Innovator, Strategist, Philosopher- Celebrating The Wisdom of Steve Jobs

After the announcement of the death of Steve Jobs this Wednesday, Apple's lead visionary, the entire technology community and those who value its innovations mourned his passing. Jobs, who passed away from pancreatic cancer, was not only the lead visionary behind Apple's remarkable brand, he was also an inspiration leader, sharing the secrets of his success to all who would listen.

Many who worked for him described him as "tough" and "unrelenting" yet those who benefit from his strict adherence to the development and implementation of his ideas are grateful for his personality and passion for his work.

Yes, he was an innovator, a strategist and an organizer but he was also a philosopher, well known for planting seeds of unique wisdom for future leaders.

I believe I am a future leader. I believe I have a significant contribution to make to this world yet I wrestle with doubt and confusion because I think so differently from most. People describe me as a "crazy genius" and many laugh at my efforts to teach women how to empower themselves through thought and freedom from the pressure to be great. I sometimes describe myself as crazy because I feel that way, never fitting in, always feeling like I'm the only one fighting the good fight for the benefit of others and trying to create ways to give what I have always wanted to receive.

"Why are you doing this?" I am asked frequently.

"I want to help women be better than me, to truly appreciate themselves in freedom," I reply.

"You're not Jesus," they say.

"I know, I just feel like someone has to do it."

Today I am grateful that I shared the same lifetime as Jobs and have benefited from his wisdom. These are just a few of my favorite words of wisdom from Steve Jobs.

Inspirational Quotes by Steve Jobs

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. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.

My job is not to be easy on people. My jobs is to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better.
I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.






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.

Thank you, Steve.

You made a difference.

Te-Erika

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You Survived Nursing School- Now What?

So you managed to survive nursing school, eh?

This wasn't your first choice for a career but after you had to take a job that rendered your first bachelors degree useless, you decided to play it safe and enter a field that experts say is recession proof- nursing.

You took out even more student loans and endured the rites of passage of future nurses, you know, studying pharmacology and managing to endure the 12 hour shifts for your internship and still make it to class on time the next day. You even managed not to smack that one student who constantly walked around asking everyone their exam scores so that she could compare. It was rough but you did it!

You finally passed the NCLEX, bought your first pair of scrubs and now you're ready to put all that knowledge into practice.

But wait- you have to find a job now. Easy enough, with all of your book knowledge, your high GPA and your acceptance into the Sigma Theta Tau honor society, you should be a shoe-in. You did your part yet, where's your sultry hospital setting where you'll meet a prominent surgeon who will fall madly in love with you at first sight and romance you until you are carrying his baby?

More than 4 months after feeling like a super goddess, you still haven't heard back from a single hospital yet. What are you doing wrong?

You're not alone. Although there have been reports in the media that have sold you the idea that nursing is a fool proof career choice, many brand new RN's are finding that they may have made a foolish decision.

24-year-old Florida native Shannon** passed the NCLEX back in June and spent more than a month applying to hospitals in her area. After not receiving a single call back she expanded her search to other cities and even went through the process of obtaining her license to practice as an RN in Michigan only to stare at her cell phone day after day, hoping that it would ring.

Shannon's story is not uncommon. A recent report states that new nursing graduates face extended unemployment due to their inexperience. Most job posting for RN positions require at least 1 year of experience in a hospital setting. Students loans are due and the glow of victory is ever diminishing as parents and family members grow tired of supporting the not so new graduate.

What do you do now? Do you take the position at a nurse registry just to keep your feet wet? Do you decide to become a home health aide even though your fantasy is to hold cute babies in the NICU? Do you drop your dream of using your degree altogether and head back to the service industry?

Don't give up.

Try:

Apply for overnight nursing positions. Sure, you want to work your 12 hour shift from 7a to 7p but the reality is most new nursing positions are offered during those hectic hours. Overnight positions offer new nurses the opportunity to learn and grow at a slower pace and there's a bonus- overnight positions typically pay more.

Focus on smaller hospitals in non congested areas. Sure, you want to land the job in the biggest hospital system in your state but there are other opportunities out there. Try applying to lesser known hospitals who often advertise for new nurses to apply and are willing to give them a fair shot.

Network. Join one of the many professional associations for nurses or slog through Meetup.com to find a medical professionals meeting group in your area.

Ask for help. Go ahead and join LinkedIn and post your job interest and put up a status on Facebook asking your friends to help you in your search. Get your pride out of the way, everyone needs a little help sometimes and you never know who knows somebody who knows somebody.

Volunteer. Register as a volunteer at the hospital that you want to work with. Once you're there you can mingle, make friends and potentially connect with the very people who can one day point you in the right direction toward your first job opportunity.


If 6 months have gone by and you still haven't been hired as a nurse, just go ahead and get a job, any. Don't consider yourself a failure, consider yourself smart enough to understand that nothing is permanent, not even this rough patch when you may feel as though your hard work didn't pay off. You didn't get this degree for no reason, your pathway into your career isn't clear yet and that is okay. You won't be in this position forever. Go ahead and take care of yourself by any means that you can and do not equate not having a job with your sense of self worth. The two have nothing to do with each other.

You are valuable whether you use your degree or not. You still have time to figure things out or even make a complete change if you want to. You are not trapped. You are not a failure. Be light headed about your job search and open minded about your options. There are a multitude of ways to experience the fulfillment of helping others. You're seeking financial stability but you are also seeking the peace that comes with it.

How else can you experience the same FEELING you believe you will experience once you were to get your dream nursing job? Find another way to experience that feeling and enjoy it to the last drop.

Don't give up. You've gotten through much rougher times in your life and lived to tell the tale.

Your dream is waiting. Celebrate in advance, everything will work out just fine.




**Shannon is a fictitious name although this story is very real.

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EDITORIAL: Why We Protest

By Christina Fermin
Politics & Society Columnist

The Occupy Wallstreet protest began September 17, 2011 and is now gaining national media attention, the question that seems to be on the minds of the people is: why are they protesting? On October 1, 2011 the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square (formally Zuccotti Park) released their Declaration of Occupancy ( http://nycga.cc/2011/09/30/declaration-of-the-occupation-of-new-york-city/). Most of which takes aim at the corporate hegemonic forces and the current economic and political structure that we have in place. All of which has clearly benefited the top 1% of the population who the protesters take issue with.

The protesters are known to say that they are the 99% who are tired of the massive inequality, injustice, environmental degradation and societal collapse that has taken place. This protest is more about corruption, greed and the unequal power that is rampant in Wallstreet, they are the “movers and shakers” of our present society. This past weekend, JP Morgan Chase ‘donated’ $4.6 Million to the NYPD foundation, their largest gift in the foundation’s history. How ironic, NYPD gets $4.6 Million dollars and they arrest over 700 peaceful protesters. It is obvious that the powers that be want something done about these people they have crawling the streets of NYC while chanting things like “Human Need, not Corporate Greed” and “People not profits.”

The people who have taken to the streets of New York come from all walks of life. They are young, middle aged and old. They are students, unemployed, employed, underemployed. They are the underpaid and overworked. They are people who have lost their homes to mortgage fraud and people without health insurance. They are people who are indebted without hope of ever getting out of debt. They are the white collared workers and the blue collared workers of America; they are the teachers, retail associates, firefighters, medics, teenagers, senior citizens, wealthy, poor, educated, bankers, lawyers, actors, musicians, conservatives and liberals of America. They are the representatives of the people who have not yet realized, we are the 99%.

This movement has been gaining traction, even against all the negative reporting and decentralized workings. There is now anOccupySF, OccupyChicago, OccupyBoston and the list goes on. There are occupy movement popping up across the nation from Florida up through North Dakota down to through Texas and across the West Coast and almost everywhere in between. Including international occupy movements from Japan, Australia, Canada, Europe and Mexico. The support has been widespread throughout the nation and the world. There are anywhere from a few people up to thousands of protesters at each sight of the nation and the world. Not to mention the protest movements still occurring in the various Middle Eastern countries, Greece, Spain, and Israel.

While the different protest movements around the country and the world may protest for different reasons. One thing has brought them together, massive injustice in one form or another. As these protests heat up and gain more traction, good will prevail. This is our moment as a human species to come together and work through this moment of despair. All that is wrong with the world cannot to hidden or ignored any longer, for far too long the injustice has been mounting. The people have awakened and we are pissed. The technology is available for all the world to live harmoniously on this wonderfully beautiful planet, it is time that society catches up. No longer can we live separate from each other, the planet or the species of the planet. Nothing functions independently, everything is interrelated to one another. It is time that we take a holistic approach and apply it to society using science and technology to get us into a future that is free of suffering, poverty, environmental destruction, greed and corruption.

Peace & Harmony,
Christina

About the Columnist With a bachelors degree in political science from Florida Atlantic University, Christina Fermin has always cultivated her love for history, politics, sociology, ancient knowledge and teachings, the outdoors, the ocean and the environment. Christina strives to make our world better by helping us all create a new reality and understanding of all taking place here and now.

Some Sites and Articles to Check Out:

We are the 99%

Adbusters

Occupy Together

Occupy Wallstreet

BOA Protest

Greece Turning to Barter System

NYC Transit Joins Occupy Wall street

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