Finding Your Jobs

As I watched the live broadcast of the recent Apple Developer’s Conference, I couldn’t help but think of the late Steve Jobs. He was the mastermind of Apple hardware and software that became synonymous with cool and elegant productivity.

Then I remembered something Jon Acuff had said in an interview: “What’s your Steve Jobs? not, What’s your version of being Steve Jobs?”

The question is, “Who are you?” not, “Who do you want to be like?”

I’ve been watching Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview on Netflix. The interview was recorded in 1995, after Jobs had been fired from the company he created, and a year before returning.

Can you imagine having your creation ripped from your arms and being thrown to the curb? (We forget the hardships successful people have endured and think we’re the only ones who experience pain and rejection.)

Even in what must have been a very dark period, Jobs had a very strong sense of who he was, and continued to attract creative designers and engineers to develop new products. He was an innovator who was constantly pushing the boundaries of technologies; he changed all our lives. He had passion and believed in beauty and elegance. He was never satisfied to accept the status quo. Even in hardship, he remained true to himself. He never tried to be Bill Gates, or anyone else.

Uncovering our true identity is a life-long journey. As we grow, we morph, adapt and hopefully become more of who we want to be.

There is the temptation to lose our moral compass, give up, compromise, be tempted to deviate from our core, or worse, pretend to be someone we’re not.

Fakes are never as good as the real thing. The authentic is always better.

As Acuff said, life is about finding the true you, not making up a new you. He advocated removing the layers of the other things and find out what’s true about you.

What’s your Steve Jobs?

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* Jon Acuff quotes taken from, The EntreLeadership Podcast #1, August 17, 2011