Freedom to Be: What Steve Jobs Taught Me About Creativity

Cover image by Asialyn

Welcome back to the heart of my Journal!

Something has shifted in me. I’ve started publishing the thoughts from my journal again with little to no delay, like when I first started Daenne’s Journal in 2017.

I am currently reading Steve Jobs' memoir, and let me tell you, this man was a CRAYitive GENIUS. I don't know if that word exists, but had he been alive, I think he would agree with that description. He probably would say "I will add it to the dictionary."

One thing I learned about him is that we need to be who we are. Now don't get me wrong, I don't agree with all of his leadership styles, but one thing remains true: he was a genius. He was so true to who he was that he sold his shares in Apple when he left. That is something only a CRAYitive genius would do. It didn't matter the implications; "he simply didn't care about money", and he had a point to make no matter what it meant for him financially. He repeated many times that money was not a main driver in his life. Honestly, the more I read the book, the more I could see it. I am not done reading, who knows, maybe he cared later.

Let me define something here. CRAYitive is the best way I could describe Jobs based on reading his book. To me, he was both creative and a little “CRAY.” It’s my personal way of capturing the mix of brilliance and intensity he seemed to carry throughout his life.

I only have about 6 hours left of this 25-hour audiobook, and I don't even work at Apple, yet I want to find my creative juice again. I thought, maybe I stay true to what Daenne's Journal was meant to be: a place where I share my thoughts publicly to inspire and empower others. This is what Jobs did when he went back to Apple. He went back to the core of what Apple was meant to be.

Have you ever asked yourself this question: who am I at my core? What do I stand for? What are my non-negotiables? For Jobs, it was clear: great products, great consumer experience, and NO SHORTCUTS. Only excellence was approved by him.

I can’t believe that Apple really became a digital hub. All of our Apple products seamlessly link together because of the disc button mistake Jobs made. Apple was behind. That fueled his CRAYitivity to create the Apple Stores and the digital hub. I'm just in awe of how his wild imagination could now become our reality. Here I am sitting, typing on my MacBook Air, listening to music on my AirPods, with my phone next to me linked to my computer. Every time my phone rang, the music on my MacBook stopped and the AirPods switched to my phone seamlessly. Again, the man was a GENIUS!

What would happen if all of God's children had the freedom to be and create freely? What would happen if you were relentless in your pursuits? Try to ponder on that, but don't take too long before you start to create. I am currently listening to Steve Jobs’ memoir while reading the physical copy of The Creative Act: A Way of Being. Watch out world, I may never stop writing again! I found my creative freedom AGAIN!

Who would have thought it would take a CRAYitive genius for me to start treating Daenne’s Journal like my true journal again.

If you are new here, let's take a trip down memory lane and read my journals from when I used to write for the Odyssey and publish one article per week.

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Xoxo,

DD