Steve Jobs commissioned a yacht to be built prior to his death. That yacht was not finished before his demise and was recently impounded due to a financial dispute. In Walter Isaacson's biography of Jobs, the late Apple CEO is quoted as saying that, "I know that it's possible I will die and leave Laurene with a half-built boat, but I have to keep going on. If I don't, it's an admission that I'm about to die." Steve Jobs actually has quite a number of profound statements to his credit. However, this is one that albeit the intent is accurate the actual wording is incorrect.
We should all have a keen awareness that we are going to die. As a matter of fact, in his now famous Stanford commencement speech, Jobs himself attested to the reality that death is the greatest motivator. Judaism tells us that we should all view every day as if it is our last day. God forbid this should be but if it were, how would we want to have lived that day. What I believe was Steve Jobs' intent was to not go on living even though I am about to die would be quitting. That is something that we should never do. He understood that regardless of how much time he had left he needed to move forward. This is something that we all need to be real with. Every day is another opportunity to accomplish. Regardless of how old we are or how tired we have grown we must never give in to the desire to coast and rest through our lives. Retirement is a luxury that should only be a release from having to earn a living but not from living. Every day ask ourselves what am I going to accomplish today and what do I want to achieve in the future. Each day brings a new step towards our destination in life. That destination is unknown and can not be quantified in regards to a specific level of achievement or financial stability. The destination is the culmination of our entire lives, the summation of a continuous and consistent series of small but grand steps. Don't worry about wether that future will exist or not, that is nothing more than an excuse to do nothing. FYI, the yacht was subsequently released.
We should all have a keen awareness that we are going to die. As a matter of fact, in his now famous Stanford commencement speech, Jobs himself attested to the reality that death is the greatest motivator. Judaism tells us that we should all view every day as if it is our last day. God forbid this should be but if it were, how would we want to have lived that day. What I believe was Steve Jobs' intent was to not go on living even though I am about to die would be quitting. That is something that we should never do. He understood that regardless of how much time he had left he needed to move forward. This is something that we all need to be real with. Every day is another opportunity to accomplish. Regardless of how old we are or how tired we have grown we must never give in to the desire to coast and rest through our lives. Retirement is a luxury that should only be a release from having to earn a living but not from living. Every day ask ourselves what am I going to accomplish today and what do I want to achieve in the future. Each day brings a new step towards our destination in life. That destination is unknown and can not be quantified in regards to a specific level of achievement or financial stability. The destination is the culmination of our entire lives, the summation of a continuous and consistent series of small but grand steps. Don't worry about wether that future will exist or not, that is nothing more than an excuse to do nothing. FYI, the yacht was subsequently released.
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