Allow me to throw in my two cents into the horde of Steve Jobs blogs that must be invading the Internet about now. A lot of it has been said about his legacy, his power, his tyrannic tendencies among everything else under the sun. So I’ll just briefly tell you what I’ll remember about Mr. Steve Jobs:

I won’t remember the iPad, nor the iPhone, nor the iPod. Ok, maybe I will. But they will be fondly remembered as things that I had, that I enjoyed possessing, and that added to my quality of life. But what I’ll remember the most about Steve Jobs is his burning desire to be remarkable and do remarkable things. He mastered channeling our greatest fear, death, and turned it into a sort of elixir that took him to extraordinary levels. He managed to think in the “If this was my last day on earth…” mindset well before he was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer. [Read this story about how Jobs used this mindset to go on a first date with his wife].

He was bold, daring, cunning, inspired, passionate, ambitious, stubborn, optimistic, charismatic; all characteristics which I constantly seek to develop (sans the stubbornness one, I already have plenty of that).

A prophet of sorts, he achieved the ability to perfectly match the unknown with opportunity and desire; and in the process, he created wonderful things. This is the ultimate goal of any entrepreneur.

What’s most important though is to understand that in his many inspiring words, the message was pretty similar: Do what you love, and do it better than everyone else.

I dare not call him a genius though, for that misses the point of his wisdom. In fact, regardless of any success level I hope to achieve in the future, I would never approve of being called a genius.

This sets a mental barrier for the average person that just needs the right inspiration to go from good to great. He wasn’t a genius because his success is the result of him deliberately putting himself in situations that pushed him out of his comfort zone (like couch surfing around Reed college after dropping out…feeding himself of the money he got frm exchanging coke bottles). He reached the highest level of success because of his discipline and his passion. Was it easier for him to connect the dots and analyze the marketplace in the future? Sure. People have natural talents. Yet, to say that his success is solely a measure of his unique traits grossly underestimates the fact that a lot of discipline (which can be learned), variety of experiences (which YOU choose to experience), and passion (everyone is passionate about something) went along with his natural gifts.

I don’t consider Edison or Einstein geniuses, and I’m willing to admit they didn’t as well as shown by some of the things they said:

Thomas Edison

“The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary”

“The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness;third, common sense”

Albert Einstein

“I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent; curiosity, obsession and dogged endurance, combined with self-criticism, have brought me to my ideas.”

The true legacy of Steve Jobs lies on his pursue of his passions. Yes, he had significant achievements at a young age (another reason why he is considered a genius). However, it doesn’t necessarily matter when success comes in your life. What really matters is doing something remarkable. To be honest, I don’t know much about the pre-iPod Steve jobs, but his last 10 years are enough of a legacy for me. Why? Because he led the creation of something special, many times.

His death has rekindled my spirit and my desire to be remarkable in my own way, and so I hope it has the same effect on you as well. Above all, never forget to go home at night and think about what you are doing/did that day. If it’s not remarkable, make it remarkable. If it doesn’t matter, make it worthwhile. Your time on this earth is limited and very valuable. Remind yourself of this everyday.

Thank you Steve.