Laid off? Steve Jobs can help
James Turner, IBRS
(Credit: ZDNet.com.au)
commentary As ZDNet.com.au has noted, layoffs in the IT sector here in Australia have already started and the change in incomes means that Australian families are going to suffer.
But even this pain will have a long-term upside if people are willing to look for it. Steve Jobs has a famous speech on YouTube where he talks about how he is now able to look back over his life and see that some of the challenges that he had to endure have ultimately turned to his favour. I highly recommend you watch the video (below).
In case you're not familiar with Steve's story, after founding Apple and growing it into a multi-billion dollar company, the board kicked him out — yes, they fired him from his own company.
Few of us will ever go through something as humiliating as that. But, as a direct result he was able to go out and create new opportunities. These opportunities might never have come his way if he'd stayed at Apple. Love or loathe Apple, you have to respect Steve's leadership and his results to date.
If you look at the experiences of just about any successful person, they have had more than their fair share of setbacks. J.R.R Tolkien had The Lord of the Rings rejected by a number of publishers; and J.K. Rowling had a similar experience with her first Harry Potter book.
Our economy will recover. The people that will prosper are the ones who can, despite their circumstances, continually take their focus back to the long term. Whatever you go through now, you will have the opportunity 10 years from now to look back at this period and know that this was the time that led on to much, much better things.
What is it that you really want to do? Don't make the decision when you're stressed and caught up in the heat of the moment. You should be planning for your future now, and not just waiting for someone else to take action. If money wasn't important, what would you be doing? What do you want to be known for?
I'm going to close by quoting Steve Jobs: "Sometimes life hits 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. You've got to find what you love ... the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking."
Go watch the Steve Jobs video and listen to his story about connecting the dots. (And then go watch Fight Club — you are not your job!).
This article is by James Turner, a Sydney-based advisor at corporate technology analyst firm Intelligent Business Research Services.