Just love a brand new year don’t you? A fresh chapter, an opportunity to regroup, re-energise, re-set the button on life. Health, wealth, relationships, lifestyle, knowledge, career, spiritual – whatever the focus, a chance to make good, improve or simply enhance with one or two resolutions.
Given my 2016 New Year Resolution list was heavy on self-indulgence – Netflix marathons to catch up on missed gigs; French lessons to grapple the lingo; monthly massages to iron out tired muscles and so on – found myself in serious need of a tad more challenge. A Google journey brought up Richard Branson’s latest. I’m not talking the ‘fly to the moon’ stuff here, I’m talking the more gentle stuff. Read on for a few life changing options…
Big week ahead? Well you’re gonna need a tad of inspiration to kick start that kick ass attitude of yours now aren’t you. Well here’s my top 12 favourite Steve Jobs quotes chosen just for you…
About that job of yours
“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.”
“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.”
If you haven’t found it yet
“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow know what you truly want to become.”
“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.”
Fearing failure?
“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.”
“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.”
Quality in all that you do
“When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.”
“Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.”
For when it’s getting scary
“I’m convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”
“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.”
Focus my friend, focus
“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.”
And remember…
“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”
