“I’m as proud of what we don’t do as I am of what we do.”
Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs was notoriously difficult to work with. Some would even describe him as tyrannical. That said, Apple wouldn’t be the company that it is today if it wasn’t for clear vision. Jobs was a minimalist (you’ve probably seen images of him sitting on the floor of his seemingly possessionless mansion). This philosophy translated into his fashion, but more importantly, into his work ethic. When Jobs designed Apple products, he always kept this in mind. A fan of Zen Buddhism, Steve Jobs tried to make products and operating systems as clutter-free and user-friendly as possible. Anyone who’s ever held a product he designed intuitively understands this.
We now live in a world that’s rapidly moving in the opposite direction and there’s value in removing as many distractions as possible. The seemingly endless number of information around us overwhelms us and leads us to a life of constant dissatisfaction. It doesn’t have to be that way, though. Remove what’s non-essential, focus on what matters, and like Jobs, be proud of it.