It’s been more than ten years since Steve Jobs left us (he passed away on October 5, 2011), but his figure continues to arouse curiosity in both Apple fans and non-Apple fans. This is what usually happens when someone stands out from the rest, in this case for turning the company with the bitten apple into one of the most important technology companies in history.
Normally, the type of life of these people is one of the aspects that most often interests the public for having curious routines. Some believe that by following the same habits they can achieve similar success. Steve Jobs, like many others, I had perfectly planned work days.
A day in the life of Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs’ day started at 06:00., that is, he got up before most people. This is a common trait of successful people, because by getting up early they make the most of the day. There are several examples of entrepreneurs and executives who start the day before the streets “are set”:
- Tim Cook. The current CEO of Apple wakes up even earlier than his predecessor. At 04:30 he is already sending emails, and at 05:00 he can be found in the gym getting in shape. As Entrepreneur recounted, he is always the first to arrive at the office and the last to leave.
- Marisa Mayer: the one who was the CEO of Yahoo! until 2017 he is not a fan of lying in bed to give free rein to his imagination in dreams. Although it is not specified when he wakes up, he sleeps between four and six hours a day.
- Anna Wintour: The editor of the American version of the fashion magazine Vogue has earned a reputation for being a difficult and demanding woman. The character played by Meryl Streep in the film _?The Devil Wears Prada?_, based on the homonymous novel, is inspired by her. Wintour wakes up at 05:40 to play tennis. Some say that this routine gives you the necessary vitality to face the day.
During the time that Steve Jobs participated in the Apple keynotes to present new products, it was common to find him always wearing the same clothes, an outfit that has become iconic. But it’s also what he wore every day: a black turtleneck by Issey Miyaki and blue jeans. In this way, he ensured that he did not waste time thinking about what to wear every morning and could make the most of it.
At 06:30 a.m. I started work. Whether he was in the offices of Apple, Pixar or at home, he had everything he needed to carry out the work of the day at his fingertips. He had a T1 line at home, which is a high-speed data transmission line that provides a constant and reliable rate of 1.5GB. It is a type of connection used to connect offices across multiple buildings. Jobs said that when he wasn’t in meetings, his work boiled down to sending emails.
An hour later, at 07:30 hours, it was time to meet with the family to have breakfast before leaving home. The foods that used to be eaten were whole and dehydrated fruits, vegetables and Odwalla juices of the kind with screw caps. Many of the fruits and vegetables came from a family garden. Their children finished their homework and said goodbye to them as they headed off to school.
Arrival at the office and lunch
Even though Steve Jobs started working from home, I arrived at the office at around 09:00.. In her words, _”if I’m lucky, I stay home and work for an hour because I can do a lot of things, but often I had to go. I would arrive around 08:00 or 09:00, having already worked for an hour and a half or two at home.”
Mondays were one of the most “complicated” days because a review of the general situation of the company was made. He and the rest of the managers looked at how much had been sold the previous week and took a look at how the individual product development was going, which ones had problems and which ones had a higher demand than they could meet. This was carried out from 09:30 and the meeting was attended by the 10 most important executives of Apple. Then, on Wednesdays, he met with the marketing team.
Around 12:00 noon he proceeded to eat his food. Jobs was a fruitarian, he kept a very restrictive vegan diet based on fruits. It is mainly composed of raw fruits (75%), vegetables classified as fruits (tomatoes, cucumbers, avocados, etc.), nuts and seeds. The rest of vegetables, cereals and legumes are excluded, as well as those of animal origin. It is a diet low in protein, calories and certain minerals and vitamins. Sometimes he only ate one or two foods, like apples or carrots, for weeks. His obsession with food began in adolescence.
Nevertheless, after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancerBoth family and doctors encouraged Steve Jobs to vary his diet and consume more protein, including animal protein. It was then that he developed an affinity for sushi, fatty tuna, salmon or horse mackerel. He also began incorporating eggs into his diet. These changes would redefine their lifestyle, going from frugivorous to pescetarian.
after the meal, around 1:30 p.m., I was visiting the Design lab. It is here that Jony Ive and his team of designers studied different prototypes for future Apple products. According to Jobs himself, “If they’re working on a new iPhone, I might pull up a stool and start playing around with different models and feel them in my hands.” Seeing how products and meetings related to them were taking up most of his work day, as Jobs relied on his intuition for new products.
Just before the end of the working day, at 3:00 p.m. he was answering emails, making calls and having meetings. By making his email address public, it was common for him to receive hundreds of messages in his inbox about any topic and people he didn’t know at all, but he liked it because it was a way to keep in touch with everyone. There were also about 10 daily phone conversations between Pixar and Apple, and in the afternoon they could discuss future events, such as keynotes.
Return home and routine before bed
Steve Jobs I returned home around 5:30 p.m.. Dinner, when her children were young, used to consist of pasta with fresh tomatoes, corn from the garden, steamed cauliflower, and a salad of grated raw carrots. Also, Steve’s sister mentioned that many of the meals were basically “just one vegetable, but a lot of it. If it was the season, broccoli. Simply prepared and freshly picked.” It should also be noted that Jobs never drank alcohol, only an occasional glass of wine.
An hour later, he was grabbing a couple of bottles of mineral water (usually Smart Water) from the fridge and, together with Laurene, his wife, I was walking around Palo Alto. Then before bed, he listened to music by his favorite artists, such as Bob Dylan or Bach. Music helped him reorder emotionally and spiritually. In addition, he practiced Buddhist philosophical and spiritual doctrine. This discipline is characterized by believing in reincarnation and aspiring to reach nirvana through a life of stillness, contemplation, austerity and moral discipline. He always carried a copy with him. ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’, written by Paramahansa Yogananda and which introduces meditation and yoga.
Photos | Flickr, Oberlin Entrepreneurship, Wikipedia, CBS News
Source | owaves