Lessons We Should Learn From Steve Jobs

      Steve Jobs is dead. That however, isn't what I want to write about. What I want to say doesn't involve his death, the world's reaction to it or even the sadness caused by it. I want to write about the life that preceded it. More importantly, what Steve Jobs's life can teach us all.

KICK YOUR OWN FAILURE'S ASS!

      Steve Jobs was fired from Apple. Many of you may not know this as you're probably in the glorious majority who are not nerdy types. Hey, not all of us can be un-beautiful. Regardless, Steve Jobs started Apple with Steve Wozniak. They had a bad ass run and it made Steve Jobs a multi-millionaire before he was thirty. Yeah, what a shit ball failure he makes us look like. I digress. It was during that initial run that Steve Jobs got another guy to be CEO of Apple...then, the shit went south. Jobs had different ideas than the CEO fella and the Apple board sided with the new CEO. So, Steve Jobs got shit canned. He was pretty depressed about it as anyone would be, but, he picked up his shit and started a new company called Next and later Pixar. Later still, Apple bought Next and named Steve as interim CEO of Apple, then, later, just CEO, then, finally...Apple God King Big Shit of Everything Awesome...according to...Apple's internal memos. 

Sounds like that bullshit is stacked about thiiiis high.

What does that teach us? 

      He could have taken getting fired (from his own company, no less), stayed at home and moped into retirement. He would have probably spent his days walking around a super expansive lawn, mulling over where he went wrong and contemplating how best to spend millions of dollars. Steve Jobs said fuck that. He took his awesome ideas and kept going. The same can be applied to anyone.Though, I'm fairly certain we're all not multi-millionaires. All it takes is the courage to say, "Fuck you failure! You won't own me...I...will own...YOU AND EVERYTHING AROUND YOU!"

FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU WANT TO DO...AND DO IT!

      College drop outs rarely become success stories...I'm assuming. My college experience is limited to me never attending due to super poverty. I'm not bitter, just hateful. Alas, Steve Jobs, like I, didn't look like he would be successful either...as success story that is, not as I, a failure. What made him a success? Drive...as in determination. Steve had a drive to do something, he just didn't know what. So, he went about trying to figure it out for himself. He attended computer lectures given by Hewlett Packard. He worked for HP a little while in high school. College bound as he was, he found it just wasn't for him. Rather than piss away his parents money, he dropped out. He did stick around though, auditing various classes. Later, he worked for Atari. During all of this, he figured out that he liked working with computers. He had a lot of ideas he wanted to make happen. Things that weren't thought possible at the time, he figured he might be able to pull off. So, he got his shit together and with Steve Wozniak, he started Apple "to make a computer and sell it". He figured out what he wanted to do...and he did it.

With these little boxes...I WILL RULE THE WORLD!

What does that teach us?

      It teaches us that determination goes a long, long, long fucking way. If you're goal is always clear and you don't waver in your drive to get there, you will succeed. You can have whatever you want. It's not some after school special feel good, "go get em'" bullshit sentiment. It's real. Steve Jobs proves it. He grew up poor...just like most of us. He did what he did...because he wanted to. It didn't fall in his lap either. He worked hard and won...and you can too.

USE THE COMPETITION AS SUCCESS FUEL!

      Every proper hero has an arch nemesis. Someone or something that is of equal value to the hero but, the opposite. Steve Jobs had Bill Gates. Bill Gates runs...er...ran...er runs Microsoft and made a gazillion dollars with Windows. Chances are you're using a variation of Windows or other Microsoft product on your computer right now. Gates and Jobs have been trading blows since the beginning of computerdom. Both are leaders in the world of anything with a computer screen. Steve Jobs has continually out foxed Microsoft on a lot of things. A major one is exploiting niches Gates hasn't filled. Microsoft went after the PC (personal computer) market business with it's OS (operating system) "Windows" and made billions by focusing on software development for personal and business use. Apple stayed the course by making hardware AND software. Even through the shit times when Apple went largely ignored...they kept at it, always innovating and pushing forward. Much to the "Look at that retarded Steve Jobs and Apple Inc. they couldn't sell perfume in a house full of turds! Haha" of the rest of the industry. The whole time, Apple and Steve Jobs,  looked at what everyone else wasn't doing...and did that instead. From an advancement, development and design stand point Apple arguably dominated. Whoa, when I said "did what the other guy wasn't", I meant business wise. Fuck. Microsoft wasn't killing people either. You fucking weirdo.

Saaayyyy...they aren't murdering people. Might want to look into that.

What does that teach us?

      There will always be something or someone that wants to shit on your day. It happens. It's how you roll with that shit that makes you a bad ass. Bill Gates is the nerdy nerd type, Steve Jobs is the other side of nerdy, he's the man in black, cooler glasses, un-shaven and hip...ish. It even translates to their products. The Zune VS. The iPod, Zune loses.  iPhone VS...that one Windows 7 phone. Did they make a different one? Regardless, iPhone is winning. Come on...Gates went for code...Steve went for style. It's not hard to see Steve Jobs going where the other guy didn't and coming out on top. He countered where they were going and slapped them when they tried to follow. Everyone can do the same thing. View your shitty day as a way, to learn, how to make your day...un-shitty. See opposition as a  way to plot a course, not just opposition. Watch the other guy. Figure out what he's not doing right and use it. Take that mother fucker DOWN! So to speak.

Raise the roof with me people! Hip hop hooray, hooo, haaayyyy hooo...

      These are just a few lessons I have gleaned from Steve Jobs immense life. What can I say? He was a hero to nerdy underdogs everywhere. He reinvented the world one device at a time and we're all living easier lives because of him. He was strange, private and above all ballsy. The man never stopped. He had a hunger and drive to always push forward. A quality few people ever fully possess. More importantly, he demonstrated that if you push hard enough, every door you walk through, gets you closer to a room like Scrooge McDuck's treasure vault. So, if you pay attention, figure out what you want to do, set a goal and kick ass to get there, you'll always win, guaranteed. Believing in yourself is key, so, says the Jobs, despite what the nay sayer's spout, never stop believing in yourself. Taking chances and openly showing the world that you know exactly what the fuck you're doing will almost always win out. If you don't win push harder or revise your strategy, but, never give up. After all is said and done when you've done your home work your detractors can yammer all they want, you're set. When your competition scoffs your ideas openly, it's not disrespect they're demonstrating...it's fear.

iPhone 100 million units sold...

Windows 7 phone...60 million.

So long, Mr. Jobs. Thank you for everything.