One of my favourite genres of books to read is biographies. I love learning about people’s stories; their upbringing, their conditions, their successes and most importantly their failures. Digging deep into people’s stories, helps me gain a deeper perspective of the one sided version of success that we are so used to seeing.

One of my favourite biographies that I have ever read is Steve jobs by Walter Isaacson. Isaacson created a compelling, unbiased and motivating piece of work about the worlds most successful visionary - who we all know as Steve Jobs.

For this weeks blog, I wanted to share how Steve Jobs perceived death, how his perception would be a foundational pillar to his success, how I implemented Jobs’s wisdom in my life and what it has done for me. I hope you guys enjoy, thank you!

On page 461 Isaacson writes:

In Ancient Rome, when a victorious general paraded through the streets, legend has it that he was sometimes trailed by a servant whose job it was to repeat to him, Memento mori” : Remember you will die. A reminder of mortality would help the hero keep things in perspective, instill some humility.  Jobs’s memento mori had been delivered by his doctors, but it did not instill humility. Instead he roared back after his recovery with even more passion. The illness reminded him that he had nothing to lose, so he should forge ahead full speed. “He came back on a mission,” said Cook. “Even though he was running a large company, he kept making bold moves that I don’t think anybody else would have done.” One of the reasons why Jobs was able to be the visionary he was and how he was able to revolutionize the world through technology was largely due to how he viewed death.

During his speech at Stanford in 2011 Jobs said to the audience: 

“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.

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. 

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it, and that is how it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.”

To me, the innovator we all know as Steve Jobs, is one of the most iconic, influential and groundbreaking people to have ever stepped foot on the planet. Between his work as being Apple’s CEO, his involvement at NeXT, his contributions to lifting Pixar to new levels and helping create monumental products such as the iPod, iPhone, iPad, he has helped transform how we view and use technology today. Jobs was and always will be known as a visionary and a revolutionary. One of the ways in which he created this level of success and impact was how he viewed death as motivation to be bold, to dream big, to make mistakes, to try, to fail, to not take things too seriously and to follow your heart.

Since reading Steve Jobs biography, I built the habit of reminding myself to remember I will die one day. Thinking about this has allowed me to make massive changes and decisions in my life. I’m extremely nervous and scared of starting this new journey where I will be presenting myself to the world. I have so much anxiety surrounding the what if’s. What if people make fun of me? What if people don’t resonate with my messages? What if people leave rude and hurtful comments on my content? My anxiety goes through the roof when I think about putting myself out there in a world where there’s so much hate, judgement and negativity. However when I remind myself that I too will die one day all those insecurities and fears feel so small in comparison to death. When I remind myself that one day I’ll die, it pushes me to be fearless, to actually go after my dreams, to take risk because one day I am not going to be here and that little piece of information reminds me that I truly only have one life and I am not going to live this life based on other people’s opinions and the excuses and fears that I create in my mind.

Go after what you believe in, fall in love, be happy, take risks, do what you’re passionate about, don’t worry about the naysayers and what they will think about you. It doesn’t matter, they are not living this one life for you. When you remind yourself of death it will push you to make those big leaps of faith, it will remind you what’s really important, which is you and your happiness. Looking at death will give the courage to go out and live this one life how you want to live it. 

Try this for yourself. Next time you are feeling scared or worried about making a life altering decision remind yourself one day I am going to die and watch the fearless passion and motivation kick in.