A few weeks ago, Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO of Apple Inc., a company he co-founded in 1976.

I am always curious about leaders and how they balance work/life, and the journey that brought them to where they are. I believe we’re all leaders, either by default or by choice. If we want to improve ourselves as human beings, as leaders, we can get energized and inspired by other leaders like Steve Jobs.

The two most interesting facts I learned about Jobs:

1. Steve never graduated from college! He dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months.
2. He was fired form Apple (yes, from his own company) when he was 30 years old, 1 year after inventing the Macintosh computer.

This made me even more curious. I found very interesting and inspiring information when I read a commencement speech he gave in 2005 in Stanford.

His working-class parents spent all their saving on his college tuition. Six months after he started college, he did not see the value in it and dropped out. He had no way of knowing at the time that a calligraphy class he took outside of college after dropping out would be useful ten years later, when he was designing the first Macintosh computer. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If he hadn’t dropped out, he wouldn’t have taken this course and computers today might not have the typography they do.

?You can’t connect the dots looking forward?, says Jobs in the commencement address, ?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.?

At 30, Jobs was devastated when he was fired from Apple. He realized that he should continue to do what he loves so and acquired Pixar, the computer animation studio. He is credited as the executive producer of Toy Story, the first feature film made entirely using computer generated animation. Again ? there was no way for him to know that being fired from Apple would make him connect to his creativity in a new way. He later returned to Apple, bringing his new creative attitude.

?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. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.?

What I learned from Steve Jobs? story is that you always have to live like today is the last day of your life. If today was your last day, would you want to do what you are doing right now?

Fear often keeps us stuck where we are. The universe provides us with opportunities. Do we? grab them or do we let them pass by?

If you get a kick in the butt, don’t stop believing in yourself. Start with what you love doing. Only do what you love. Don’t compromise. Find what out what it is.

Trust.

Believe in yourself.

?You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.?

If you got inspired from Jobs? story as much as I did, please write me back and share what inspired you.