Reading Reflection No. 1

1.    The most surprising thing to me was that Steve Jobs didn’t make the majority of his fortune off of Apple and its products. In fact, it came from his investment into Pixar, when he became a majority shareholder in 1986. Pixar’s stock skyrocketed in the years to come, and Steve became a billionaire. Granted, he did invest $5 million into the company, so it wasn’t a rags to riches story. Of all the things I learned about Steve Jobs, his tenacity was the one thing I most admired. Even after getting fired from Apple, he never let his mind stop for a second. He easily could’ve sunken down into his own self-pity and never amounted to what he became. Instead, he didn’t miss a beat, and ended up making the Pixar investment that would change his life for good. In everything he did, no matter what company he was working for, he did it 110% and never stopped chasing his dream. While Steve Jobs is one of my idols, he did have a few qualities I disliked. His curiosity with LSD and other drugs is not exactly my cup of tea. Steve encountered a ton of adversity in his life, starting from birth. He was put up for adoption due to a family dispute about one of his parents being Muslim. He was a college dropout, and fired from his job. But he overcame everything thrown his way. 

2.    The biggest competency I noticed that Steve Jobs exhibited is not always thinking he knew everything. He loved to learn, but only about the things that interested him. His boredom in school is what led him to get in trouble in grade school and eventually drop out of college. He was very true to who he was, and he knew exactly what interested him and what he wanted to learn about. The other obvious trait Steve Jobs had was one discussed in this class, tenacity. His ability to always climb out of the hole he found himself in is something we all should be inspired by. He proved that failure is not the end, but merely a new beginning for a more important project in life, 

3.    One part I didn’t quite understand was when the book discussed the “reality distortion field” that Steve Jobs used to motivate his employees. It later mentions how literal Steve Jobs saw the world, so I don’t understand how someone who sees the world for what it is can distort reality to get his employees motivated? Maybe I am just overthinking it, but when I think of distorting reality, I think of Sci-Fi movies and alternate universes. Probably just overthinking it. And the parts that discussed coding and building the Mac were quite confusing at times, as I am not a computer wizard. At times it was also difficult to keep up with all the work Steve Jobs was doing, as he moved from job to job throughout this life. Things like AppleLabs and NeXT were discussed, but it wasn’t always clear to me when he transitioned from position to position, or if he was working on multiple projects with other companies at once. 

4.    My two questions to Steve Jobs would be:

a.    What carried you through the times when you were fired or made a mistake that was costly?

b.    How did you know your idea was good enough to pursue endlessly?

5.    I think Steve Jobs opinion on hard work is that it is necessary to success. He exemplified that in everything he did in life. I share the same outlook in life, as there is no replacement for hard work. It speaks volumes about you as well, louder than anything you can ever say with words.