What I Learned from Steve Jobs

I had the pleasure of reading this interview Steve Jobs gave in 1985 to Playboy Magazine.  It’s clear from the interview that he is a man of passion, who lives his life to his fullest.  It really takes a special person to create a company as wonderful and innovative as Apple.  It takes years of strenuous work and non-stop intensity.  That’s not for me, nor is the reward something that I would want for myself given the price.  But clearly, in my quest to retire at a very young age, I’ve lost the ability to live in the present — to enjoy the here and now.  I don’t believe I live every day to its fullest.  Instead, I sit around in my office doing work I’d rather not be doing.  All for the sake of continuing to earn a high salary so I can retire in a few years.

When the time comes, I’m not even sure if I can just quit.  It may be very difficult to walk away from a big paycheck.  In essence, this is the purest notion of golden handcuffs — my life or a fistful of money.  I’m on a relatively fast track at my firm.  If I work hard and stick it out, I should make partner.  I should make the big bucks.  My projected lifetime earnings is very high and walking away in a few years will be like walking away from 80-90% of that total.  But staying will impose a significant cost to my lifespan, happiness, and sense of fulfillment.  I hope that when the time comes, I can recognize the personal toll my job takes from me and realize that I can earn all of that back by walking away.

Steve Jobs never cared about money.  He cared about pursuing his passion.  I care about money and don’t know what my passion is.  I want to live more like how Steve lived.

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