How to achieve more by doing less | Steve Jobs Minimalist Approach

Minimalism is defined as a way of reducing the non-essential in order to focus on what’s truly important, what gives our lives purpose, what gives us joy and value. This concept has become popular and made a surge on YouTube with popular videos coming from creators like Matt D’Avela.
What I started to begin to notice after watching Matt’s videos and understanding Minimalism is that Steve Jobs lived by the concept. Steve Jobs was as much of minimalist in product design as he was in life. This philosophy I believe is one of the core reasons behind Jobs success.
Jobs adopted a minimalist lifestyle, he wore the same black turtleneck, blue jeans and New Balance sneakers every day. This may seem of no importance to many, but it shows his focus was always on the important things. His decisions where based on what feature would the next iPhone have as opposed to what will I wear tomorrow?
Former Apple CEO John Sculley recalled a visit he made to Jobs’ house.
“I remember going into Steve’s house and he had almost no furniture in it. He just had a picture of Einstein, whom he admired greatly, and he had a Tiffany lamp and a chair and a bed. He just didn’t believe in having lots of things around but he was incredibly careful in what he selected.”
This allowed Jobs to save time due to having less clutter and fewer possessions. That means less time cleaning and maintaining, and less time searching for things. Clearing away all distractions allowed him to gain clarity and thought.
Jobs knew the subtle mental strain of switching back and forth between tasks. So he removed all that would distract him from what he intended to achieve. This careful, deliberate and intentional thought process is powerful. This allowed Steve Jobs to focus on what really mattered. On a to-do list of 10 things he would cross out 7 of the items if it didn’t allow him to achieve his goal.
Jony Ive, Apple’s chief designer describes how this minimalist approach enabled Steve Jobs to maintain focus on what really mattered.
His minimalist approach can be seen in his design, heavy influence on simplicity was a hallmark of Apple products. Jobs’ love of simplicity in design was honed when he became a practitioner of Buddhism.
Daniel Kottke, a college friend said “Zen was a deep influence,” “You see it in his whole approach of stark, minimalist aesthetics, intense focus.” Jobs agreed. “I have always found Buddhism — Japanese Zen Buddhism in particular — to be aesthetically sublime”
Jobs felt that a core component of design simplicity was making products intuitively easy to use which stems a lot from the minimalist approach of reduction. A way to escape the excesses of the world around us — the excesses of consumerism, material possessions, clutter, having too much to do, too many distractions, too much noise. You only have to look as far as the IOS interface to get a clear idea of this concept.
This core concept and philosophy was the foundation of Apple’s success. It’s more about intention and focus. For example you want to send an e-mail on an iPhone. The process has been so refined to make it as easy as possible for the user to complete the task in as few steps as possible.
Steve Jobs was a minimalist in every aspect of his life and I believe his focused intentions lead him to have a clear vision for Apple and his future. ¬


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Matt's Channel: youtube.com/user/blackboxfilmcompany

Music Used:
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youtube.com/watch?v=5mgYnwhM4eg&t=263s ([ No Copyright ] Coffee House Jazz | Calm Jazz Music | Relaxing Music | Relax Music Meditation)

Videos Used:
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youtube.com/watch?v=2oksetv3i90&t=2s (Jony Ive on Focus)
youtube.com/watch?v=LZbEIxhiJRM (Busy street noise)
ssyoutube.com/watch?v=XjwV9imzfzs (iPhone X interface)