Parth Patel
Mr. Mahoney
English 11 CP1 A Block
May 12th, 2014
Steve Jobs and The Alchemist: Following One’s Personal Legend
Everyone has a goal or a final destination in their life. It is up to them to them whether or not they want to achieve that goal or reach that final destination. In fact, many are confused as to what is their goal or final destination in their life. In the novel, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Santiago, a young shepherdsmen, has a recurring dream of a treasure in Egypt and determines that it was his personal legend and ultimate goal in life to discover what this treasure was. At the beginning, Coelho states, “The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times” (Coelho VII). This means in life you will be faced with obstacles when you are trying to get to your personal legend, but it is necessary to have the courage and determination to not let those obstacles interfere in achieving your personal legend. If by any chance, we do fall down, we need to able to get up on our own. We always need to be one step ahead of our fears or obstacles so that they do not skew us from reaching our ultimate goal. Later on in the novel, Coelho states, “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it” (Coelho 22). This simply means when you are on the right path to achieving your personal legend, or your set goal in life, the World will send you omens, or signs along the way to guide you in the correct path to your goal. For example, in The Alchemist, Santiago encounters many people who guide him on the right path and are signs that show he is going in the right direction. For example, there was the King of Salem who told Santiago about following his dreams and to learn about himself, to find the right path and to learn to be wise. The King of Salem helps Santiago understand that what people most want is to learn their personal legends, and in order to achieve them one needs to focused and determined. He also contributes to Santiago's journey by giving hints and clues as to where to find his treasure. There is also the crystal merchant with whom Santiago learns that he is scared of going to Mecca because the merchant is scared of failure. He is scared that it would be underwhelming and will not live up to his expectations. There is also Fatimah, a girl who he meets in the Oasis and falls in love with her and many others. Coelho has also said, “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure” (Coelho 141). This ties into not letting the environment or the obstacles come in the way when you are pursuing your dream. If you let the outside forces dictate your actions, you will start to doubt your ability and as a result your self-esteem will drop. Furthermore, you will start to feel a sense of failure and stop trying to achieve your dreams. In short, Paulo Coelho, through writing the Alchemist wants to convey the message that one should be able to follow their dreams and not let anyone or anything stop one from not achieving their dreams.
Many of the concepts from The Alchemist can be applied to the biography Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson which recalls the life of Steve Jobs and the struggles that he had to face in order to become the CEO of Apple. Steve was born to Joanne Schieble and Abdulfattah “John” Jandali but was later put up for adoption due to religious matters and because Joanne’s father did not want his daughter marrying a muslim man. He was later adopted by Clara Hagopian and Paul Reinhold Jobs, who were two high school dropouts. Clara was a bookkeeper and Paul was a car mechanic. Paul had a fond obsession for cars and machines. He has always opening things and trying to determine how something works. Steve has said about his father, “I thought my Dad’s sense of design was pretty good, because he knew how to build anything” (Isaacson 4). Steve Jobs has said that his father has played a role in him being interested in computer and electronics. In that sense, Paul Jobs could be thought of as being similar to King of Salem who is trying to guide Steve to his personal legend as the King of Salem was guiding Santiago to his personal legend. Steve would spend endless hours with his father in their garage tinkering and fishing around with electronics and building new things from it. Once Steve Jobs that he was adopted, that started to have an impact on his life. “Abandoned. Chosen. Special” (Isaacson 4), these were the 3 characteristics that gave Jobs the foundation for the rest of his life. Jobs friends later said that once Jobs found out he was adopted, and the pain that was caused as a result of the abandonnement, Jobs learned to become independent. Jobs “followed the beat of a different drummer, and that came from being in a different World than he was born into” (Isaacson 5). All of these qualities are reflected upon when Jobs become the CEO of Apple.
*Those are Cows and Calves
There was an interesting moment in Jobs’s life that has influenced Apple’s product. He saw a calf being born, and he was amazed when the tiny animal struggled up within minutes and began to walk. “It was not something she had learned, but it was instead hardwired into her,” he recalled. “A human baby couldn’t do that. I found it remarkable, even though no one else did.” He put it in hardware-software terms: “It was as if something in the animal’s body and in its brain had been engineered to work together instantly rather than being learned” (Isaacson 15-16). This could be looked upon as an omen, or as a sign that Jobs is receiving from the Soul of the World which is shaping Apple and the philosophy behind it.
Steve Jobs first few jobs involved working with HP as a summer jobs in which he would repair old and broken computers. In 1969, Jobs meet Steve Wozniak, a person has will completely altered Jobs life. Woz was 5 years older than Jobs and similar to Jobs, had a huge passion for electronics, Bob Dylan and pranking.
Jobs and Woz were huge fans of Bob Dylan. Jobs said, “We'd buy brochures of Dylan lyrics and stay up late interpreting them. Dylan's words struck chords of creative thinking” (Isaacson 25-26).
Jobs later decided to get involved with Zen Buddhism. He went to India to talk to sages and to meditate. He wanted to go on a spiritual movement. According to Daniel Kottke, a longtime friend of Jobs, the reason why Jobs went to India was because, “there was a hole in him, and he was trying to fill it” (Isaacson 45). This ‘hole’ that Kottke is referring to is not knowing his birth parents. He wanted to discover his true form and who he really was. This is similar to Santiago in the Alchemist. This all ties into the idea that Jobs not knowing real parents and the fact that ge was adopted is the reason for all of his actions. Jobs later had said that the meditation and the spiritual thoughts that he was received was directly reflected in Apple and has also shaped him as a person.
Soon after Woz and Jobs created a friendship, they started creating blue boxes which allows people to make calls anywhere for free. Jobs then started working for Atari, a video game company at the time. Jobs and Woz started developing the Apple I and selling them to company hobbyists. Later, they created a prototype for Apple II which impressed many executives. In 1978, Apple II becomes the first PC that is sold to the mass market, with impressive sales around the US. This made Apple a symbol of the personal computing revolution. After the impressive sales of the Apple II, Jobs and Woz began the creation of the Apple III. This will eventually prove to be a flop. This lead to the creation of the Lisa, named after the daughter of Steve Jobs and Laurene Powell. In 1985, Jobs was fired because he wanted to create a second-generation computer called the Mac and take money away from the Apple II which was a massive success.
At first, the executives at the time thought this was a brilliant move that they got rid of Steve Jobs because of the ‘dumb’ choices that he was making and plus he had gotten abusive with his employees due to the fact they weren’t listening to his suggestions. Meanwhile, Pixar, a company Jobs had given a lot of funding too, was enjoying a lot of success. They were coming out with some good movies which were going well.
However, soon after, Apple started deteriorating and their sales started dropping due to the absence of Jobs. As a result, they called back Jobs and had him take over again as CEO. In July 1997, Jobs comes back as Interim CEO. This reinforces the idea of falling down but then being able to get back up. End though he was ousted once as CEO, he came back later on and was able to redeem himself. In the fall of 1997, Apple comes out with the "Think Different" campaign in an attempt to restore the losses that have plagued the company for the past few years. The PowerMac G4 Cube is unveiled by Apple in 2000 but later discontinued due to low sales. Apple later releases the iPod Touch which goes on to reinvent the music space. In the fall of 2003, Jobs is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In August 2004, Jobs surgically removes his pancreatic cancer. Apple then unveils the first two intel-powered Macs, the MacBook Pro and the iMac. Then in 2007, perhaps the most memorable keynote presentation, Jobs unveils the first iPhone, a revolutionary product that completely changed the way we view the cell phone today. In 2008, Apple unveils the MacBook Air, the World's thinnest notebook. In 2010, Apple releases the iPad, the biggest thing Apple has done. It completely reinvented the tablet space.
The 2011 WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) is the last keynote presentation before Jobs steps down as CEO and is succeed by Tim Cook. On the 5th of October in 2011, the World lost a true hero, a true innovator who changed the World for the better. The World would have a completely different place if it had not been for Jobs.
In short, there are many things in common between The Alchemist and Steve Jobs. They both tell the story of two individuals, who despite many distractions along the way, were able to find their ultimate treasure. I do believe that Steve Jobs has pursued his personal legend which was reinventing the way we look at science and technology. He was one ordinary man with big dreams. It is quite evident that he has accomplished a lot in his short life. He always wanted to try something new, he was willing to take risks and go beyond his boundaries. That is what made him the person who he is today. On a personal note, Steve Jobs has greatly influenced my life all together and has been a major role model in my life. The World has lost a true icon, a true visionary, a true man who had one goal which was to change the World. In reading Steve Jobs and The Alchemist, I hope more people get motivated and encouraged to live out their own Personal Legends. We all have a unique one, and the choice is truly ours to pursue it or let it pass. Thank you for all you have done Steve. You will be missed by me, and millions of your other fans Worldwide. RIP Steve Jobs 1955-2011
Works Cited
Isaacson, Walter. Steve Jobs. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print.
Coelho, Paulo. The Alchemist. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment