Negotiation is hard work. Figuring out how to tell people what it is that you want while still maintaining some level of control is a fine line that has to be walked. This is a line that many people have a hard time figuring out. Similarly, being able to accomplish everything you want to do is a matter of time, energy, and motivation. If we all put our minds to it, we could achieve anything we wanted.
Unfortunately, not all of us are innovators and doers. However, we can draw inspiration from someone who was: the late great Steve Jobs. Jobs was, of course, the CEO and head of Apple, and was the main driving force behind its success. He was a visionary, and, like most visionaries had a slew of memorable quotes for all occasions. We’ve curated a list of 20 quotes from the tech guru that you can use for a variety of situations.
On Innovation
“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.”
“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”
“That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex; you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.”
“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.”
“You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.”
“Let’s go invent tomorrow rather than worrying about what happened yesterday.”
On Perseverance
“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”
“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.”
“Sometimes life’s going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did.”
“Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”
“I’m the only person I know that’s lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year… it’s very character-building.”
On Doing Your Best
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And 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.”
“Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.”
“When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.”
“If you keep your eye on the profit, you’re going to skimp on the product. But if you focus on making really great products, then the profits will follow.”
“My model for business is the Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other’s kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other, and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That’s how I see business: Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.”
On the Future
“Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do. That’s true for companies, and it’s true for products.”
“Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
Regardless of how you felt about Jobs or how you currently feel about Apple as a company, these quotes should help determine what it is that you want as well as how to succeed.
However, no one can do it all alone. If you need assistance, let GabbyVille help you find the path to success with a qualified virtual receptionist. Whether you want to take on the world or just manage your current workload, a virtual receptionist from GabbyVille can help maximize your potential.