I do not know much about the legacy of Steve Jobs. Or about the must have marvels of technology that Jobs was instrumental in shaping the world with.The fact that he is no more however came as a blow for the simple reason that he made miracles look possible. He was a man who was given away by his birth mother, failed the one dream she had for him by not graduating from college, started a company only to be driven out of it, and at the peak of resurgence, was diagnosed with cancer. Not one of these reasons was enough to stop him from achieving all that he ultimately did.

So what did he achieve? Even if you discount how his innovative products changed the way the world communicates, entertains itself, shops, thinks, creates, his biggest contribution would be his message that no matter what life throws at us, we cannot and must not throw away our life.That we must do what we were born to do. It could be raising our kids. Rescuing animals from the streets. Leaving a prosperous career to feed the hungry. Adopting a child. Starting a foundation for AIDS afflicted kids. Cooking diligent meals for the family everyday. Anything as long as  it fulfills us and gives us a sense of purpose.

It is never easy to keep doing the things we love to do. Often the love we have for our work is held against us. Often, it is taken away from us. Or taken for granted. Or we are hit by metaphorical or literal bricks. Like the time Jobs was told over eight years ago that his days were numbered because  he had pancreatic cancer. Or when he was fired from the company he had founded because of a successor he had chosen. Imagine if that happened to one of us. If something we had put our heart and soul in for years was snatched away from us. What it would do to our faith in the universe. In people. In ourselves. Even Jobs did not know what to do with himself for the next few months. But then came companies like NeXT. And Pixar. And then ofcourse there was the triumphant return to Apple. And he survived more than eight years of pancreatic cancer to continue working, innovating.

Through his life and its challenges, internal or otherwise, Jobs taught us how to focus on essentials. So if you drop  out of college, focus on where to drop in to find your passion.  If you get kicked out of your own company, remember that your passion has not been kicked out of you and then go, find something else to invest it in. Don’t settle. Don’t stay down after being knocked down flat.

In a world where mediocrity is celebrated as the norm, he stood for uncompromising excellence. For the burning need to  create more, do more  with only his own achievements as his bench mark.

I don’t have an iPhone or an iPad but to me and many others like me, Jobs redefined the meaning of ‘I.’ Of self-hood. He taught us to take pride in our existence and make it count. We may not all create the legacy he did. But we can all learn from him just how to live before we die.

Thank you, Steven Paul Jobs. Rest in peace.

Hear his life story here.. http://youtu.be/D1R-jKKp3NA

Reema Moudgil is the author of  Perfect Eight (http://www.flipkart.com/b/books/perfect-eight-reema-moudgil-book-9380032870?affid=unboxedwri )