I woke up this morning to messages that Steve Jobs was dead. I wasn’t entirely surprised to hear it- we know he’s been having difficulties with his health for several years now, and he recently stepped down as CEO of Apple- I imagined that a man who loved his work so much would only do so if he felt he could no longer do it, or if he had more important things to do, such as to “get his affairs in order”, to spend time with his family, to say his goodbyes. I do believe that people tend to be able to sense when they’re going to die. (A friend pointed out the similarities between Steve stepping down as CEO of Apple and Lee Kuan Yew stepping down as Minister Mentor, and now from the central executive committee of the PAP- and the same observations apply. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn of Lee’s passing in the fairly near future.)

Before I begin I want to share some of Steve’s words that resonated with me- just some, because if I shared everything you’d be here all night:

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

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. 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.

I don’t want to talk about Steve’s life, or his accomplishments. If you want to learn about those things, there are entire tomes written on the subject. His speech at Stanford’s Commencement in 2005 is a great primer to get an insight into his worldview. I want to talk instead about what Steve Jobs meant and continues to mean to me.

I don’t own any Apple products, mainly because I can’t afford them- but I do like them nevertheless. I’m also a sucker for Pixar movies. That said, my appreciation for Steve Jobs goes deeper and beyond his products, which I consider to be mere manifestations of something greater. Steve Jobs, to me, is one of those guys who did all the dirty work so that we don’t have to- who boldly carried a torch into the darkness that we might learn from his findings. He represented, to me, a sort of intuitive clarity and deceptive simplicity that cannot be accomplished without intensive thought and ceaseless labour. Larry Page puts it most beautifully:  “He always seemed to be able to say in very few words what you actually should have been thinking before you thought it.” I think that encapsulates the elegance of Steve Jobs. It’s easy to ascribe some sort of mystical quality to him, as if he was given a gift that the rest of us don’t have. But that wouldn’t do justice to him at all.

What was incredible about Steve Jobs was that he managed to forge an incredibly broad and diverse range of experiences and perspectives into a unified entity. He never limited himself- he was a craftsman, trader, philosopher, salesman, manager, leader, visionary, scientist, artist, performer- everything. That’s something that I’ve always related to, at a very deep, emotional level- I’ve always wanted to do everything, see everything, learn from everything. It always seems like such a shame, so terribly wasteful whenever people in one field are blind to the usefulness of the work of people in another- and Steve’s injection of typography and design principles into computing is something I continue to find inspiring. I’m still not sure if I’m capable of doing what I believe I ought to do, but if I ever do, it’s because men like Steve led the way. Men like Steve stand as proof of what can and ought to be done if you want to make a dent in the universe.

As I sit here, observing and participating in a world wherein Steve Jobs made and continues to make a huge dent, I find myself wondering what I could possibly do to honour his memory. And it becomes intuitively clear and obvious. Steve, above all else, was a creator. Seth Godin might describe him as a “shipper”, or a person who puts stuff out. Creating, or shipping, is pretty much the hardest thing to do in this world- to come up with your own ideas, to write original material, to put your own heart and soul into what you’re doing- it’s frightening because it’s so intensely personal, and it’s difficult because there are no step-by-step instructions to follow or guidelines to meet. Steve described how he received the baton from entrepreneurs and visionaries before him, and as he passes on, he passes it forward to us.

If we want to honour Steve, we’re going to have to do more than tweet and share and re-blog. We’re going to have to create content ourselves. For me, this means a lot of things- getting started on all the various projects I’ve been meaning to do something about, for one. It means writing more regularly, and having the guts to put it up. It means shipping, creating. Daring to try to make a difference. It means hard work.

All of this is nothing new to me- I come to the same conclusion every time I think about it. The hitch is getting it to remain in focus. Steve’s passing isn’t so much a turning point as it is a poignant reminder of what we ought to focus on. That’s the golden ticket. The question is, what are you going to focus on? What is your vision for yourself and the world, and how are you going to realize it? These are important questions that need answering, and while we may not have the answers right now, it’s important that we actively engage ourselves and each other to pursue them. Dare to make a difference. Steve did, and the world is better off for it.

Thank you, Steve. You will be fondly remembered, and your legacy lives on.