POSITIVITY EMBODIED: STEVE JOBS AND DR ABDUL KALAM

 

POSITIVITY EMBODIED: STEVE JOBS AND DR ABDUL KALAM

One may be a successful entrepreneur and rake in several millions of dollars. Does it really matter? What matters is only if he bequeaths a legacy which inspires prospective innovators to be creative and positively disposed souls.

Steve Jobs was the co-founder of Apple and its CEO, and also a majority stakeholder of Wikipedia.

There are several successful businessmen and entrepreneurs, but who is the subject of various movies and books?

Walter Isaacson has written a seminal biography of Steve Jobs. As many as five movies have been made on this talismanic innovator, Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999), Steve Jobs: The Last Interview (2011), Steve Jobs: One Last Thing (2011), Jobs (2013) and Steve Jobs (2015).

Despite his dalliance with LSD, Acid, marijuana, weed, alcohol and what some would call a quirky diet (fruitarian), Steve Jobs was blessed with a robust mind and a positive attitude.

Apple has launched iPhone 7 and iPhone 7plus with several innovative features hitherto not thought in the realm of possibility. Though Steve Jobs is no more, yet his peppy and zippy thought process infused such dynamism in the organisation that it continued to re-invent and metamorphose. It has recently unleashed iPhone 8 into the market.

Positively inclined people are trail blazers who achieve the impossible. The words impossible and antipathetic do not find place in their lexicon.

“In order to carry a positive action, we must develop here a positive vision,” said H.H. the Dalai Lama.

A positive oriented individual is by nature helpful, generous, constructive in his mindset, and he is productive and efficacious in nature. Such individuals are not egocentric, self-centred or inward looking. They are visionaries. Their problems or misadventures in life are infinitesimal in comparison to the suffering faced by humanity at large. The iconic Steve Jobs was to die of pancreatic cancer, but this pestilence did not diminish his zeal for life nor prevent him from exploring the creation and innovation of several gizmos.

Khalil Gibran has succinctly captured the mindset of selfish individuals by stating, “Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.”

Negatively disposed people are hindrances in the growth of any organisation and act as impediments to their own material and spiritual growth. We come across such people in our families, relationships, friendships and workplaces. Such people become covetous, selfish and become absolute strangers when any assistance is sought for by colleagues and friends alike. However, they shamelessly seek help. Such individuals lack maturity and gravitas. And through their errant behaviour they lose out on friends in the long run.

Positively inclined people do not treat money as their only goal in life. Money is merely an allegory for their sustenance and whatever they are left with is utilised to serve humanity at large. This provides them with enormous inner peace and fulfilment. In case they were to harbour negativity in their lives they would be only gloom-ridden, faced with miserable situations, woebegone thoughts and hardly be effective. Instead of building healthy relationships, such individuals would be filled with only avarice and greed and remain in a continuous acquisition spree. On the other hand, positively inclined individuals follow their passions and dreams.

Creative individuals are by nature enthusiastic and are continuously reconfiguring and re-jigging their lives. Following their passion is almost akin to meditation and being in an interminable state of bliss.

Steve Jobs may have made a fortune but led a frugal life. Dr. Kalam hardly possessed any property worth the name. But they fired the imagination of an entire generation with their remarkable contributions to science and technology.Youngsters, innovators and scientists alike were deeply impressed with their messianic zeal. The paroxysm with which they followed their preoccupation is indeed exemplary and needs to be emulated. Jobs, besides working on PCs, laptops and Apple, was also spiritually inclined, frugal in his eating habits and dabbled with Indian meditation techniques and Zen in order to achieve tranquillity. Dr. Kalam while figuring out matter, physics and the world of nuclear sciences read extensively and was immersed in the world of Carnatic music. Efficacious individuals while respecting the view point of others do not become puppets and do not fall prey to the machinations of others. They do not become the football of other people’s opinions and are not victims of guilt and victim consciousness.

Productive people do not have two faces to their personalities, that is, one for themselves and another one for society. They do not masquerade their feelings and emotions. Kapil Dev and Virendra Sehwag come to one’s mind.They bludgeoned bowlers on the field and maintained utmost cordiality with colleagues and opponents, without carrying any baggage, almost like a child. The minds of these constructive oriented individuals do not waste precious time in the criticism of people. Instead they take up responsibilities. Taking up responsibility empowers them to be effective oriented people. Another significant trademark of these individuals is that they do not wallow in self-pity.

Affirmative and enthusiastic individuals are not easily affected by the innuendoes passed by others about them and instead focus on the job on hand rather than on the self. Normally, positively oriented individuals are not cocooned indoors or in their cloistered mindsets. They overreach to ameliorate the conditions of their friends, colleagues, relations and derive immense satisfaction from this act.

“Being the richest man in the cemetery does not matter to me. Going to bed at night and saying we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what matters to me,” said Steve Jobs.