Watch this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc - and answer the following questions:
QUESTION 1
According to Steve Jobs, what is the only thing we can be certain of? What does his speech tell us about facing up to the other things in life?
QUESTION 2
How do you feel about uncertainty? Do you have any strategies for facing up to difficult situations where you are not sure of the outcome?
If you could pay someone who could
a) make you feel more confident about the decisions you take but was not able to reduce the uncertainty of their outcome
b) leave you feeling the same but actually give you a more certain outcome
which one would you choose if any? (You can choose not to pay and take what comes). Why would you choose that one and why not the others?
rita Benmakhlouf
ReplyDeletequestion 1
1) According to Steve Jobs, the only thing that we can be certain of Is death, one day or another you, me, and everyone will day, so we should live everyday as if it were to be our last day, only this can give your heart the possibility to lead you, because somehow it knows what you want to become, and it will lead your career to something you love, and do great work. Steve Jobs speech illustrates to us from his own experiences how facing other things in life get you far. You should not be afraid or shy from facing other things in life that don’t seem as important. As he says “sometimes life will hit you on the head with a huge brick, don’t lose faith, don’t settle down”. You have to face every day as if it were your last, because everything you think about before making a decision fall away at the face of death. You should be very open and think about something you love, something you enjoy doing and make that your job. Never go back down, no matter what happens in life, you should face it with courage and live pass it. An example Steve Jobs gave us was the cancer in his pancreas, the doctor when first diagnosed him told him that he had about three to six months to live because it was incurable. Even though he knew he was diagnosed with a cancer, he didn’t lose faith, and finally with the biopsy the doctor discovered it was curable with surgery and they cured him. If he hadn’t faced the reality, and tried more tests to search in depth about his sickness, his cancer would have developed throughout his organs, and he would have been maybe dead by now.
rita benmakhlouf
ReplyDeletequestion 1:
1) According to Steve Jobs, the only thing that we can be certain of Is death, one day or another you, me, and everyone will day, so we should live everyday as if it were to be our last day, only this can give your heart the possibility to lead you, because somehow it knows what you want to become, and it will lead your career to something you love, and do great work. Steve Jobs speech illustrates to us from his own experiences how facing other things in life get you far. You should not be afraid or shy from facing other things in life that don’t seem as important. As he says “sometimes life will hit you on the head with a huge brick, don’t lose faith, don’t settle down”. You have to face every day as if it were your last, because everything you think about before making a decision fall away at the face of death. You should be very open and think about something you love, something you enjoy doing and make that your job. Never go back down, no matter what happens in life, you should face it with courage and live pass it. An example Steve Jobs gave us was the cancer in his pancreas, the doctor when first diagnosed him told him that he had about three to six months to live because it was incurable. Even though he knew he was diagnosed with a cancer, he didn’t lose faith, and finally with the biopsy the doctor discovered it was curable with surgery and they cured him. If he hadn’t faced the reality, and tried more tests to search in depth about his sickness, his cancer would have developed throughout his organs, and he would have been maybe dead by now.
rita benmakhlouf
ReplyDeletequestion 2: part 2
2) a- I would preferably pay the one who would give me a more certain outcome, because than all my uncertainty would partially disappear along with my fear of taking a risk, though am still taking one that is more certain. I would choose the second option since it is the one that suits me better. Thinking about it, all the uncertainty and stress you are feeling while facing a particular situation goes from your thinking about the outcome, therefore why pay someone who would make your feelings more confident if you can pay someone who could give you what you are searching for; a certain outcome!!
rita benmakhlouf
ReplyDeletequestion 2:
2) I believe that uncertainty is a part of every human being, no one could predict the future, and therefore every step you take in life is a risk since you don’t know what the outcome would be. I feel that uncertainty is a fact that pushes our brain to think deeply and come out with good reflections. From my point of view uncertainty has advantages along with disadvantages. The advantages are that you don’t rush through your decision because it creates a doubt that make you think a thousand times more about the final decision analyzing all possible outcomes, and in which of these outcomes you would be most comfortable. The disadvantage is that it lays out the risks and if you are not a risky person, than at the least risk you would not take it and look for another solution that has not a risk which is quite impossible to encounter. Also another disadvantage is that it stresses the person, making their thinking unstable and lost. I have often found myself in situation where I was uncertain about making the decision. I usually would try to calm myself down, once I release the stress I start thinking about the negative and positive points of my decision, analyzing the different choices I have, and finally make my choice. Calming myself by going out, listening to music, or other kind of entertainments actually helps me a lot stabilizing my stress and settling down my uncertainty on flat to make the right decision. For example, after I dated a guy for 7 years, he had done so many things that have hurt me, I was thinking about a split, because the suffering after a long period of time became unbearable, and even stronger than the love I had for him. I was uncertain if I had breaking up with him was the best decision. After few days of reflection, after calming myself down a little, and setting my suffering apart, I broke up with him. Till nowadays, I am uncertain of the decision I had taken, and think about how different the result would have been if I was still with him. I still love him, maybe I have made the wrong decision, but what is most important is to move on in life.
2. Making decisions in situations of uncertainty can be difficult especially if the stakes are high. The decisions that I make are certainly much different then many entrepreneurs take because my stakes are no even close to theirs and I’m always prepared to loose the thing that I’m putting on the line. I am kind of used to the idea of making decisions in uncertainty, due to the life phase I’m currently in. Many decisions which I take now will yield results in the future, but there is no way to know what kind of results. When it comes down to the decision making, I have no strategies which I follow. I think one should develop a sense of comfort when making a decision in an uncertain situation. When I’m comfortable with the situation, I use my sense of intuition to make the decision and so far that has worked out fine for me. There is no way to know what are the results of the decision going to be. To me the methods we use in decision analysis seem to be in place only to standardize the process and have something to blame when things go wrong. Every analysis yields a different result so you will always end up going back and analyzing and analyzing. In my opinion its best not to over think things because you always end up with a big headache and no decision. Some of the best decisions that I took were solely based on intuition and things turned out pretty good so I feel confident using it for future decisions.
ReplyDeleteIf I was to choose between the two options, I would pick option B. This would be in the case where I am running a company or performing decisions with higher stakes. Even though I like taking risks, when the stakes are higher I prefer a certain outcome. When the outcome is certain, even if it is negative you can plan and implement contingency plans. Like most other people I prefer situations of certainty, but uncertainties can never be avoided.
1. 1. The speech which Steve Jobs delivered at Stanford graduation was a very interesting story about his life divided into 3 segments. The first part of the story focuses on his life as a college student and how he dropped out. According to him this was one of the best things he did because it allowed him to take the classes he wanted and needed. The second part focuses on the period where he got fired from Apple and how that whole experience opened his eyes and allowed him to improve. The third and final part deals with the period where he had the cancer. In that third part, he says that the quote he lived by was “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” And this brings us to our question. The only thing in life we can be certain of is that in the end we all die. Steve Jobs uses the concept of death to explain how it affects his decision making. Remembering that we all die opens our eyes and removes all external pressures leaving us to follow our heart. I very much agree with him on this concept. Thinking about too many external factors blurs our thoughts and in the end you can never make a decision that will tick all the boxes. But when you go with your heart there are no boxes to tick. You either make it or you don’t. There is not really much to it. Concerning facing other things in life, his speech tells us that we have to follow our heart. He stressed the importance of loving what you do because only then can you do your best. Since work fills a large part of our lives, truly loving what we do is going to make all the difference. Another part that struck me in his speech and I thought was brilliant was the part where spoke about connecting the dots. Mr. Jobs said that it is very hard to connect the dots looking at the future. “You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future… Believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you of the well worn path, and that will make all the difference.” We can clearly see here that following your heart is the way to go according to Mr. Jobs.
ReplyDeleteZlatina Stamenova
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1.
Steve Job structured his speech around three main points – three important and significant stories in his life. All of them are related to the circle of the life – birth and death.
He convinced that the only thing we can be certain of is the death. In his speech he was focus on the quote “ "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right.", because everything, all external expectations, all human fears , all pride or failures fall away on the face of death. When human face with the death, learn only what is truly important. According to him, if we remember the fact that one day we go die it will be the best way to avoid our thoughts of loosing something.
He had a personal drama, he was diagnosed with cancer and lived with this diagnose everyday, while understand there is a surgery for his cancer, whatever, he realized that the death is the destiny we all share, no matter who we are, what we are doing. Death is the common thing that all humans have. Death is an uncertainty which soon or later we all face up and we cannot escape it. In his speech he marked that our time is limited, and we do not have to waste our time living someone else`s life. He encouraged young people to follow their hearts and intuition, everything else is secondary.
His speech also shows us other important lessons which we have to take into consideration, about love and lose, about connecting all the dots in our lives. His stories – about the death, about love and lose and about connecting dots are instructive to face up with the other things in life.
Zlatina Stamenova
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2.
Uncertainty can be very stressful and bad for people who do not know how to manage with it. We faced with uncertainty situations every day in our lives. I think uncertainty is about taking risks. I related uncertainty with the death. Most people are scared of death, they do not know when it will happen, no one knows how things will be. There is a research which proof that uncertainty makes people to look into positive things more positively and on negative ones more negatively.
“The psychological effects of uncertainty may have less to do with what people do not know than with what people feel.” (Bar-Anan, Wilson, & Gilbert,)
Uncertainty is about lack of possibility to have control over the things and over the situation; it’s connected with the feelings such as fear, anxiety - negative feelings. I do not reject uncertainty in my life, because people who do it are those who are pessimistic and doubtful and do not believe in themselves. I like or not, uncertainty is everywhere around us so I try to find a way to manage it every time. I saw that it is not what I know, but how this kind of information makes me feel about it. I know more I feel more certain and secure and if I know less I feel uncertain. When something bad happened I try to focus on the positive sites instead of only negative. I faced with uncertainty like an emotional challenge. I tried to think of uncertainty like lesson I have to learned and experienced rather than constrain and threat. I like to know and plan my future and uncertainty brings me sense of risky future. But I think its human, to “play on safety”. I try to deal with whatever life throws me, and it’s not because I want or can predict everything, it is a result of belief in me and my qualities. I can`t tell I have strategies, but I have some ways which help to manage in these situations. I always remember that I have choices. There is no problem or situation with only one answer. I never rely on circumstances I try to be proactive, to enlarge my horizons, to experiment new things. Also the other thing I always do, is to learn of every experience I had. I believe that everything happens to learn us something new, to change ourselves in better way, to change our minds. Every uncertainty I accept like a lesson I had learn and what I can improve. And I also believe that every change brings me new opportunity. And the other thing I also do is I try to find ways to manage a risk rather than avoid it.
I could not pay someone who could leave me feeling the same but give me more certain income or make I feel more confident about the decisions I take but was not able to reduce the uncertainty of their outcome. Because actually whatever decision I will take, the outcome is the essential part of it. People do not make decision just to have decision, they make decisions in order to reach something, to receive outcome of this decision. It is important for me to get clear of my desired outcome. If I know I will receive what I want I can get over my fears and uncertainty.
To make a decision I rely on myself and my belief and powers. I always rely on my intuition and follow my heart and mind. If I have to make an important decision I am searching for others opinions, my closest people but I always rely on myself.
References:
http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/bar/
Zlatina Stamenova
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1( continue)
His first story is related to his destiny and how his life developed. How all events and decisions he took affected his road. He considered that it is impossible to connect dots earlier, but its clear looking backward some years later and see everything which happened is for your good. He said : “ You can`t connect dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards”. He told about starting of his life, how he was adopted, then drop-out of university, took calligraphy classes, and all these things have result in his future, in his life and make himself as he is today. In order to be happy, to succeed in life, we have to trust in something – in life, in our gut, in destiny, in karma, we have to believe that all circumstances, all situation in our lives are connected, there are dots in our life`s path and and make all the differences and lead us. They give us the confidence to follow our hearts. The worst thing can be best thing can happened to us.
The other thing which his speech tells us about things in life is that we got to find what we love to do. He started with Apple in garage, but after 10 years it turned in 2 billion dollars company. And instead he got fired he focused on what he loved to do, this turn of events, faced him with the most amazing things in life – wife, family, feeling to be entrepreneur again and feel like himself, create the most successful animated studio, etc. And the only thing which kept him going is he did not lose the faith, he continued doing what he loved. This story is an example of how instead of uncertainty and bad things in life, we have to keep doing what we believe in and keep follows our hearts. As he said, instead that “sometime life hits you in the head with a brick” we do not have to lose our faith, we have to find what we love, do not settle.
And his third story is about death. It is the only certain thing which makes us taking the most important decision in our lives. No one wants to die. He described death as “the best invention of life” , we cannot avoid it, so we have to concentrate on what we love and want and do not waste our time with the results of other people`s thinking. As I mentioned he faced with the death with an incurable cancer, he realized that the death is the only thing that we all human beings cannot escape, and we should follow our intuitions and hearts, and should live our own lives and be what we are.
In the end of his inspired speech he advised us to “Stay hungry. Stay foolish”. These words impressed him very much, because it is important in life to go on, to improve yourself, to be creative, to search for new things, to experience different things and learn from them. “Stay foolish” refers to the other important thing which is our beliefs, especially belief in us. We should follow our hearts and feeling, doesn`t matter how stupid they are seems to the others. There is no reason not to follow our hearts and be happy.
QUESTION 1
ReplyDeleteIn his speech, Steve Jobs says that death is the only thing we can be certain of in life. The proof is that noone has cheated death and despite the fact that we all know that death is our final destination, we accept that as a given constant in our lives. He says that people do not have a choice, and no one is in a hurry to die, but it is inevitable. Based on his understanding of death as our common ground, he defends the position that death’s certainty is a good thing because it is like “life’s change agent” and at the face of it people see what really matters for them, what is really important. This means that if death was not there to scare us, often we would get lost and there would be nothing to send us back on track.
Steve Jobs uses three of his life stories in order to show by his experience the best ways to face both opportunities and difficulties in life. About “the other things in life” Steve Jobs tells us the following, with his three stories:
With the first story of his adoption and university experience of dropping out and taking only classes by choice, he was interested in he shows us that:
• We shouldn’t expect everything in our lives to makes sense as we look forward, but it would all fall into place once we look backwards ( connecting the dots);
• We have to truest that somehow things will fall into place;
• Sometimes we have to follow our gut and heart without being afraid to be different;
• We have to trust in something, because facing things is much easier if we know there is somewhere we are going or some path that we are following.
With his second story about meeting his wife, getting fired from Mac, starting Next and Pixar and returning to Mac he tells us to:
• Face them up as an opportunity, as a step towards a final goal;
• Find what you love and pursue it;
• Failure is not the end. It might be a wakeup call to help you start over
• “Sometimes life's going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith;”
• “So keep looking. Don't settle;”
With his last story about his close encounter with death he showed us that:
• Time and youth are limited, so they shouldn’t we wasted;
• Your inner voice, heard and intuition will lead you the right way if you let them.
QUESTION 2
ReplyDeleteIn order to examine how I feel about uncertainty and what my strategies are to deal with it, we first need to define the term uncertainty in the context of decision analysis. Uncertainty is “situation where the current state of knowledge is such that (1) the order or nature of things is unknown, (2) the consequences, extent, or magnitude of circumstances, conditions, or events is unpredictable, and (3) credible probabilities to possible outcomes cannot be assigned. Although too much uncertainty is undesirable, manageable uncertainty provides the freedom to make creative decisions.” (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/uncertainty.html)
Uncertainty is usually undesired and is associated with negative feelings, because it one of the limitations of the human brain: not being able to predict with certainty what will happen, what the outcome will be. However, uncertainty is an aspect of life which when taken as a factor, can be included as a variable in our decisions. Uncertainty can be used as a driving force to move forward. If everything was certain in life, there would be no opportunities, no risks, and no need for making decisions, which means that our brain would be useless. If uncertainty did not exist, this means we would know what the future holds and we will become passive observers rather than active participants in our lives. For me everyone has the choice to view uncertainty as a positive or negative aspect of life. I choose to see uncertainty as all the external forces in my life that I have no control over. I can examine the situation, circumstances and variables analyze them, try to understand them and this way reduce the level of uncertainty in every decision I make. The question is how?
One of the strategies to deal with uncertainty is collecting as much data and information as possible in order to reduce the amplitude of variables and maybe get a more accurate perspective of the possible outcome. Another way is to start from the desirable outcome and go backwards step by step to see the possible ways to get to it. Drawing paths that would lead to a certain outcome helps us see the direction we are moving towards and can help us turn around and take a different path if we see that the way things are going will not end the way we want to.
If given the choice I would pay someone to leave me feeling the same, but reduce the uncertainty of the outcome. I would choose this option as the best investment because it would give me clearer picture of what to expect from the future. This will give me more time to prepare for whatever the outcomes is and it will be easier for me to deal with it if I have had more time to think about it. Since the higher level of uncertainty implies that there are more possible outcomes, it means that by reducing the uncertainty, the possible outcomes will also decrease. Since each outcome would have a particular impact on my life, more certainty means I can focus the most certain outcome, rather than spend the same amount of time on each possible outcome.
I would choose paying for a more certain outcome over paying to feel more confident in my decision or not paying at all because I prefer trusting my own instincts when it comes to a decision, but that does not mean I will not accept any additional data. Anyone can give me partial or subjective data in order to influence the way I feel wound the decision taken, but this not necessary means that it would be truthful. Furthermore, uncertainty can be measured, so I can have some idea on my return on the invested money even before seeing the outcome of my decision.
Tonka Zlatinova (part 1)
ReplyDelete1.Steve Jobs is convinced that the only thing that we can be certain of is that we are going to die one day. According to him, living each day as if it was your last means that you have to do something that you truly love. He says that our time is limited and all factors that may influence our decisions “fall away in the face of death”. All projections, expectations, pride, self esteem are irrelevant when death is near. In the end, death is the “best way to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose” and this is what has significant importance when it comes to certainty. It is the thing that all people have in common; therefore, there is no reason why not to follow what we are fond of doing.
Steve Jobs tells about three stories in his life that are very edifying to face up to the other things in life. The first one explained how he dropped out of college. Even if this story seemed that luck had a big part in his fortune, it clearly demonstrates how our decisions may lead to the best thing that has ever happened to us. Deciding to drop out of college allowed him to only take the courses which he was most interested in. The particular example was the calligraphy course he decided to take. Seemingly unpractical at first, this course allowed him to apply multiple typefaces and proportionally spaced fonts in the Macintosh. In the words of Steve Jobs: “You can only connect the dots looking backwards”. This statement advises us to trust that the dots will somehow connect and if we rely on our own intuition and have confidence in following our hearts, we can be sure that we are on the right path to success.
The second story is about “love and loss”. At the peak of his career and development of the Macintosh, he got fired and experienced a public failure. Devastated at first, Steve Jobs soon realized that he was liberated of the weight of success which allowed him to enter a new creative period, despite the uncertainty. He created NeXT and Pixar, both very successful companies and at the same time he met his wife, the best things that have ever happened to him all because of being fired from Apple. This story is a perfect example of how, despite the bad turn of events, if you continue doing what you love and believe in it, never settling, there is nothing that can stand in your way.
In the third story, Steve Jobs explains about death. Being the only thing we can be certain of, death is the most important event that pushes us into taking the most valuable decision in our lives. We are not able to avoid death, therefore, there is nothing to prevent us from not following what we love and enjoy doing. Having a near death experience of an incurable kind of cancer, Steve Jobs survived only to find out that death is more real that he had ever previously thought; the only thing we cannot escape. He describes death as “life’s change agent”, the thing that keeps the diversity in the world. This a clear concept of the limited time we have on earth which is both the cause and the reason why we should use it at its full by following our own intuition to become what we want to become without letting the opinions of others lead us the wrong direction.
In the end of his speech, Steve Jobs demonstrated another of the “other things in life”. He advised us to “Stay hungry, stay foolish”. As if to say to should remain adventurous and hungry for new ideas, new thing to involve in and follow our own gut feeling in taking on the decisions that we believe in, despite how foolish they might seem. It might just as well lead to the best thing that has ever happened to us.
Tonka Zlatinova (part 2)
ReplyDelete2. Uncertainty is the one thing that can motivate me to take on one decision or another. I believe that there is no thrill in “playing on the safe side” and that taking on uncertain decisions produces the best outcomes of life eventually since it opens unseen opportunities. I find that we are surrounded by uncertainty. We are living in uncertain times where there is nothing can be predicted with 100% sureness; there is no telling when the economy will pick up or whether I will come home from university safe and sound. But in my opinion, it is the mother of invention and development. Having no power over the sequence of events helps to put more effort in the things I do and make more careful analysis of the situation. The less certainty I have, the more I am able to be impulsive and allow my heart to guide me. A gut feeling, intuition and belief in my own capabilities are the instruments that lead me in the right direction, or at least in the direction I find right. It is crucial for me to know I am the one responsible for the turn of events that affect me and the ones around me. This responsibility empowers me to both carry on my own mistakes, but my successes as well. When faced with uncertainty, I tend to gather all the available information to conduct a pros and cons of each possible decision (because there is never a single one) to outweigh the validity of each choice. As a reference point to mark the choices that I make, I tend to go for the one that I view as the most exciting and the most educational, the one decision that leave me as the only, or at least one of the only responsible of the outcome, be it positive or negative. However, I never repeat my mistakes and I take them for life lessons to guide in further experiences.
Choosing from whether I should pay a person to make me feel more confident about my decisions but was unable to reduce the uncertainty of their outcome or a person that will leave me feeling the same but actually give me a more certain outcome, I would go for the first option. A person that makes me feel better about my actions is highly appreciated since he influences me to think more positively about the choice and, according to the laws of attraction, will make way for better outcomes to come in my way. A motivator that does not reduce the level of uncertainly of the decision is the best choice for me since I strongly believe that positive thinking is the best and first instrument of success. All of this, combined with a pinch of uncertainty to make the decision all more worthwhile. According to me, uncertainty can be found in the most important of decisions; therefore, it is essential for distinguishing the value of the choice and outcome. All I need in order to feel certain about my decision is another person, preferably a one that is close to me, to share and support me in the actions I am taking on. I am not searching for a certain outcome because it reduces the level of importance of the decision and I find that life is all about taking chances and opportunities. Feeling positive towards the outcome of the decision is all I need to attract positive events in my way.
Eugenio Ramirez
ReplyDeleteCorporate Finance
Blog 2
Question 1
When Steven Jobs was young he read and remembered always this phrase "If you live everyday as if was the last, someday you will must certainly be right." Death is the destination we all share. Death is the only thing we can be certain about. This speech tells us basically one thing "Stay hungry, Stay foolish " The most uncertain situations in Jobs are the ones uncertain situations that came to his life. He says he would not be where he is now if it was not for those uncertain situations that came to his life. These situations started when he dropped out college and did not know what he wanted to do with his life. He dropped in calligraphy, which would later be implemented in the Mac computer. He tells us we can only connect the dots looking blackguards at our past situation, the other way around will be impossible. He talked also about love and loss. He says he was lucky finding what he wanted while he was only 20 years old, I don't say it was luck, I say he attracted it with his positive thinking and attitude. Here it was when he started Apple, he designed the first Mac before the age of 30, where he got fired from his own company. He was devastating, his focus was gone, disappointed, that he even he apologized for screwing up. He had to start over again, like a beginner who is less sure about everything. he grew from the experience and became free, creative. He said "Sometimes life hits you with a brick. Don't loose faith” The only thing that kept him on was the love for what he did. The last story that he read, which I will also talk in the next answer, is Death.
Apple's CEO had a tumor about a year before his famous speech at Stanford. He was diagnosed with a vey strong type of pancreas cancer, which the doctor was almost certain it was going to kill him within 3 to 6 months. He discovered here that death was the best invention as a life change agent. Our time is limited we should not waste it living someone elses life. To not be trap with what other people think of you. But mostly follow your heart and intuition because they know what u truly want to be.