5 Life Lessons from Steve Jobs That Entrepreneurs Should NEVER Follow
Steve Jobs – the man who created Apple and changed the Smartphone industry – is often credited as one of the best entrepreneurs of his generation. From his glorious rise to controversial fall to his triumphant return to prominence again, there are only a few who aren’t familiar with his success story.
In fact, Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs was the best-selling book of 2011 on Amazon.
His always-in-the-spotlight life highlights a range of wisdom for budding entrepreneurs and success-seekers. However, contrary to what the mainstream wants you to believe, things aren’t really all that fairytale-esque. While many hails Job’s life as ideal – and that everyone should learn from it – there are few things that strikeout as completely wrong and flawed.
As appealing as the story is, you cannot accept the life and lifestyle of Steve Jobs in their entirety. You must weed out some of the lessons from the story and never follow them if you really want to succeed.
Nobody is perfect; so wasn’t Steve Jobs.
Here are 5 life lessons from Steve Jobs that Entrepreneurs (and everyone) should NEVER follow:
- Walk over people and relationships
Be it with his partner, own child, friends or colleagues, Steve Jobs never really valued the relationships in his life. In his pursuance to greatness, he stepped over people countless times, took credits for works he never did and humiliated people even for the tiniest mistakes.
When you want to get to the top, you need friends and family by your side. Regardless of how your childhood was and under what circumstances you grew, there could never be any excuse for walking over relationships.
- Let Your Health Take a Backseat
these are what many believe to be some of Steve Jobs’ last words. ‘Whether or no they are indeed his last words, very few can disagree with it.
Steve Jobs always put his dreams at the very top, even if that meant neglecting his own health. His last few weeks very well document his carelessness towards his physical health.
Remember, as clichéd as it is, health is wealth.
- Chase wealth (blindly)
“Non-stop pursuit of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me”—again, these are the propagated last words of Steve Jobs. And it’s very true.
Many believe that Steve Jobs never really ran after money. Multiple stories from his life prove otherwise though. Chasing his dreams, he was also after big riches. And at the time of his death in 2011, his net worth was estimated at $10.2 billion.
Every entrepreneur wants wealth. It’s one of many perks on this journey. However, obsessing money and keeping everything secondary is wrong that guarantees prepare you for a big downfall in the long run.
- Over-criticize and undermine others
Steve Jobs had a bad way of getting things done around. Not only did he used to set unrealistic time frames, but he would also over-criticize and undermine his colleagues and the ones working under him in a hope to ‘push them’. He took the idea of ‘tough love’ to extreme levels, which even destroyed some of his relationships.
It’s well-proven today that tough love never works—positive feedbacks and encouragement do. So don’t criticize and undermine people around you. Find a nice and pleasant way to get your work done without offending others.
- Build a brash personality
Behind that hippie-like appearance, Steve Jobs was an entrepreneur with a brash personality. At times, under the shade of being passionate, he was aggressive, egoistic and impatient. And needless to say, these characteristics troubled him till his last breathe.
Instead, having a happening and pleasing personality will not only make you more likable but also take you a long way both on the personal and professional front.
These are 5 lessons from the life of Steve Jobs that you should never follow.
In fact, be it him, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg or Richard Branson—regardless who you role model, don’t take their lives, for your inspiration, in their entirety. No successful person is completely flawless. Strip all their flaws, take out the positives and use your own ideas to implement their lessons into your own life.