The Impact of Steve Jobs

                 Steve Jobs 1955-2011


With the death of Steve Jobs on Wednesday there are tributes all over Twitter, Facebook and the net. Many of us feel saddened at such a great loss. There are very few people on the planet who were not affected by his life. I felt that I needed to add my thoughts to the mix.


I think that most of us know that Steve founded Apple, gave us Mac computers, iPod, iPhone, iPad. I never realized that he started Pixar too.  Where would animation be without Pixar.   The reason we have all these wonderful fonts is because Steve loved calligraphy. I am grateful for that.  For me it isn't that he did all of these things but it is more who he was as a person and the philosophy that he espoused.


So many of us artists talk about the same things, following your dreams, think out of the box.  We are all saying the same thing.  Here was a man who followed those ideas with gusto and encouraged us to do the same.


Here is the TED talk aka Steve Jobs commencement address at Stanford University.  If you have seen this before watch it again, it is that good. Then save it and watch it in those times where you doubt yourself.


Here are a few favorite quotes attributed to Steve.


Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary

"The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle."    I love this, never settle keep searching for the thing that makes your hearts sing.   

"Have the courage to follow your heart and your intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. "   I so strongly believe this that I wear a necklace that says Follow Your Heart. Its a reminder in case I forget.

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”  


This innovator and creative visionary will be sorely missed.