Saturday, October 8, 2011

Upsides to the Down Economy/ Inspiration and Perspiration



















I've never been an Apple girl, I've had PC's since the '80's, but still cannot deny the impact Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, has had on our modern world. With his recent passing, the world has lost a visionary who found a way to make technology cool, original and colorful, instead of boring, clunky and grey.




Yesterday I visited Thomas Edison's house, gardens and laboratory. He was another incredible inventor who patented more than a thousand ideas in his lifetime. Even our symbol for getting an idea came from him- the light bulb. Add to that the vote reader, stock ticker, phonograph, motion picture camera, generator, electric car (just coming into vogue now) and you see the results of a truly remarkable life. According to our tour guide, he often worked 20 hour days, taking cat naps in between inventing and experimenting. His quote that "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration" was backed up by his actions. Most of us would give up after ten or twenty attempts at doing something. Heck, I'd probably give up after one, but he made over ten thousand attempts before succeeding in inventing the electric light bulb. His comment? "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." That "Can Do" attitude is what made our country great. Steve Jobs had that attitude as well.




In reading about Steve Jobs, quotes from his commencement speech at Stanford came up that I found very inspirational.




"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. ...Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become." Steve Jobs




Not to be outdone, here's a quote by Edison that I find a comfort in the troubling times we live in.




"Be courageous. I have seen many depressions in business. Always America has emerged from these stronger and more prosperous. Be brave as your fathers before you. Have faith! Go forward!" Thomas Alva Edison




And so we shall. Which calls to mind one of my favorite quotes from my favorite author.




"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." F. Scott Fitzgerald

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