Playing to Steve Jobs (Connecting dots) Lessons by an orphan in Latam who turned in to a leader in his field and in the process became a happy person

After my first 2 articles I received several feedback notes and even chats with colleagues and friends asking me to plasm part of my learning experiences as individual, after a while I had time to think about it and this is a time to place part of them hopefully to help others.

I visited my brother in Tijuana during February 2018, trip was full of moments that made me think in how the connecting dots statement from Steve Jobs are occurring, (with the difference that I am seeing the dots as they are happening and not after the fact like he said).

·        First, let me start by my recollection that almost 3 decades ago a tragic accident took my parents from me, letting me on charge of my siblings and my own life at age of 18.

·        Second, that having the opportunity to visit my younger brother and seeing his own development made me think that the principles of life that I am chasing and that I embedded in him have paid off big time in our lives.

This is the moment to define why this is a connecting dots space I came to look for investments to review with my brother what possibility of investment was feasible and to connect with my colleagues that could be part of that enterprise effort.

During this visit I came to learn of a young colleague of my brother who had lost his mother to a 5 months battle with Cancer and due to the similarity my own life, I was asked to talk to him about my own experience so I did it, I will try to summarize here for those who may need a similar advice:

Lesson 1: “Life is dead and dead is life”

We all must learn to accept it because that is the only true that will always chase the human kind. The process to learn this concept will enrich his emotions and those of his two younger sisters, preparing them to get the most out of each instant.

Lesson 2, channeling emotions

He will question why it happened? Why to him? Why now? What to do? What to do next? Etc. he may not feel ready for it, truth of the matter is that he will find no answer to these whys, and that will create a negative force burning inside his chest, that rebellion feeling when tamed is an ever -lasting fuel that drives willpower. I also told him that his younger brother has the capability of being the buffer to be that taming process; a kid’s eyes have the power of innocence and hope that helped me.

Lesson 3 find your pillars of life

In my case:

·        Close Family my siblings, I learned the concept of leadership by my daily exposure to the “parenthood” exercise, those who are parents of teenagers know of the convincing, rewarding, punishing, in other words all the existing strategies and invented ones to deal with them.

·        Learning, I lost my parents while I was in college, so part of my life was based on learning process that keeps your mind busy with positive activity, I developed an eager to learn personality that drove me to study postgrad studies and several certifications, education and learning new things became part of me.

·        Work you have to contribute to something so you feel you are not an empty case walking as zombie, in my case I consider this as finding your existential profitability (If I may take Marx’s teachings you are your own capital).

While I was explaining each concept I acknowledged that I was short, I developed in my brother the competitiveness and tenacity and other skills that hardened his personality but I missed my mom’s soft touch to polish him better, I told him that the 2 sisters will help their little brother better.

Lesson 4, be humble!

After the accident I had many dark hours that let me the certainty that life is an instant and that made me humble, I even had a second proximity to a death-by-accident experience of my little baby that reminded me so. We are here just passing by so let’s just do our best for ourselves no need to tell it.

Final lesson, Payback

In the time to come after becoming orphan, I received the blessing of few angels (I call them as such) who touched my life or my brother’s life in a positive manner and I had a record of them I have since paid back each one of them with similar actions towards them or their progeny, but I made him aware that many times the payback should be given to others who were not the original angels who extended their hand to help me.

Thanks for reading this part of my own life experience!