Excellence Beyond the Surface: The wealth money can't buy

 



Steve Jobs' real hero was his adoptive father, a remarkably great craftsman who sweated every detail to make perfectly formed furniture in his free time. As a boy, Jobs would watch him measure the wood with fierce precision, line up the corners with near obsession and be monomaniacally focused on getting the job done at a world-class level. One day, his father instructed him to go paint the fence outside their home and he did as told. A few hours later, his father appeared. "Steve, did you paint the fence?" "I did, Dad, look," the young Jobs replied, pointing to the structure. His father carefully inspected the work then observed, "Steve you've done a nice job painting the outside of the fence, but you didn't paint the inside of the fence." Steve responded, "But, Dad, no one will see the inside of the fence." His father smiled, paused and then said, "But, Son, we will." Many years later, Jobs was working with his design team on he first Apple Macintosh. His instruction to his group? Make the computer beautiful on the outside. Make it look special, wonderful and sensational. But the real mission, he pronounced, was to make the inside of the machine a work of art. Someone on the team mused, "But, Steve, no one will see the inside of the computer." And, of course, Jobs paused and then replied: "But we will." You see, whatever you do at work, the bravest and sagest part of you sees everything and I do mean everything- you do. And each time you betray your greatness by doing something that you know disrespects your genius, a small part of you dies. Part of you loses self-respect. Part of your enthusiasm, optimism and hopefulness leaves you. Each act of average causes your promise to become defeated. And potential unexpressed turns to pain. So when you feel like playing small with your gifts or going minuscule with your personal magic, just remember that someone is always watching you. And that someone is always your highest you



This is culled from the book the 8 hidden habits to live your richest life.  The wealth money can't buy by Robin Sharma.

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