Life Lessons from Steve Jobs

1. Steve Jobs said: “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”



Innovation has no limits. The only limit is your imagination. It’s time for you to begin thinking out of the box. If you are involved in a growing industry, think of ways to become more efficient; more customer friendly; and easier to do business with. If you are involved in a shrinking industry – get out of it quick and change before you become obsolete; out of work; or out of business. And remember that procrastination is not an option here. Start innovating now!




2. Steve Jobs said: “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”


There is no shortcut to excellence. You will have to make the commitment to make excellence your priority. Use your talents, abilities, and skills in the best way possible and get ahead of others by giving that little extra. Live by a higher standard and pay attention to the details that really do make the difference. Excellence is not difficult – simply decide right now to give it your best shot – and you will be amazed with what life gives you back.




3. Steve Jobs said: “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”


I’ve got it down to four words: “Do what you love.” Seek out an occupation that gives you a sense of meaning, direction and satisfaction in life. Having a sense of purpose and striving towards goals gives life meaning, direction and satisfaction. It not only contributes to health and longevity, but also makes you feel better in difficult times. Do you jump out of bed on Monday mornings and look forward to the work week? If the answer is ‘no’ keep looking, you’ll know when you find it.



4. Steve Jobs said: “You know, we don’t grow most of the food we eat. We wear clothes other people make. We speak a language that other people developed. We use a mathematics that other people evolved… I mean, we’re constantly taking things. It’s a wonderful, ecstatic feeling to create something that puts it back in the pool of human experience and knowledge.”

Live in a way that is ethically responsible. Try to make a difference in this world and contribute to the higher good. You’ll find it gives more meaning to your life and it’s a great antidote to boredom. There is always so much to be done. And talk to others about what you are doing. Don’t preach or be self-righteous, or fanatical about it, that just puts people off, but at the same time, don’t be shy about setting an example, and use opportunities that arise to let others know what you are doing.




5. Steve Jobs said: “There’s a phrase in Buddhism, ‘Beginner’s mind.’ It’s wonderful to have a beginner’s mind.”


It is the kind of mind that can see things as they are, which step by step and in a flash can realise the original nature of everything. Beginner’s mind is Zen practice in action. It is the mind that is innocent of preconceptions and expectations, judgments and prejudices. Think of beginner’s mind as the mind that faces life like a small child, full of curiosity and wonder and amazement.



6. Steve Jobs said: “We think basically you watch television to turn your brain off, and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on.”


Reams of academic studies over the decades have amply confirmed television’s pernicious mental and moral influences. And most TV watchers know that their habit is mind-numbing and wasteful, but still spend most of their time in front of that box. So turn your TV off and save some brain cells. But be cautious, you can turn your brain off by using a computer also. Try and have an intelligent conversation with someone who plays first person shooters for 8 hours a day. Or auto race games, or role-playing games.



7. Steve Jobs said: “I’m the only person I know that’s lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year…. It’s very character-building.”


Don’t equate making mistakes with being a mistake. There is no such thing as a successful person who has not failed or made mistakes, there are successful people who made mistakes and changed their lives or performance in response to them, and so got it right the next time. They viewed mistakes as warnings rather than signs of hopeless inadequacy. Never making a mistake means never living life to the full.



8. Steve Jobs said: “I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.”


Over the last decade, numerous books featuring lessons from historical figures have appeared on the shelves of bookstores around the world. And Socrates stands with Leonardo da Vinci, Nicholas Copernicus, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein as a beacon of inspiration for independent thinkers. But he came first. Cicero said of Socrates that, “He called philosophy down from the skies and into the lives of men.” So use Socrates’ principles in your life, your work, your learning, and your relationships. It’s not about Socrates, it’s really about you, and how you can bring more truth, beauty and goodness into your life everyday.



9. Steve Jobs said: “We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?”


Did you know that you have big things to accomplish in life? And did you know that those big things are getting rather dusty while you pour yourself another cup of coffee, and decide to mull things over rather than do them? We were all born with a gift to give in life, one which informs all of our desires, interests, passions and curiosities. This gift is, in fact, our purpose. And you don’t need permission to decide your own purpose. No boss, teacher, parent, priest or other authority can decide this for you. Just find that unique purpose.




10. Steve Jobs said: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”



Are you tired of living someone else’s dream? No doubt, its your life and you have every right to spend it in your own individual way without any hurdles or barriers from others. Give yourself a chance to nurture your creative qualities in a fear-free and pressure-free climate. Live a life that YOU choose and be your own boss.



Each lesson might be difficult to integrate into your life at first, but if you ease your way into each lesson, one at a time, you’ll notice an immediate improvement in your overall performance. So go ahead, give them a try.

How Can Coaching Work For You?

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) 2004 UK training and development survey results highlight the widespread use of coaching in organisations. Almost four-fifths of respondents now use coaching in their organisation (79%). Use of coaching as a development tool has seen rapid growth in recent years – in fact 77% of respondents reported that their organisation’s use of coaching has increased in the last few years.

Coaching is part of the new performance-led culture of employment rather than the traditional employment model of job security. It is a process and a solution that suits our times. It is an effective mechanism for enabling an organisation to meet competitive pressures, plan for succession and bring about change. Here are some specific reasons for using coaching.

Benefits of coaching

Benefits for the organisation

· Improve productivity, quality, customer service and shareholder value

· Can gain increased employee commitment and satisfaction, which can lead to improved retention

· Demonstrate to employees that an organisation is committed to developing its staff and helping them improve their skills

· Support employees who’ve been promoted to cope with new responsibilities

· Help employees to sort out personal issues that might otherwise affect performance at work

· Gain a satisfactory process for self-development

· Support other training and development initiatives e.g. reduce ‘leakage’ from training courses

Benefits for the individual

· Learn to solve own problems

· Improve managerial and interpersonal skills

· Have better relationships with colleagues

· Learn how to identify and act on development needs

· Have greater confidence

· Become more effective, assertive in dealing with people

· Have a positive impact on performance

· Have greater self-awareness and gain of new perspectives

· Acquire new skills and abilities

· Develop greater adaptability to change

· Improve work-life balance

· Reduce stress levels

The most common recipients of coaching are junior and middle managers.

Coaching can be delivered by trained external coaches, specialists internal coaches, line managers, peers, members of the HR department, and others. The survey revealed that most organisations are using a mixture of these groups to deliver their coaching activities.

Reasons for using coaching?

A rapidly evolving business environment. Dealing with change is becoming an everyday challenge. The ability to learn and adapt is quickly becoming an essential skill.

The features of modern organisations. Flatter organisational structures, broader management roles and lower job security have also been contributing factors to the growth of coaching. Newly promoted individuals often have to make large step changes in skills, responsibilities and performance.

Lifelong Learning. Coaching has the adaptability to support different learning styles so may be able to support more employees than traditional training methods.

The need for targeted, individualised, just-in-time development.

The financial costs of the poor performance of senior managers/executives. Coaching provides organisations with an opportunity to undertake pre-emptive and proactive interventions to improve their performance.

Improving the decision-making of senior employees. A coach can be used to provide a ‘safe and objective haven’ to discuss issues and give support.

Individual responsibility for development. Coaching can help individuals identify development needs, plan development activities and support personal problem-solving.

Employee demand for different types of training. Research has frequently demonstrated that people are more motivated and learn best when they see that the training is relevant to their job. Coaching, with its focus on work issues and improving job performance, fits in well with this.

Support for other learning and development activities. Coaching is a valuable way of providing ongoing support for personal development plans.

A popular development mechanism. People enjoy participating in coaching.

When to use coaching in organisations

The CIPD has identified some particular organisational situations where coaching may be particularly appropriate as a development intervention: -

Talent Shortages: When organisations are suffering from significant skills shortages, money may be better spent developing the skills of current employees through interventions like coaching, rather than spending a great deal of money recruiting external candidates.

Small or fast-growing businesses: People who initially set up small business don’t necessary have the skills to manage larger businesses and the growing number of people they need to employ. It’s also unlikely that they can be away from work for extended periods of time for development activities. In this situation, coaching can offer targeted, timely development on identified issues/areas that can be fitted into the individual’s busy schedule.

Coaching can deliver long-term performance improvement: Organisations should only invest in coaching when they think it will deliver significant and long-term improvements in individuals’ performance.

Behaviour must be changed in a short time: Organisations should only invest in coaching if they think that the issues that need to be addressed can be achieved in a relatively short time.

During times of organisational change: Periods of major organisational change can require significant shifts in the behaviour and attitudes of some employees in order to fit in with new structures or cultures. Coaching can help individuals make these necessary changes.

Changes in job role: Coaching can help individuals who are moving to a new job that requires different skills and abilities. Coaching can be a valuable short-term intervention to help people adapt and cope with their role change.

Supporting Expatriates: Coaching can offer support for expatriates who have to adjust to a new culture and country. These people often have very specific requirements and they need immediate support as issues arise.

Developing the skills of ‘valuable’ technical experts: Where certain employees have high levels of specific skills and experience (or critical relationships with contractors/suppliers etc), the organisation might have difficulty replacing its human capital. In this situation, it may be more appropriate to provide coaching to these managers to improve or develop some of their other skills (interpersonal/managerial) so that their careers can progress within the organisation.

Support for future leaders or senior executives: Senior managers or executives being groomed for leadership roles may be hesitant to attend training course, as they may feel that they should already have the skills, expertise etc. In this situation, coaching can be a suitable intervention as it is confidential, personal and ‘safe’ development option where the individual is using an objective, external person to help them with their development.

While coaching can be a very effective development tool, as with any learning intervention, it will be most effective when a genuine need for it is identified, and when it is the best development tool for the specific role.

What to do next

With our extensive experience and training in the psychology of change, Human Cognizance coaches possess the unique combination of maturity, professional skills and human qualities required to work with top decision-makers and the leaders of the future, whether they be in commercial or public organisations or running a small company. Such key individuals have the maximum leverage for change – they provide the leadership and role models for the rest of the organisation. They are under the greatest pressure, and are more likely to suffer from stress and an out of balance work/home life.

We also run training courses to train managers/leaders as coaches in order to set up in-house coaching and mentoring schemes.

Conquering Limiting Beliefs

“I’d really love to take six months’ sabbatical and travel, but my boss would never agree to it.”


“I need to buy a bigger house so my family will be more comfortable, but I’ll never find anything in my price range.”


“I’ve always wanted to do a parachute jump, but I know I’ll be too afraid to even get on the plane. Anyway, it’s far too expensive.”

Do you ever think like this? Do you talk yourself out of something you really want, before you even give your dream or desire a chance?

We sometimes make excuses – hundreds of them – to explain why we can’t possibly have the lifestyle, career, or partner we want. And the end result is always the same. We stop short of pursuing that goal or dream, so we prevent ourselves from living life to the maximum and experiencing true fulfillment.

In today’s world of 24-hour TV, 24-hour shopping, and immediate access to every corner of the globe through the Internet, there’s little time – and little incentive – to notice what’s happening in our own minds. We seek other people’s opinions, guidance, and reassurance, but we rarely turn inward and look for those qualities within ourselves.

As a result, we don’t learn to trust ourselves or our judgment. We no longer recognize our instinctive feelings, and we certainly wouldn’t risk acting on them. And because we don’t pay attention to what’s going on in our own heads, we haven’t noticed that our thoughts naturally tend to be negative. For some reason, all but a lucky few people seem to choose a negative reaction first, and then live their lives accordingly.

The good news is that, if we take a few moments to really think about “how” we think, we can change those thoughts – and then change our reactions. And from there, we can change our lives for the better. Each of us has an inner world that we need to acknowledge and then control – because this control leads to a greater sense of our own capabilities and a better understanding of where we may have limited ourselves in the past.

So how do you know your boss won’t give you a sabbatical? Until he says no, it’s always a possibility.

Are you REALLY sure there are no suitable houses in your price range? Have you considered some compromises – for example, renovating a house or building an extension?

And about that parachute jump… If you were strapped to an instructor for a tandem jump, it would be hard to resist!

Do you see that as soon as you refuse to accept the initial negative reaction, opportunities suddenly open up – and what you once considered impossible can instead become possible?

You need to find the evidence to prove that it is possible to do what you want to do, it will be there even if you have to compromise slightly to achieve your dream.

Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.
– Michael Jordan, basketball player

The following exercise has three simple steps to take control of your thoughts. Practice these daily, and you can almost guarantee that your life will soon be different – and better!

Your limits are defined by the agreement you’ve made about what is possible. Change that agreement and you can dissolve all limits.
– Dr. Wayne Dyer (internationally renowned self-development author and speaker)

1. Pay Attention to Your Thoughts

You have thousands of thoughts daily, but I’ll bet you pay attention to only a select few. I’m also sure that those select few thoughts keep reappearing, but they mostly have a negative quality to them. Am I right?

Notice which thoughts you CHOOSE to focus on. Do they help you feel better or worse? Do they move you toward what you want – or take you further away from it?

The more observant and watchful you are about your thoughts, the more you’ll notice where you may be hurting rather than helping yourself.

2. Separate Yourself from Your Thoughts

Very often, you assume that you have no control over your thoughts. You may believe that your thoughts control you. The truth, however, is that you control them. The thoughts don’t need to dictate how you feel, how your day will develop, or how you’ll react to a certain person or situation – if you don’t want them to.

So, separate yourself from your thoughts, and take responsibility for your life and for your reactions and emotions.

3. Take Control of Your Thoughts

Pay attention to what you think, notice what the probable outcome of such continual thoughts will be, and accept that it doesn’t have to be like that. By doing so, you can make a conscious effort to CHOOSE to think only those thoughts that will be beneficial, productive, and positive to you in your life.

You can CHOOSE to focus on the good and the lovely, or you can CHOOSE to keep thinking about discouraging and negative things. It’s all about CHOICE, but only one choice will bring you a greater sense of achievement and peace of mind.

Your thoughts create the life you experience – your reality. You listen to them all day long. Would you choose to spend day after day listening to a critical, rude friend who just makes you feel bad? Of course not. But many of us do just that, without even being aware of it, by letting our negative thoughts take over.

So today, become aware – and decide to be your own best friend. Master your thoughts, rather than letting them master you, and notice how much better you feel!

Say Goodbye to Procrastination For Good

Procrastination - probably the number one cause for people to be disorganized, for not achieving what they want, for not being the best they could be. What people don't realize, however, is you only need the right tools to conquer it.

In today's current economic climate it is well worth planning ahead and setting yourself some goals to either new goals or maintain the current state of others. This means you have to get off your backside and do something now in order to stay ahead of the game.

Let's brush away the reasons why you might be procrastinating and we will basically leave you with no excuse to simply get on with it.

"I haven't got the time right now."

This is the most popular excuse for procrastinators. The thing is you are probably right. You have not got the whole block of time it takes to tackle the spare room, or the whole of the ironing pile, or the complete reorganization of the kitchen. But you have got 10 minutes, or maybe even 20 or 30. And that is all it takes to make a start. Start by sorting through one box, ironing 10 or 20 items, tackling one single drawer. And if you do that every day, you will realize that you are making slow but steady progress.

If you find yourself still procrastinating, then there must be other, deeper rooted reasons behind that. These possible other reasons fall into two categories, ones concerning the project itself, the others your personality style.

First, let's look at the project itself. The project might be perceived as:

1. Threatening
2. Too difficult
3. Boring
4. Impossible to finish
5. Waste of time

1. If a project or the outcome of the project is perceived as threatening, thoughts like "I'm in trouble if I get this wrong" might be going through your head. In this case a natural reaction is not to start the project at all or not to progress beyond a certain point so as to avoid failure. In cases like this make sure you have all the facts right.

Ask questions:

"What is the worst thing that could happen - realistically?" "How likely is this to happen?"

"What exactly do I need to do to get it right?"

"Have I got all the skills and abilities to do this project?" - If the answer is no, then you should probably consider to get someone to help.

2. If you think a project is too difficult, you might never start it. Sit down and think about what is difficult. Are you just unsure of how to start and how to break the project into smaller manageable chunks? Find an expert on the subject, someone who has done a similar project before and ask for help.

3. If you think a project is boring, try and make it more interesting, See how much you can achieve in a certain amount of time. And then for the next chunk, see if you can beat your previous record. Or put some of your favorite music on while you work.

4. If you think a project is impossible to finish, either it's the type of project that literally never ends (like housework) or it is a very large project. Again, breaking it up into smaller portions will help. Set yourself a daily target.

5. Finally, if you consider the project a waste of time, re-evaluate it. Does it really need to be done? Is it simply one of those jobs that need to be redone on a regular basis like tidying up or ironing. Use one of the solutions from number 4 to get the job done. Some jobs do seem to be a waste of time but we would sink into crud and chaos if we didn't do them at all.

The second set of reasons is to do with someone's personality. These could be:

1. Perfectionism
2. Thriving on adrenaline
3. Lack of self confidence
4. Internalized negatives
5. Externalized positives

Let's look at these hurdles to getting things done in detail, see what they are about and how they manifest and what you can do about them.

1. A lot of people have a perfectionist trait. This kind of mindset is fine if that perfect condition is feasible and you have a good track record of starting and finishing your projects. If you don't, then your perfectionism is probably an excuse for not starting the project at all.

2. "I work better under pressure." We all know people like that and we might have used that phrase ourselves. Again, there are two ways of dealing with this.

Number one, it's a good excuse not to start until the last possible moment, and it's simply a way to put things off. Divide your project into segments and do one each day until it's done.

Number two, if you literally work better under pressure, and some of us do, then make the project more challenging. Set mini-goals with a shorter deadline. This way you keep yourself on your toes but are still making timely progress towards your end goal.

Also, get a project buddy. Tell someone about your project, and the deadline. Make yourself accountable. And be sure that certain someone is a person who will check up on you.

3. If you suffer from a lack of self confidence and feel that you simply can't tackle the project, find out what the first thing is you need to do to start the project. Do that, then find out the next step and so on. Also, divide the project into smaller chunks.

4. Internalizing negatives means that you always look for faults within yourself. If you do this, you will quite easily come up with negative emotions, such as "I'm lazy that's why I don't get things done" or "I'm stupid that's why I don't know where to start". I can assure you that none of this is true. You might lack motivation or not be an expert on a particular subject but you can easily do something about that.

Think of a treat that you reward yourself with once you have completed the first part of the task and then keep rewarding yourself for every bit that you achieve until the project is completed. Also, there is no shame in asking people for help and advice on how to tackle a particular project.

5. Externalized positives are usually the reverse side of the same coin as internalized negatives. It means that you attribute anything positive that you do to outside influences and not to your skills and abilities, such as "I was lucky last time and it was easy. I could never do that again." It is usually a sign of lack of self confidence.

Achieving something has most often nothing to do with luck. It is more likely to be the result of hard work and skill. And when you found something easy then you had the skills and talent to do it and nothing less.