Core beliefs from Steve Jobs’ biography

One of the key foundations of NLP that drew me to it is “modeling.” At a young age I realized I was a bit lazy, like most humans, so I wanted to save time and find out how people did things effectively. We call that “modeling” in NLP.

I’m listening to the new Steve Jobs biography. It’s a great modeling project and I’ll share insights here as I work through the 25 hours.

History will look back on Jobs as being the man who really gave us the personal computer. As important as Henry Ford and the automobile, Carnegie and steel, or any of the great American inventors that really made America great.

In the first hour, I’ve already heard some core beliefs that are truly empowering and describe Jobs:

1. I’m special. – Though some said his birth parents ‘”abandoned” him he, with the help of his adoptive parents, turned the story into “I’m special.” It’s all just a story.
2. I can build anything. – He played with electronics as a kid and started out with Heathkits. They were electronics kits many of us asked our parents for. Many kids enjoyed building things instead of veg out on Facebook or Xbox. After building his first kit he built more complicated ones and formed this belief.
3. I know the real value of things. – His father would take him to car auctions and taught him he could learn what parts were really worth and buy them much cheaper because other people didn’t know the value. he loved selling things because he knew what they were really worth.

Put these beliefs together and you can see how Jobs led his field, constantly pushed to build more amazing products, and was able to not only charge a premium for them but also negotiate great deals so the profits we high.

We just described Apple Inc. in the last decade under Jobs. They went from a laughable company in the nineties, under the leadership of a Coca Cola exec focused only on profits to the most valuable company on earth.

You can learn a lot by listening for people’s beliefs. Our beliefs create our destiny. Destiny is not written on some magic tablet in the sky. Beliefs make the difference between feeling abandoned and unloved OR feeling special with a contribution to give the world. It’s all just made up beliefs.

Post on the blog what you discover from his biography and we’ll compare notes.