*Typing*

When Jobs took back his throne in 1997, Apple was a shell of what it once was. It was facing bankruptcy with over $1 billion in losses and just 90-days of cash left. During his exile, Apple had released a number of failing products that were bleeding the company dry. So what did Jobs do? He got ruthless. He cut anything and everything that wasn’t profitable or necessary. He pulled the plug on the LaserWriter Printer, shuttered the QuickTake Camera, slashed the Newton MessagePad and canned the game console Pippin. Jobs then refocused his company’s efforts and resources on just two product categories: Desktops and Laptops. To say Jobs’ ruthlessness was effective is an understatement. By the end of the following year, Apple was once again profitable. When things aren’t going well for us in life or business, our natural reaction is to do more. But, doing more only prevents us from focusing our full attention on the one or two things that truly matter. Do less. Do less. Do less. Be ruthless about doing less.

When you're happy, you’re focusing on what you have. When you're sad, you’re focusing on what you've lost. When you’re collected, you’re focusing on what you can control. When you’re anxious, you’re focusing on what you can’t. Your emotional state is reflective of your focus. So be very aware of what you’re choosing to focus on.

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Don’t give into the hype. Huge followings aren’t indicative of competence, experience nor skill. They’re usually just an indicator that somebody prefers to talk about the work more than they like actually doing the work.

U2 started as a cover band. They'd learn poor renditions of other artist's songs, climb on stage and shred away in front of an audience that had never heard the violent beauty of an electric guitar. One day, they traveled sixty miles to the small Irish town of Mullingar where they played their covers. After the show, they were cornered by a local who said, "If we wanted to hear cover versions, there are plenty of bands around here who can play them just as badly." After this confrontation, U2 decided to start writing and playing their own original material. Copying other people's work is an effective way to learn a craft. But, it's a piss poor means of leaving behind a legacy.

There are these moments where we feel invincible, where we feel that nothing can hurt us. We're living faster than we've ever lived before and we believe we can live faster still. The art is fast. The money is fast. The luck is fast. The love is fast. Everything is fast. We're terrified to blink because we know if we blink we will wake from a dream. We can't hang our lives on these moments of invincibility but when we're gifted them we should devour them whole. We should consume them as if starved. We should devour them the way a lion devours a felled beast on the safari. Without guilt. Without restraint. Without question. Without any thought of tomorrow.