When Steve Jobs Spoke at a High School

 When Steve Jobs was 41 years old, he gave a speech at Palo Alto High School in California. He offered some of his life wisdom to the graduating class. 

He started out by warning the students to remember that the most important things in life are not goal-oriented or materialistic. They are the artistic things, the magical things, the mystical things. He invited them to imagine where they intuitively saw themselves in a year. He encouraged them to nurture these feelings about what they could do with their lives. He suggested that a good way to remember is to look at the sky. 

He said there will be opposition. People will confront them with reasons why they shouldn’t pursue these innate dreams. He also directed a comment to those who don’t have such dreams. He counseled those students to take the time necessary to recapture their dreams if they didn’t have them—before pursuing a path in life that their heart didn’t really want.

He said to be creative, and explained that being creative “equals connecting previously unrelated experiences and insights that others don’t see.” He went on to give the example that he would share later in a commencement address at Stanford. When he was in collage, he took a calligraphy class. This class did not promise any future income, and some of his friends commented that he was wasting time taking such a class. But, years later, when he and his team at Apple Computer were creating the Macintosh computer, he applied what he had learned in that class and made sure that computer could have proportionally spaced fonts and a variety of fonts.

Steve concluded this story by encouraging the students to pursue experiences and to follow their heart, even if they didn’t know where this would lead in the future. 

He warned the students to not be a career. He said that the idea that work is separate from life is false. He said that it is much better for one to be passionate about both their life and work so that they become one. “Make your avocation your vocation. Make what you love your work.”

Citing his own experience in becoming wealthy, he said that he reached the end of the rainbow, and it was not the reward. The reward he said is crossing the rainbow—it is the journey. If the end of the rainbow is reached, then one must go find another rainbow to cross. 

Continuing the metaphor of a rainbow, he said that the ends of each person’s rainbow are birth and death. He said that both of these are experienced individually—by ourselves. He referred to birth as a miracle and death as a mystery. He said that knowing that he will die is important to him because it makes him want to make the most of his life while his arc is in the sky. 

He closed his message by counseling the students to try to have few regrets. He said that mistakes are not regrets. If one’s intention was good, but they make a mistake, that can still be an enriching experience. Mistakes on the other hand are things that one wishes they did, but didn’t. 

Mark’s Meta and Steve’s Apple

Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, and also produces AR/VR headsets, recently held an event at which Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO, announced three things. These three things were (1) an updated AR/VR headset, (2) AI personalities that they have been creating which are represented by real people, and (3) a new version of smart glasses that they have designed with Ray-Ban. 

When I was watching this keynote, I was reminded of Steve Jobs’ keynotes and thinking during his leadership of Apple after returning to the company. Much like Apple under Steve’s leadership, Mark’s presentation seemed to touch on a few important aspects that helped Apple connect to so many people.

Mark emphasized how the products they’re working on should incorporate into the world we live in and help improve and enhance it. In that sense, it reminds me of what Steve Jobs said—how Apple’s goal was to be at the intersection of technology and the humanities. 

Another thing that reminded me of Apple and Steve Jobs’ view was when Mark made this statement: “Our goal is to continue to lead in the developing state of the art on this, and also to continue leading on bringing the best devices to everyone.”

As recored in Walter Isaacson’s biography, Steve Jobs expressed this sentiment: “I love it when you can bring really great design and simple capability to something that doesn’t cost much. It was the original vision for Apple. That’s what we tried to do with the first Mac. That’s what we did with the iPod.”

Steve Jobs was all about getting great products into as many hands as possible, going for market share. And that’s what they did. In fact, at one point before his return to Apple Steve Jobs commented on why Apple was doing so poorly. He said that the leadership had gotten greedy and had begun pricing products outrageously. He said that they got away with it for a while, but eventually it caught up.

Steve said that the focus had switched from making money to make great products to making products to make money. He said that it’s a very subtle shift in thinking, but it makes all the difference.

Meta’s efforts to make great products with the latest innovations and make them accessible to a large audience is admirable. I think it’s one that Apple should be taking. Apple’s prices have been increasing, and their flagship product in the AR/VR headset space is priced at a hard-to-reach spot for most people. 

Meta is not Apple. One could argue that Meta does not have the same quality as Apple in terms of the refinement of their product. But there’s something they’re doing right here. That is making an effort to put great technology into as many hands as possible—not just wealthy hands.

Content is the Soul

I have never been in love with graphic design. For years—during school and my professional career following—I have struggled to focus on what I’ve been designing because I have been so focused on the design itself. 

My education and training in graphic design was invaluable. I learned principles of graphic design that have improved my work far beyond what I was creating before studying it at university. However, the focus on the look of what I was designing has blinded me from seeing what I was designing. 

Steve Jobs was the co-founder of Apple, the company that brought to the world incredible electronic devices including the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Under his direction, Apple embraced the belief that products should be great—they should work great and look great. In his last keynote address at an Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in 2011, Steve Jobs talked about the relationship between the hardware of their devices, and the software inside them. He said, “If the hardware is the brain and sinew of our products, the software in them is their soul.”

Basically he was saying that the hardware—the physical product and the mechanical parts that made it work—is like a body. The software—the content and tools within that hardware—is like the soul. 

When it comes to design—whether that be graphic design, product design, marketing design, book design, editorial design, etc.—I believe it is like the hardware, or the body. We care about what things look like. But ultimately it is their content that can either enhance attraction or push us away. 

Design is the body. Content is the soul. I realized that this is why I feel so dissatisfied with some jobs as a graphic designer. If the content is not compelling to me, it does not matter how good I make it look. I will still struggle to be drawn to it, and to be interested in what I’m doing. 

On the other hand, if I love the content, producing excellent design to enhance that content is invigorating and exciting. 

I believe anyone is lovable, despite what they look like. And that is because they have a soul. My advice to designers is to find the content you love, and then enhance it with what you can bring to the table.

Design is the body. Content is the soul. 

The Desire to be Great

One day, the mother of James and John approached Jesus Christ with a request. Jesus essentially said, “What is it that you would like?” She then said, “Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.” 

Jesus responded saying that they didn’t know what they were asking. He said, are you able to drink the cup that I should drink, and be baptized with the same baptism? They confirmed that they could.

Jesus then said, yes, they could do that, but being able to sit on his right and left hand wasn’t something He could give them. It is something that will be given from Heavenly Father to those who are prepared. 

When Jesus’ other disciples hear this, they weren’t very happy with James and John. Seeing this, Jesus gathered them together to teach them all something. 

He reminded them of the leaders of the non-Jewish people, and essentially said, “You know how these leaders exercise authority over those under them? That’s not the way it will be with you. You want to be great? Be a minister. You want to be prominent? Be a servant. This is what I came to do. I didn’t come to be ministered to. I came to minister, and to give my life for other people.”

How does that apply to us? What are reasons that we want to be great? Is it wrong to want to be great? How can ministering, or serving, others make us great?

It sounds to me like it is okay to have a desire to be great, but we should steer that desire into serving other people. Who is a great person? A faithful ministering brother or sister. Someone who looks out for other people. Someone who gives his or her time to another person. That’s what Jesus Christ did. And He was great. 

Ways to “Come Unto Christ”

The invitation “come unto Christ” is an invitation to become like Him. Here are some examples of ways I can become like Him:

• Accept or seek out every good thing that comes from Heavenly Father
• Don’t accept or seek out things that are “evil gifts”
• Don’t touch things that are not clean (spiritually speaking)
• Wake up
• Be alert
• Keep temple covenants
• Do what I can to strengthen the stake and ward I am in
• Enlarge the borders of my capacities, friendships, love
• Repent and turn to Christ to make up for where I cannot make up, and eventually become perfect with His help
• Deny myself of ungodliness; spoil myself with godliness
• Love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ with every corner of my mind
• Love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ by using my physical and spiritual strength to do good things
• Love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ with the power that comes from being able to be the only one to make choices for my life

When I come to Christ completely, I then qualify for the grace He offers those who do. His grace is enough that I can be perfect—not alone, but “in Him.” By leaving evil and loving God, I meet His standard for receiving His reward: helping me where I have fallen short and thereby making me perfect.

My Favorite Chapters in the Book of Mormon (Part 1)

Here is a list of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon as of right now, and also why I like them:

• 1 Nephi 8 (because its metaphors give clear direction for the journey of my life)
• 2 Nephi 2 (because of its explanation of God's plan for my return to Him, and the doctrine of agency)
• 2 Nephi 9 (because of its explanation of what Christ did on my behalf)
• 2 Nephi 29 (because it reminds me to embrace all good and to not try to limit God)
• 2 Nephi 31 (because of its clear direction with actual words spoken by both Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father)
• Jacob 2 (because it teaches me priorities and how to interact with other people)
• Jacob 4 (because it gives a clear definition of truth)
• Mosiah 3 (because of its explanation of the type of person I should become)
• Mosiah 4 (because of its record of people repenting and the result)
• Mosiah 18 (because it give an example of unity between members of the Church)
• Mosiah 24 (because it gives an example of a good way to respond to difficult circumstances)

People I Admire

Here’s a list of some of the people I admire:

• Steve Jobs (his vision and pursuit of the most correct and best answers)
• Bill Watterson (maintaining the integrity of his work, not chasing money, not pursuing the spotlight)
• Gordon B. Hinckley (his positivity)
• Thomas S. Monson (his selfless service)
• Russell M. Nelson (his attention to detail and great life work)
• My dad (his integrity and willingness to give his time)
• My mom (her pursuit to show love to her children in her unobtrusive way)
• My boss, D.G. (his thoughtfulness and ability to remain calm)