The NeXT Years: Steve Jobs before His Triumphant Return to Apple

I have posted a story about how Steve Jobs was fired from Apple and what he did after that. He subsequently returned to Apple as its CEO after a long detour.

Please check out my other blog for the complete story. I assure you that it is a story of a real fanatic.

Here is the link:

inspirational-doses.blogspot.com

Please feel free to comment.

I did not write the article, but as Picasso said,

Good artists copy, great artists steal

Greatness

Ever since I started working in my new company, I feel more and more like I am on the right track towards this path of "greatness". I am not so foolish to believe that I am great or will definitely become great some day. Nonetheless, today I discovered that in order to even be on the right path to greatness, the minimum requirement is to be a fanatic.

You have to be crazy about what you do. For example, there are people who eat football, sleep football and most definitely talk football. These people are destined to be great football commentators. However, being fanatic is only a necessary condition and is definitely very far from being sufficient. Perseverance is another irreplaceable ingredient. But that is a story for another day. I did blog about perseverance once (Perseverance). Maybe I will extend that another time.

Nonetheless, if you look at the people who have achieved greatness, well, let us begin with Galileo. He died trying to convince everyone that the earth was NOT flat. The name still resonates with the world of science today. Greatness is not limited to the field of science. Another familiar name would be Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The musical genius who cared more about music than his health. Technological geniuses, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs (of Microsoft and Apple fame), both of whom did not graduate from college, pursued their passion til no end. Steve Jobs was even fired from Apple (refer to Stay Hungry Stay Foolish), but started NeXT and Pixar even though he was already a millionaire by then. Why should he bother? Now, what about Warren Buffett? He is 79 years-old with an estimated net worth of USD39 billion (should be more if he had not donated the money to the Gates Foundation). Why is he still investing? He can retire and build a time-capsule with his money and fly himself to the next galaxy or do something exciting like that.

I can only think of one reason why these people are successful. They are simply fanatics in their very own fields. They are just so crazy about what they do for a living that no matter what adversities they faced; death, illness, age, being a college dropout, or being fired from the company you founded, if you are crazy about what you do, you will definitely be on the right path towards what the abovementioned people have achieved.

You can call this attribute other names such as passion, love, interest, but those are just milder words for what they do for a living. Imagine if you forcefully prevent them from doing those activities, they would simply go berserk.

So, with this, I urge you to be crazy about what you love doing. Be a fanatic! You'll most probably end up being great, or at least, on the right path.

Effectiveness

So today I learnt something so crucial that I must share with all of you before I forget. I only wish that I have the full article for you to read, but it comes from my workplace and I have no way of sharing it with you unless you have a subscription to the i Capital newsletter.

I must admit that I am guilty of assuming that having a brilliant mind is an achievement. Maybe for all my life, I have been striving towards that. Today, I feel proud to say that I was rocked to the core. I cannot remember the exact contents of the article but what really struck me was the question, "How do you make yourself effective?".

Now the article admits that there is no shortage of brilliant minds and able people in this world. What separates the good from the great is their effectiveness. The difference is in the "doing". All this may not come as a surprise to you. In fact, it was probably common sense.

It is probably very difficult for me to elaborate my feelings when I read the article. However, now, I feel a sense of responsibility and pride in executing my ideals instead of plainly expounding my ideals on everyone. Forgive me for being so naggy in the past. Hopefully it's not too late for me and more importantly, for you to "Just Do It"!