Think Different | #37
Why Apple thinks differently and you should too
Hello 👋 Pranav here
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I am very inspired by Apple’s ad campaign ‘Think Different’ they did between 1997 to 2002. Here’s what it meant to say and what I have learnt from it.
As a child, we all did things which made us happy and didn’t care about what other people said about us. We just play around happily. But today, when we are grown up, we tend to easily allow others to place limits on what we can and can’t accomplish.
This excerpt below is from a 1995 interview while Steve Jobs was still at NeXT — that is before he came back to save Apple.
When you grow up, you tend to get told that the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world, try not to bash into the walls too much, try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money.
That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader, once you discover one simple fact, and that is that everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.
And the minute that you understand that you can poke life and actually something will, you know if you push in, something will pop out the other side, that you can change it, you can mold it. That’s maybe the most important thing. It’s to shake off this erroneous notion that life is there and you’re just gonna live in it, versus embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it.
I think that’s very important and however, you learn that, once you learn it, you’ll want to change life and make it better, cause it’s kind of messed up, in a lot of ways. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again
Here’s what I mean by it-
When we grow up, we are told by society that first go to school, take science n 11’th, go for NEET or JEE exams or another good degree, then work in a good stable job, work till 60-70 and then realize you didn’t do something great just because log kya sochange. We are much capable of doing great things, but we scare of what people will think about us. We just have to follow some stupid unrealistic rules given by society and not question them. We scare of thinking differently.
Here’s my short story-
As a child, I wanted to become an army officer from NDA or a doctor and an army officer from AFMC. This is because since I was living in Pune back then, both the colleges were in Pune, I wanted to go to them and there was a notion created around me that I have to be a doctor or engineer. Here’s a disclaimer. I do respect both professions, it’s just that the notion has been created in India that you have to be one of them. But I later realised to not go for both of them as I realised science didn’t interest me.
I am told that a degree is significant. Without that, you cannot do anything. It’s like a degree or failure in life. And when you try to think differently, you are criticised a lot. I am in 12’th grade now and am still not good at it (according to the teachers and parents) and I don’t score more than 40-50%. Our educational system is built in such a way that it focuses on memorising bookish knowledge, rather than actual learning. We’ll talk about the messed-up educational system later. So, I get low marks because I am very bad at memorizing bookish knowledge (which we call ratta marna) and the topics taught in school don’t interest me. They don’t realise that every child learns differently and has different learning speeds. So every day I am scolded at school for not completing notebooks and low marks.
I always wanted to get into the creative field. learning at my own pace and creating content interests me. But many times my teachers, parents and classmates criticise me that I am into YouTube and writing newsletters. And I am not getting good marks. But I know that whatever I am doing, I am on the right path and ready to face the challenges on this path. Let others criticise me for thinking differently. I’ll be happy making myself happy, rather than making others happy.
Let’s go back to Apple’s story.
I am inspired by Apple and how it started. I saw an ad campaign ‘Think Different’ they did between 1997 to 2002. Here’s the ad you should watch.
It’s a 1-minute long ad, and here’s what Steve jobs narrated in it.
Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.
— Steve Jobs, 1997
So, what are you waiting for? Yes, you. Are you waiting for the permission of your friends or society to tell you what you can do and what you can’t? You just need your permission to break rules and do something different.
The credits
Here are the resources I have referred to. You can read or watch them here
Steve Jobs on The Most Important Thing in Life- https://fs.blog/steve-jobs-the-most-important-thing/
The Iconic Think Different Apple Commercial Narrated by Steve Jobs- https://fs.blog/steve-jobs-crazy-ones/
Steve Jobs on Creativity- https://fs.blog/steve-jobs-on-creativity/
Some more inspiration
Instead of suggesting what I learnt this week (weekly recommendations), I should tell you from where I take Inspiration to do the things I am doing differently.
Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address
Celebrating Steve
"Never Kill Your Stupid Idea"
The Full Story of Nas Daily
Nas Daily's day 1000 surprise video
DO WHAT YOU CAN'T
THE STORY UNTOLD | Filmmaker Showreel 2020
In this together,
Pranav ✌️
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