I read an article today in a Macworld magazine from 2011. Ok, so this is an admission that bathroom reading around here consists of not only really OLD stuff, but semi-techie stuff as well. The article was long and detailed — written about the late Steve Jobs. I couldn’t tell you much about it in its entirety, but there’s this one little story included that stuck in my head.
The story is about the time the author met Steve at the Worldwide Developers Conference — about 4 months prior to his death. He noted Job’s deteriorated physical aspects one by one, but concentrated on the fact that Steve Jobs wore a pair of grass-stained shoes to this huge event for his keynote delivery. The author wasn’t criticizing Job’s choice to wear something old and dirty to the conference. What he was curious about is why Steve Jobs, who could buy the factory that produced his famous New Balance 99’s, would choose to wear a dirty old pair to such an important event.
The author’s guess? “He didn’t notice, didn’t care.” He goes on to state, “One of Job’s many gifts was that he knew what to care about. Grass stains didn’t make the cut.”
Every single one of us have limited time on this earth. No clue how much time… but whatever we’ve got, it’s definitely limited and we’d better make certain it’s well-spent. This old article that finally got read over a year later was a pretty good reminder that I need to better focus and prioritize my time and attention. I hope that you too know what to care about.
