
thankful for his loving adoptive parents, he also found a positive
channel (technology and computer) to pour his energy into, and in the
end we all know what he achieved.
You too, can benefit from the power of positive thinking. If you are
the kind of person who often sees the glass as half-empty, try to start
focusing on the positive things in your life, and you will surely reap
lots of benefits from it.
3. Fail forward
Everybody fails. It’s how you respond to those failures that make all the difference. In 1984, Steve Jobs was fired from Apple.
At Stanford’s 2005 commencement address, he had this to say about it:
“I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting
fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.
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.”
The lesson that we can learn from Steve’s story is: we should not
fear failure, because failure is not the end of the road. We must take
failure as the opportunity to learn and improve ourselves, and success
is inevitable.
4. Travel the world
The year before he founded Apple, Jobs journeyed to India. Travel has
a way of broadening a person’s perspective and expanding their sense of
what’s possible – those are both traits an entrepreneur needs.
Travelling doesn’t have to cost you lots of money, or lots of time. A
simple weekend getaway to another city nearby might be enough for you
to experience new things and broaden your horizon.
5. Find the right partner
Steve Jobs didn’t start Apple alone. He had a great partner in the
form of Steve Wozniak, who complemented Job’s skillset very well.
Likewise, you need to pick the right partner in your life so that you
can be successful. The people who you surround yourself with, might
make or break your life. So, choose wisely and it will help your way to
success.
6. Obstacles are opportunities in disguise
Jobs and Wozniak ran out of money while developing the first Apple
computer. Instead of giving in, Jobs sold his van and Wozniak sold his
graphing calculator. When there’s a will, there’s a way.
Learn to see obstacles as opportunities in disguise. Once you do that, there will always be ways to overcome those obstacles.
7. Take risks
Steve Jobs was willing to cannibalize his company’s products in the
name of progress. Many CEOs would have been hesitant to develop the
iPhone, knowing full well that it would help to make the iPod obsolete –
but Jobs did it anyway (and took a big bite out of the lucrative mobile
market).
Most of the time, we need to take risks in order to move forward.
Just be careful and make sure that the risk that you took was a
calculated risk. Think thoroughly, weigh the best and worse scenarios of
an action against each other, and then you can decide whether the risk
is worth taking.
8. Surround yourself with great people
Not only did Steve Jobs have Steve Wozniak as a partner, he also
worked with Tim Cook, Johny Ive, and John Lasseter (Pixar CCO). Steve
Jobs has surely surrounded himself with great people that have a lot
of strength. This has enabled Jobs to create massive success with not
only Apple, but also Pixar.
You can learn from him and make sure that you surround yourself with
great people (people who complement your skillset) in order to achieve
success.
9. Remember you’ll be dead soon
“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.”
When you are confused, scared, embarrassed, or anything, just
remember that you’ll be dead soon. Life is short; so make sure that you
make it count.
10. Don’t be shy to learn from others
In high school, Jobs attended lectures at a computer technology
company called Hewlett-Packard. Before turning 21, Steve had worked for
both HP and Atari. He saw what these companies were doing and learned
what he wanted to do differently with Apple.
You too can benefits from learning from others. I personally see this
with many people who tried to achieve a certain goal (e.g.: lose
weight). They have been trying really hard, however they are not seeing
any results. Sometimes, help from a coach is all they need. It provides
them with morale support, accountability, expertise, and a structured
plan that helps them get results and achieve their goal.
If you feel like you are stuck in certain areas of your life, do not
hesitate to ask for help from the experts. Sometimes that little help is
all you need to start getting results and be successful.
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