Steve Job's Legacy: Design Your Own Life By Nilofer Merchant
I bumped into this article on pulse. I love it so much that I wrote it as the original. Enjoy!!!
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While there are many things worth celebrating of Steve Job's life, the greatest gift Steve gave us is a way to design our own lives.
Steve Jobs was known for being a design god who sweated experience, and pixels and, well everything. "Design", he once said, "is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But, of course, if you dig deeper, it's how it really works. You have to grok what it is all about."
In our society, thinking for ourselves is not highly valued. Our education model was designed with 19th century more than the 21st century in mind. It reinforces fitting in and suppresses much of the natural creativity we start with. That's how we go from drawing and acting and make-believe to PowerPoint. If we allow creativity at all, it is limited to arts and sports. "Real work" has us looking like a Dilbert character. Between the pressures of our teachers, parents, and ultimately co-workers, we often give up any search for personal meaning as we aim to belong to a tribe. After a while, we may not even believe we have something unique to offer. Rather than figure out what we are each about, far too many of us live within the boxes others define.
But when we define ourselves by what others want, we are trying to kiss a moving butt. To live in a box defined by someone else is to deny our uniqueness. Each of us is standing in a spot no one else occupies. That unique perspective is born of our accumulated experience, perspective, and our vision. When we deny these things, we deny that which only we can bring to the situation, our onlyness. And that is surely not the way the world is made better.
I'm reminded of the ad copy Steve initiated when he returned to Apple:
But he knows that his journey was to apply what only he could - from his meticulous design methodology, to re imaging computing, to building a different type of company. He realized - and showed us - that our real job is not to conform to what others think. Instead, we need to recognize that our life's goal is to find our own unique way in the world, to find the way we move from being kiss-ass to being kick-ass.
That is the fundamental gift of Steve Jobs. His insane greatness was to find his own journey and to live his life this way. He didn't worry about being weird; he only wanted to be himself.
I have been in love with Apple products since my first Apple II, which I practically bought with quarters and nickles earned in small increments. I grew up picking apricots on the property where Apple buildings now stand. I worked at Apple during the dark days, as alumni refer to the years between Steve Jobs' departure and then his much-needed return. He was competitive, sure but mostly against himself. And that, too, is a lesson for us. It has been an honor to use his products, and it was an honor to work at his company. But the greatest honor has been to emulate what he showed us by his life. That each of us must find our own path. The unmarked path.
So I ask you to join me in honoring Steve's greatness not by trying to be Steve, but by trying to be your greatest self.
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For me, it is actually an inspirational speech and love it so much. Here is the movie called "Pirate of Silicon Valley" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168122/) about the rivalry between Steve and Bill, who both changed the era of computing so much.
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While there are many things worth celebrating of Steve Job's life, the greatest gift Steve gave us is a way to design our own lives.
Steve Jobs was known for being a design god who sweated experience, and pixels and, well everything. "Design", he once said, "is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But, of course, if you dig deeper, it's how it really works. You have to grok what it is all about."
In our society, thinking for ourselves is not highly valued. Our education model was designed with 19th century more than the 21st century in mind. It reinforces fitting in and suppresses much of the natural creativity we start with. That's how we go from drawing and acting and make-believe to PowerPoint. If we allow creativity at all, it is limited to arts and sports. "Real work" has us looking like a Dilbert character. Between the pressures of our teachers, parents, and ultimately co-workers, we often give up any search for personal meaning as we aim to belong to a tribe. After a while, we may not even believe we have something unique to offer. Rather than figure out what we are each about, far too many of us live within the boxes others define.
But when we define ourselves by what others want, we are trying to kiss a moving butt. To live in a box defined by someone else is to deny our uniqueness. Each of us is standing in a spot no one else occupies. That unique perspective is born of our accumulated experience, perspective, and our vision. When we deny these things, we deny that which only we can bring to the situation, our onlyness. And that is surely not the way the world is made better.
I'm reminded of the ad copy Steve initiated when he returned to Apple:
Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They are not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. (Apple Inc.)The problem with being a rebel, a misfit, a troublemaker is that masses will not be cheering on you on. Rosa Parks might be a heroine today, but at that time she lost her job. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr both had huge dissension within their own communities. It took Jobs years to come up with a turnaround strategy that showed what Apple could do. People forget the years between 1996-2001 where much of the market called him more insane, than insanely great.
But he knows that his journey was to apply what only he could - from his meticulous design methodology, to re imaging computing, to building a different type of company. He realized - and showed us - that our real job is not to conform to what others think. Instead, we need to recognize that our life's goal is to find our own unique way in the world, to find the way we move from being kiss-ass to being kick-ass.
That is the fundamental gift of Steve Jobs. His insane greatness was to find his own journey and to live his life this way. He didn't worry about being weird; he only wanted to be himself.
I have been in love with Apple products since my first Apple II, which I practically bought with quarters and nickles earned in small increments. I grew up picking apricots on the property where Apple buildings now stand. I worked at Apple during the dark days, as alumni refer to the years between Steve Jobs' departure and then his much-needed return. He was competitive, sure but mostly against himself. And that, too, is a lesson for us. It has been an honor to use his products, and it was an honor to work at his company. But the greatest honor has been to emulate what he showed us by his life. That each of us must find our own path. The unmarked path.
So I ask you to join me in honoring Steve's greatness not by trying to be Steve, but by trying to be your greatest self.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For me, it is actually an inspirational speech and love it so much. Here is the movie called "Pirate of Silicon Valley" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168122/) about the rivalry between Steve and Bill, who both changed the era of computing so much.
Data Mapping Tables in ERD
Suppose we have a hundreds of tables in the database, and the database is highly normalized and it has hundreds of relationships among the tables. In order for a developer to look for the tables, columns and relationships between tables would be really tedious in such a case. I came up with an idea that it would be nice if there is auto-data mapping program. It is not perfect, but it is still helpful to extent.
Data Mapping Between Tables in ERD
Data Mapping Between Tables in ERD
Design Patterns
It has been a while since I last wrote. Only recently did I start to realize that design patterns are important for a program (software) to be fully utilizable or reusable.
What makes a difference between a good and bad software is the design patterns, I believe. I have been planning on buying a book about Design Patterns from Gang Of Four, but never have a chance to put it into action yet :) (Still, I am saving money.) I do know that this book will help me a lot. I also recommend others to buy this book if you are a .Net developer.
Things will be busy, but I will try to write as soon as I can find some free time. Blogging has become part of my life; yes, sometimes I think I can't do without it :)
What makes a difference between a good and bad software is the design patterns, I believe. I have been planning on buying a book about Design Patterns from Gang Of Four, but never have a chance to put it into action yet :) (Still, I am saving money.) I do know that this book will help me a lot. I also recommend others to buy this book if you are a .Net developer.
Things will be busy, but I will try to write as soon as I can find some free time. Blogging has become part of my life; yes, sometimes I think I can't do without it :)
Paradoxes
According to Wikipedia, "A paradox is a seemingly true statement or group of statements that lead to a contradiction or a situation which seems to defy logic or intuition." Sometimes, a paradox points out the dilemma, where two view-points or statements contradict each other.
One of the famous paradoxes is Russell's Paradox:
"Let R be the set of all sets that are not members of themselves. If R qualifies as a member of itself, it would contradict its own definition as a set containing all sets that are not members of themselves. On the other hand, if such a set is not a member of itself, it would qualify as a member of itself by the same definition."
Similarly,
"If God can do everything, He will be able to create a stone that he cannot lift. Then, He cannot lift that stone. Therefore, God cannot do everything."
In fact, whenever a statement refer to the absolute collective or general situation, such as everything, or anything, there may be a paradox. For example:
"Killing a living being is bad". Without referring to the situation or the circumstance, that statement cannot be a valid argument. However, "The Intention of killing a living being is bad" is a valid argument.
One of the famous paradoxes is Russell's Paradox:
"Let R be the set of all sets that are not members of themselves. If R qualifies as a member of itself, it would contradict its own definition as a set containing all sets that are not members of themselves. On the other hand, if such a set is not a member of itself, it would qualify as a member of itself by the same definition."
Similarly,
"If God can do everything, He will be able to create a stone that he cannot lift. Then, He cannot lift that stone. Therefore, God cannot do everything."
In fact, whenever a statement refer to the absolute collective or general situation, such as everything, or anything, there may be a paradox. For example:
"Killing a living being is bad". Without referring to the situation or the circumstance, that statement cannot be a valid argument. However, "The Intention of killing a living being is bad" is a valid argument.
There is always a way to do things better... NOW!!!
It has been a good question as to whether it is better to be goal-oriented or process-oriented. With the goal-oriented mind-set, we focus our ability to achieve our goals. However, the question is if it is over after we achieve our goal. Actually, it has never been easy to say that it is over even if we achieve our goal. Simply because life itself is a process.
Process-oriented mind-set focuses on how we do things, not on what we achieve. We focus our way of doing things and always find a way to improve it. With process-oriented mind-set, we think there is always a way to do things better. In fact, I sincerely believe that it is fundamental driving force to improve ourselves individually or society as a whole.
Experience is the best teacher. Although simple, it points out that the most important aspect of life. Learn from the mistakes and improve them. Personally, I believe that the philosophy of Buddhism is more process-oriented than goal-oriented. In Buddhism, I believe goal is only to give us a sense of direction. The previous life stories of the Buddha shows us how the Buddha made mistakes and how He tried to improve them life after life until He reached the perfection.
However, since we are more attached to the results than to the process itself, we unconsciously incline to be goal-oriented. We naturally believe that we will be happy after we achieve our goal. And then, our goal of happiness has become a mirage. We keep following it but we never reach it.
Instead of focusing on uncertain future, can we not be happy now? Instead of saying "I will be happier and better after this", can we not say "I am happy now to do this." I believe with just a little change of attitude, we can change our lives. Can we not live our life without expecting too much out of it, just to enjoy the every moment of our life, whether it is good or bad. There is always a better way to do things... NOW!!!
Process-oriented mind-set focuses on how we do things, not on what we achieve. We focus our way of doing things and always find a way to improve it. With process-oriented mind-set, we think there is always a way to do things better. In fact, I sincerely believe that it is fundamental driving force to improve ourselves individually or society as a whole.
Experience is the best teacher. Although simple, it points out that the most important aspect of life. Learn from the mistakes and improve them. Personally, I believe that the philosophy of Buddhism is more process-oriented than goal-oriented. In Buddhism, I believe goal is only to give us a sense of direction. The previous life stories of the Buddha shows us how the Buddha made mistakes and how He tried to improve them life after life until He reached the perfection.
However, since we are more attached to the results than to the process itself, we unconsciously incline to be goal-oriented. We naturally believe that we will be happy after we achieve our goal. And then, our goal of happiness has become a mirage. We keep following it but we never reach it.
Instead of focusing on uncertain future, can we not be happy now? Instead of saying "I will be happier and better after this", can we not say "I am happy now to do this." I believe with just a little change of attitude, we can change our lives. Can we not live our life without expecting too much out of it, just to enjoy the every moment of our life, whether it is good or bad. There is always a better way to do things... NOW!!!
Difference
What is the difference between?
Learning vs. Studying
Work vs. Job
Value vs. Price
Wealthy vs. Rich
Healthy vs. Fit
Success vs. Achievement
Failure vs. Loss
Learning vs. Studying
Work vs. Job
Value vs. Price
Wealthy vs. Rich
Healthy vs. Fit
Success vs. Achievement
Failure vs. Loss
