When I Grow Up I’ll Be…

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In 1976 Apple was started by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. In 1985. Steve was fired and publically humiliated.

For weeks, Jobs spent time in his dark room. He didn’t contact anyone. He didn’t go out. He didn’t eat much.

We all know this isn’t how the story ends.

Oftentimes I’ve found myself being deterred from paths for certain reasons:

1. OPINION

If I do “X,” then “Y” will think I’m weird (add in the insult you’re scared of receiving). This dogma will leave you in analysis paralysis. Tim Ferriss has a great quote:

“Thinking outside of the box is too passive. You must act outside of the box.”

Thinking keeps you in your head. Acting puts you in your body. Acting puts energy in motion. An object in motion will stay in motion. Unless an external force is acted upon the object.

There’s going to be many external focuses stopping or encouraging a certain path. One of the most influential ones for me is money.

2. MONEY

Google how much a writer makes. “That’s not enough.”

Google how much an engineer makes. “That looks good. Maybe I should do that!”

Google how much…

These are all assumptions I play into. Some writers are worth $0. Some are worth $1 billion (J.K. Rowling).

I read the average millionaire has seven streams of income. A salary is one.

3. LIMITED BELIEFS

School is the only time where you need to do everything, be everything.

You have to be the numbers person. You have to be the creative person. You have to be the people person.

You can’t outsource your math homework. You can’t outsource art class. You can’t outsource presentations.

In life this doesn’t ring true. In fact, the most successful individuals delegate all of the other parts in order to focus on their strengths.

Don’t believe you can’t do something because you aren’t an expert in ALL of the areas.

4. PAIN

Starting is the hardest part. For one, I suck when I start. Two, it’s painful to suck.

A common habit many are attempting to adopt right now is working out. They want to get in shape for the beach.

If you are aiming to get in shape for others. You won’t triumph past this pain. If you have internal reasons. You will.

Loving what you’re doing is one of these internal reasons.

5. LOVE

>What got Jobs out of bed when all he wanted to do was be in the dark alone? Love.

After some time Jobs realized building computers was what he LOVED to do. He started a competitor to Apple called NeXT.

Every day since Jobs would look at himself in the mirror and ask: “Am I about to do what I love?”
If the answer too many times was no. He knew he had to change.

On Dec. 20th, 1996 Apple bought NeXT for $429 million and 1.5 million shares of Apple stock.

Jobs heard a story about Mark Zuckerberg (I’m about to share) that made an extreme impression. Later Jobs became Mark’s mentor. Spending many walks in Palo Alto together.

Twenty-two-year-old Mark Zuckerberg walked into a meeting with Peter Thiel (co-founder of PayPal) and Jim Beyer. The three owned Facebook.

Yahoo! had just offered them $1 billion. Facebook was making about $30 million dollars and had $0 in profit.

While Mark was approaching the table of two. He began to explain that this was just a formality and that they weren’t going to sell, of course.

“Mark, you own 25 percent, you won’t have to work another day.” Peter said.

Mark continued “If I sold it. I’d just want to start another social media. I love what I do.”

Peter and Jim were rather shocked. Mark explained that Yahoo! didn’t have the vision that he had for Facebook. He had a vision that motivated and inspired others for a better future.

The three decided together not to sell. They were ridiculed by experts.

In a recent interview Peter said “It’s funny. Most thought it was an immature decision of a 22-year-old at the time. However, Yahoo! had offered two other companies $1 billion. eBay and Google. They both declined.”