Samuel Okoruwa
Steve Jobs is the gold standard for many entrepreneurs around the world. The story of how he co-founded Apple and built it into what it into a billion dollar company serves as an inspiration for many. While he was alive, he touched many with powerful words and many of the things he said still hold true for entrepreneurs today. If you’re an entrepreneur looking for inspiration, here are 20 quotes by one of technology’s brightest minds.
1. “For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”
2. “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”
3. “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And 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. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”
4. “I’ve always been attracted to the more revolutionary changes. I don’t know why. Because they’re harder. They’re much more stressful emotionally. And you usually go through a period where everybody tells you that you’ve completely failed.”
5. “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.”
6. “Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”
7. “I’m as proud of many of the things we haven’t done as the things we have done. Innovation is saying no to a thousand things.”
8. “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”
9. “My model for business is The Beatles: They were four guys that kept each others’ negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts.”
10. “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
11. “It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fooling people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do.”
12. “Picasso had a saying: ‘Good artists copy, great artists steal.’ We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.”
13. “That’s been one of my mantras—focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex; you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.”
14. “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful…that’s what matters to me.”
15. “Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them.”
16. “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”
17. “I’m convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”
18. “My favorite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.”
19. “Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow know what you truly want to become.”
20. “Sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.”
Were you inspired for more creativity and innovation in your business. If so, share with us some insights in the comment section below.
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