Have you ever hesitated to take action because you felt like you needed to have everything planned out in advance? Do you find yourself waiting for the perfect moment when all the details are clear before you move forward? If so, this episode is for you. Recently, I had a coaching conversation with someone who had a big vision—a dream of launching a corporate workshop that could have a massive impact. But instead of taking action, he was stuck in hesitation, waiting until he had everything figured out before making his move. During our conversation, I challenged this mindset by pointing out that many of history's greatest visionaries didn't wait for certainty—they took action despite their doubts. As we talked, I learned that he particularly admired one such visionary: Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs’ 1983 Vision for the Future Back in 1983, Steve Jobs had a clear vision: he wanted to create a sleek, book-sized computer you could carry anywhere. His vision included a built-in radio that would wirelessly connect to databases and other computers, and anyone could learn to use it in just 20 minutes. And the price tag? He wanted it to cost under $1,000. The problem? It was 1983 and the technology didn’t exist. It was impossible at the time! Yet, instead of waiting for the technology to exist, he took action. First, he built the Lisa—a massive, expensive, and ultimately failed computer. Jobs had recruited John Sculley (then CEO of Pepsi) to be Apple's CEO. However, by 1985, internal conflicts escalated between Jobs and Sculley, particularly over the direction of Apple and the disappointing sales of the Macintosh. The board sided with Sculley, stripping Jobs of his role in day-to-day operations. Frustrated, Jobs resigned from Apple. In a 2005 Commencement address given to Stanford University graduates, Steve said the following: So at 30, I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over. I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life. During the next 5 years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world’s first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. And don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don’t settle. Eventually, his vision became reality—the iPad and iPhone exist today because Jobs refused to wait for all the answers and he didn’t give up when “life hit him in the head with a few bricks along the way.” In that same speech, Steve said: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward.” This is true for all of us. Waiting for clarity before taking action is a trap. Fear of Failure & The Power of Asking for Help My client also hesitated because he was afraid of putting himself out there and asking for help. Again, Steve Jobs set an example: At age 12, he called Bill Hewlett (of Hewlett-Packard) and asked for spare parts to build a frequency counter—and got a summer job working a dream job! Steve Job’s ...
