I was going to write a normal blog today, but then I checked my favourite news site and saw the sad headline: “Steve Jobs Has Passed Away”
What does that have to do with snowboarding? Well, hate him or love him, he was incredibly successful at what he did and his thinking and ideology set him apart from many others who tried and failed. There’s a lot that can be learnt from his life that we can apply to snowboarding and our life in general.
1) Find what love to do and keep doing it
“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. 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.” – Steve Jobs
If you enjoy snowboarding, go do it. Get yourself into the industry and follow the things that you love. Everything else will work itself out when you’re doing what you love to do.
Look back at every interview I’ve done on Snomie. None of the people I interviewed ever thought that snowboarding was going to lead them to a full time job in the industry. They were just doing what they loved to do and everything else came together.
2) Live your own life, not someone elses
“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 others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.” – Steve Jobs
I’m constantly running into people who wish they could snowboard more, but they say that they’re too busy with their ‘real life’. Well stop wishing and start doing. If you really want it and you really think it’ll make you happy, do whatever it takes to get it.
You either get out there and do what makes you happy or you spend your life doing what everyone else thinks will make you happy. Never let anyone else tell you how you should live your life.
3) Don’t let setbacks get you down
“I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that 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, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.” – Steve Jobs
Everyone experiences setbacks. Aim to be the person that gets back up and keeps going.
If I had let setbacks stop me from snowboarding, I’d have quit after my first season with a torn ACL, multiple menicus tears and severe bone bruising. Doing so would have made me miss out on some of the best years of my life, as well as more amazing experiences and adventures then I can count.
We enjoy a risky sport. Injuries can and will happen, but you need to do what it takes to get past them and keep doing what you love to do.
4) Have to courage to follow your heart
“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.” – Steve Jobs
I don’t know how it was for other snow addicts, but when I strapped into a snowboard 5 years ago, I just knew it was what I wanted to be doing. So, I quit Uni and it’s been a long, crazy 5 year adventure and I’ve loved every second of it.
Find the thing you love to do and have the courage to do it as much as possible.
RIP Steve Jobs.