With the recent passing of Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple, there has been an influx of articles and YouTube videos broadcast over Facebook and the news. One such YouTube video I saw inspired me to write again after a rather long hiatus. It was a poignant address Jobs gave at the 2005 Stanford commencement. He referred to a publication called The Whole Earth Catalogue, ‘one of the bibles of my generation’, said Jobs. On the back cover of the final issue of the Catalogue were the words; Stay hungry. Stay foolish. Since he read this in the mid-70’s, Jobs wished this for himself, and on that buoyant, sunny June afternoon, he wished this for his listeners.
Today’s blog concerns the first part of this bite of advice—Stay hungry. So what did Jobs mean when he said this? Well, if you ask me, stay hungry means:
Do something that keeps you curious. Be authentic to yourself—if you’re not hungry, then it’s someone else’s quest. Listen to your intuition. Be inspired to get out of bed. Be unsatiated in the face of the mundane, the tedious and the tiring. Continue in spite of the messy details. Understand that the hurdles are just there for a short time and will be overcome when you keep your mind set on the task at hand. It’s not just about immediate gratification—it’s longer term. It keeps you strong, but is beyond strength. When you stay hungry for something it’s a sign that this is part of your greater purpose.
When I’m hungry for something I’m not forcing myself to do it. I’m doing it because it feels natural, uncontrived. I’ve been reading The 7 Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra recently and this brought to mind the 4th law called, The Law of Least Effort. The underlying principles of this law sound familiar: do less and accomplish more, have clarity for what you wish to accomplish. Neither the good nor the bad opinion of others is of concern. Feelings of superiority or inferiority are immaterial. The trivial and the mundane are tangential. Rather, you feel inspired and naturally pursue your goal, without resistance.
So for the readers out there to whom the above appeals, but who don’t feel hungry enough, perhaps asking the following questions will assist you in finding what you are hungry for:
1. What would you do, even if you were not paid?
2. a) Grab a blank sheet of paper, on the top write My Purpose and brainstorm below. But don’t stop until there is a tear in your eye. (This is a powerful exercise. It can be highly cathartic.)
Let me provide an example:
My Purpose:
o to know myself
o to accept myself
o to let go of the script
o to entertain
o to trust others
o to trust myself
o to support
o to be so free that I allow for other’s freedom
o to lose some inhibition
o ….and so forth….
2. b)If you are having difficulty discovering where this leads, follow this with the question: So that, what?
As an example, I may realize that my purpose is to feel free enough to be myself, so that I may be able to ‘get out of my own way’, thereby providing the optimum therapeutic setting for my clients.
3. What would you do if you had only one year to live?
4. Remembering back to when you were a child, what did you want to do when you were 4? 8? 13? 16?
5. What did you love to do as a child for fun?
6. When you go to a bookstore, what aisles do you feel naturally drawn to? Is it interior design, gardening, languages, business, photography or health?
7. Think of times in your life when you were ‘on fire’ or ‘in the zone’. What were you doing? Were you playing an instrument, writing, listening, or designing?
Hopefully these exercises offer a fresh perspective on your own life as it is, not saying that you have to make a career change (sorry if this became an expensive exercise!). But perhaps you can include an activity in your life that you feel an affinity for—that keeps you hungry.
Join in next time to Stay foolish.
