dots

Steve Jobs speaks about connecting the dots.

You do stuff in life, he says, without being able to see the bigger picture. And without that broader perspective, it can feel safe to follow the normal, worn path, knowing for sure how things will turn out. The alternative is to do what feels right. Make leaps. Be brave! The secret, he suggests, is to have faith that in retrospect you will be able to connect the dots.

So. You might be hating your job and about to quit and thinking: this is dumb I won’t get a reference and I will be destitute and its harder to find a new job if you aren’t currently employed but actually when I think about it I don’t even want a job like the one I’m qualified for because it makes me feel like my soul is being sucked straight out of me and people will think I’m crazy and lazy and what will I tell people when they ask me what I do and what in fact will I do?

But in fact, what might happen is that you’ll quit. And you will go to the pool every morning. At that time where the workers have left and the mums and their littlies haven’t yet arrived. When the sun is just starting to gather heat. When the water is sparklier and the sky is bigger and the head.space is more expansive. Maybe you’ll meet someone and get chatting about Stuff That Matters. And then maybe the threads of that conversation will dance. Gather momentum. Maybe, eventually, they will Become Something.

Maybe that won’t happen. Maybe something else will happen. But something will happen. Looking back, you will be able to connect the dots.

That’s what Mark reckons. And I agree.