Apple, Steve Jobs & Dying

For the past 15 years virtually every video project and short film I’ve produced has been edited on an Apple computer, and 99% of every Screenwriting from Iowa post has been written on an Apple. Yes, I think the Apple iPhone is one great useful invention. And I’m sure someday I’ll even warm up to Final Cut Pro X, because I remember how I thought Apple was making a big mistake when back in the day they started making computers without floppy disks. So with great interest I’ve followed the career and innovations of Steve Jobs, and it saddened me to hear just a few days ago that he was stepping down from his CEO position at Apple.

But when Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer several years ago I’m not sure he even thought he’d be around in the year 2011. 

“When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: ‘If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.’ It made an impression on me, and since then, 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.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”
Steve Jobs
Stanford University Commencement Address June 12, 2005

Related Posts:
Don’t Waste Your Life
Don’t Waste Yoru Life (Part 2)

Scott W. Smith