This video does it well. The guy speaking in the video, he could be any one of us who went there.

(Video reposted from Mary’s Aggies, a blog run by staff of St.Mary’s)

After watching a video about events taking place around Apple stores, people leaving flowers and notes outside Apple stores and outside is house it made me wonder. These people probably have seen his 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech on YouTube, daily use a product designed by a company he ran, or maybe even watched a video of him unveiling the iPhone or iPad. But have any of these people ever spoken with Jobs? Have they tossed a frisbee on a hot summer afternoon with him? Have they spent an evening drinking beer and talking about religion and politics? Likely not. So how and why were so many people moved by his passing when they had no personal contact with him? Why is he so fascinating and influential?

One word. Clarity.

Not clarity of design intent, or of market knowledge. That stuff seems easy to post rationalize into a cherry picture when you look at the past. He may have had it, he may not. I don’t to know. But what is clear from his commencement speech is that he had clarity about life and death.

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. – Stanford Commencement Speech 2005 (emphasis mine)

When you have a certain level of clarity about death, and in turn about life, the only way to live is to be hungry and foolish.

Each has its advantages and disadvantages. I’ll let you decide what those are. But I will say that you need to be in control of the decision to write down a “to-do” item and either set aside time in the future to make it happen, or to merely write it down.

Hint: here is my bias. For me a to do list is just a bunch of stuff that has yet to make it onto a calendar. Note taking and to-do list making has its place, but odds are that illegible ink scribble should be calendared.

Other people give you deadlines, so why not give yourself some? Calendaring also a good way to discriminate between what you are actually doing and what you want to do. You calendar it, and when the time comes you have either done it nor not. A list of aspirations becomes tomorrow afternoons plans.

Here is the real test. When you finish this post in a few seconds, do you go and write “give to-do list items a time and date” on your to-do list, or do you calendar a time to calendar?

Maybe I’ll type out the speech so you can read it, but until that day comes enjoy the video.

RT @joshneuroth: OH "When you say yes to something, you're instantly saying no to tons of other stuff." #creativemornings—
  (@johnmaeda) July 29, 2011

This is an often forgotten truth we must all remember.

I wish more companies took this approach to advertising. Find your story, and tell it like a real human being. This ad just works. This post is proof.

The architect in me gets really excited about this because such a large percentage of the architectural process is essentially data entry as ongoing decisions have been made. This idea taken to its end, in my mind anyways, could make this data entry and the design decision making one in the same.

The most striking like in this post is easily the last one.

I haven’t now, nor will I ever, tell someone who wants to retain my services to piss off  because they don’t need what they want. That, my friends, is not my job.

Bob goes on to say the following…

I’ll help you pick out a front door, I’ll help you design a trellis in your backyard, and yes – I will design a 10,000 square foot house that 2 people will live in – because that is what I do. I am an architect and I design houses. (Emphasis mine. Bold line is the last one in the post)

What is your job? Your job Is what you get paid for. Now, you may have some set of lofty beliefs that underpin your reasons for doing the “work” you do, but you dont get paid for simply having your elitist ideals. You get paid for implementing them. So if you feel deeply and strongly enough about something, be good enough at it that someone will pay you their hard earned money for whatever it is that you do.

It is worth noting that a large number of people who are exceptionally successful at their “job”, “work”, or whatever you call it have a clear, fundamental thesis that fuels them and their work. The works conceptual cohesion is formed by these very things they don’t get paid a penny for believing… But at the same time without this cohesion, the very work they do (and get paid for) would fall to pieces and likely run the risk of losing focus and appearing random.

So we have two elements here: the work, and the thesis.

Work with no thesis loses focus, quality, meaning, and ultimately value. Thesis without work is not implemented, and as such has no agency for change or making profit.

I like the thesis. The reason for being. With out it I go stir crazy. For those that are lucky, line between your “work” and everything else will be blurred so much that it almost disappears. But, whatever you do, don’t get confused about how you make money. It’s not by simply holding a belief, it’s by doing…  And don’t get confused about how you “do” well. It’s by having a solid thesis.

Article A)

In a blog post on svn Jason Fried writes about a writing class he would love to teach some day. He was asked during a Q&A session about his take on the value of a university education, and after giving his answer “great socially, not realistic academically”, he says the following about a course he would like to teach:

It would be a writing course. Every assignment would be delivered in five versions: A three page version, a one page version, a three paragraph version, a one paragraph version, and a one sentence version.

I don’t care about the topic. I care about the editing. I care about the constant refinement and compression. I care about taking three pages and turning it one page. Then from one page into three paragraphs. Then from three paragraphs into one paragraph. And finally, from one paragraph into one perfectly distilled sentence.

Article B)

In a similar blog post by Matt Mullenweg, Matt muses about his dream job if he weren’t making out like a bandit with Automatic, WordPress, etc. what he would be doing. He would start a bank. Boring eh? Well… not really. He says the following in the post…

There are very few people who really love their bank. We’ve all dealt with overage fees that stack up, brain-dead fine print, and a general malaise. There’s also a unique opportunity in that mainstream contempt for financial institutions has never been higher, while at the same time there is an incredible amount of government backing that essentially makes it a no-risk environment. People are hungry just for anything different, something contrarian. A David to the Goliath banking industry.

The name of my bank would be something supremely boring, like SafeBank. The idea behind it is that bad behaviour in the banking world has been largely inevitable because their compensation structures incented people to do overly risky things. SafeBank would maintain a reserve level 2-3x higher than Fed requirements and any other bank. SafeBank would have no bonuses. Critics would say this would make it impossible to attract top-shelf talent. Every time the bank gets attacked we’d turn it into an advertising opportunity to emphasize why we’re different. “We can’t attract top-shelf talent? We take your money and put it in a vault. We don’t need the million-dollar bonus geniuses on Wall Street to do that. SafeBank. Bank, safe.”

Article c)

Matt Warner writes in a blog post for the National Catholic Register about how the most recent redesign of the Vatican’s website (www.vatican.va) is frustrating at best.

I’m quite sure I’m missing something.

I know they have unique challenges that no other website in the world has – technically, culturally and theologically. I want to be charitable. I just don’t get it. You can view it here: Vatican.va

They are guilty of at least 2 of the 7 deadly sins of parish website design (which also apply to them) and a long list of venial ones.

I don’t want to be too critical as I’m sure they have further plans and this is just a small, first step. It just seems like a step in the wrong direction to me. But maybe that’s just me….

We are just missing so many opportunities and I’m anxious to see the vatican website start to embrace them. It’s exciting that they are beginning to do that. I just hope it continues and in the right direction. I got mad love for them.

It all three blog posts the request and the need is clear. The need is for greater clarity. Greater clarity in writing, greater clarity in banking policies and tools, and greater clarity of purpose in ones online presentation of themselves.

When your going to school, working on your next project, and trying to make a difference try your very best to focus on clarity. Can you tell me what your purpose is in one sentence? If not then you’ve got some work to do.

You wake up and check your phone. Emails, tweets, instagram likes and comments, facebook updates, oh and those archaic sms text messages. Your a bit late so you hurriedly shower, skip the granola breakfast bar, grab the first shirt in your closet even thought its not your favorite, grab your keys and your out the door.

The rest of the day is a blur of work, and come home you consume endless amounts of stuff in the form of tv, movies, games, and apps and suddenly realize your a year older than you were yesterday. You just fell asleep, floated down the river and were awakened by your feet scraping against a low lying tree branch. Wake up.

I’ve got gtd figured out. It’s really simple. Here’s what you do… 

1. Spend an entire minute not doing anything. You are more than the sum of facebook and instagram likes and comments, retweets, blog posts and check-ins. Spend time just living in your own human flesh and bones. If you are so courageous, go a week without your phone. WTF?!?! A week? Yes, see if you can put your phone down for a week. What if someone ______ ? What if that life ending, world halting scenario actually happened and you in fact didn’t have your phone for a week? Think of the worst possible scenario. Actually, don’t. That could end up being a really depressing thought experiment. Especially if you are a particularly creative and/or cynical person. [disclaimer: I know there are some situations where having phone access is crucial. I'm not anti-phone or technology. I am actually very pro-said-tools. I am just more pro-sweat, hand shakes, sunshine, and live music.] Spend a minute sitting and not planning your next move. I would have said a larger amount of time but you have to start somewhere. You can’t be still an hour without being still for a minute first.
2. Answer this question: ”What would be the best way for me to spend my time today.” After that minute passes, and your mind clears (take longer if your mind is still running 90 miles an hour).What if all of your digital self disappeared tonight and tomorrow you woke up and got on with life? Those emails, tweets, instagram likes and comments, facebook updates, oh and those archaic sms text messages. Gone. Your still here, so now what? All of that stuff is ephemeral. BEFORE YOU JUMP STRAIGHT TO THE COMMENTS AND UNLEASH YOUR DIGITAL LOVING FURY … I mean that remark in the sense that everything is ephemeral. Nothing is mean to last forever except out souls. Digital stuff and physical stuff, bits and atoms. All ephemeral. Keeping that in mind, decide on the best way to spend your day. (suggestion: think about what you have always wanted to do, say writing, reading, music, creating, designing, building, make a realistic time to realize that desire, and use that do make your decision.)
3. Do it.