“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. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. … Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”

Steve Jobs
— Stanford University Commencement Address
June 2005.

Some back story first:
For those who don’t know I joined the Apple Bandwagon late.  August 2007, my Dell PC was six years old and Windows Vista had arrived a few months prior.  I’d heard all the horror stories of Vista crashing on new computers.  I knew several people who were experiencing Vista headaches themselves.  One such person had sent his Dell computer back three times and all the issues still were not remedied.  He moved onto an HP after Dell FINALLY conceded to return his money.

He didn’t have better luck with HP.  That experience went on through two different computers.  During this, I sat back and took all the news in and when the time arrived when I could no longer use my own Dell (it was over five years old after all,) I decided to take a chance and migrate to Apple.  I was fortunate to have a friend who had an extra Apple Desktop.  He let me borrow it for two months so I could get used to the new environment.  Within three weeks I was flying around the computer.

Borrowing the Apple convinced me I needed to migrate.  In December, 2007 I made the leap to Apple.  BEST decision I could have made.  That person who went from Dell to HP?  Shortly after I migrated to Apple in August, I convinced him to do the same.  He loves Apple now and like me, he is sure he’ll never use Windows again.  It is amazing.

Two things are always uttered after someone migrates:
1.  Don’t know why I waited so long.
2.  I’ll never us Windows again.

Since that first conversion took place in late August, 2007 I have persuaded several other friends to migrate and time and again I hear those two refrains all the time.

After Steve Job’s death in October there have been a plethora of tributes and remembrances of the man.  The one that truly resonated with me is Job’s Commencement Speech at Stanford in 2005.  Watch this video in its entirety!  The first time I came across it was at my friend and fellow blogger Vanessa Stella’s Optimal Optimist.  I recommend watching the ENTIRE speech.  We can all learn something from Mr. Jobs.

People who know me through my blog as well as people who know me in person understand that I think it is EXTREMELY important to follow your heart, to follow your dreams.  I’ve written extensively here about the fact that we all have gifts we incarnated with and if we have discovered those gifts it is our responsibility to pursue them; otherwise when we reincarnate the NEXT time we will be forced to confront the same challenges again.

Mr Jobs knew this well.  He understood his gift was in the Technology and Computer field.  He dropped out of College and pursued his dreams.  I’m not in ANY way condoning leaving an education behind.  ONLY you can truly know what’s right for you, however.  Mr. Jobs succeeded.  His second stint at Apple brought the company out of sure loss.  In 1997 when he returned to Apple, the company was only  few short months away from disappearing permanently.  What he did is astounding.  In a little over ten years, Steve Jobs not only resuscitated a company that for all intent was drawing its last breath, he created a company that was for a brief day in August, 2011 the richest in the world, surpassing only Exxon.

An amazing feat for a man who was ousted in the 1980s from the company he co founded.

He followed his heart.
He followed his dream.

How many of us can say we’ve done as much?
How many of us will die, knowing we’ve succeeded in changing the world, because we were not afraid to take bold chances.

Stay Hungry!
Stay Foolish!!

Be Happy!  Be Well!  Be Positive!
Blessings to you.
—
Chris