Steve Jobs died on October 5, 2011. He is one of the great innovators of our time. I just heard his 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University.

Find Your Passion. Steve Jobs was raised as the adopted child of humble parents. He left Reed college because he did not want to spend his parent’s money on an expensive college education when he had yet to find his passion. Nonetheless, he never wavered in his belief in himself. He knew he had it, he just needed to find it. Once Mr. Jobs found his passion he lived it for the rest of his life.

Rise from Defeat. At a peak in his career as the head of the Macintosh group at Apple Mr. Jobs was ousted from Apple. Like the mythical bird Phoenix Mr. Jobs rose from the ashes. He later returned to Apple to make it the most innovative corporation in history.

Live Every Day. Mr. Jobs practiced the mantra of live every day as if it is your last. Someday you will be right. In the meantime if you live every day as your last day following your passion when the last day arrives you will have lived a fruitful life.

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Sometimes when we are learning a new skill we are faced with falling short of what many others who are experienced at the skill are able to do. Sometimes we think we know what we are doing but we fall short of what we have done in the past and what we believe we are capable of doing.

Falling short of what others are able to do, or of what we think we should be able to do, is not a bad thing. It is reality when it happens. We need to accept reality. We need to learn from our experiences.

Falling short is an opportunity to get better. Success is not introspective. When we succeed we tend to take success for granted. We rarely learn from success.  Falling short is introspective. We tend to reevaluate our performance. We learn when we reevaluate. When we learn and fine tune we get better.

So applaud falling short. Recognize you have been in the arena. Recognize you have battled. Recognize you can learn and get better. And getting better is what it is all about.

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I recently attended a trial lawyer’s seminar where we explored who we are as people. We discussed how we need to know ourself before we can know our client.

We discussed how we need to know our client at a deeper level. Until we understand the emotions of our client in the context of her traumatic injury we do not have the ability to tell her story.

These realities are hard to implement into my life as a lawyer. I must look into the inner me to get to know what I am all about. Once I do this I need to identify what about me is moved by my client’s case. I can then reach the emotional depth of my client’s case, and  effectively argue her case.

At this point in my career I have been a lawyer for 30 years. They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. But getting to know myself is not a new trick. Getting to a deeper understanding of my client is not a new trick. These steps are steps to be taken for a new beginning. A new trip into a deeper understanding of me, a deeper understand of my family, and a deeper understanding of my clients.

The Photograph used in this post is a photograph by artist Ron Smid of The Canada Gallery-beautiful work form a talented artist.

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Today I was in the second day of a golf tournament. Before we started the 9:00 am shotgun, the tournament director assembled all of us near the American Flag which was flying at half mast. He called for a moment of silence for all those killed on September 11, 2001.

Today is the tenth anniversary of the 911 tragedy. We all remember that day as we should. All of us alive on September 11, 2001 know the world changed on that day. The change is still with us and always will be. Change in the form of terrorist acts. Change in the form of security. Change in the form how we view one another.

On how we view one another, it is important to be accepting of  those who have different religious beliefs. It is important to accept those who dress differently. It is important to understand the world is a global village and different cultures and different beliefs are what make the village an interesting place.  As we move forward let us remember 911 and  let us accept one another and appreciate our differences.

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Being a lawyer with lot’s of clients, deadlines, and endless stuff to do it’s easy to work, work, work. But it’s important to remember a quality lawyer is a well rounded lawyer. A quality lawyer is a fresh lawyer. It’s a disservice to clients to be burned out.

This means it’s important to have down time. It’s important to be away from work. It’s important to spend quality time with family and friends.

Find the time to get away. Find the time to recharge. Make the time for a vacation.

When on vacation forget about work. Live in the moment with focus on vacation spot. Relax, read, forget about time and recharge. Your law practice will survive. and when you return relaxed and refreshed it will thrive.

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The older I get the more I realize life is about relationships. For most our closest relationships are family. After family we have friends. My father told me years ago a person is fortunate if he has one friend. A  friend  continues as a friend through thick or thin, good times or bad times.

When we have not seen a friend for a period of time and we reunite it is like we never were apart. A friend is not judgmental. A friend accepts us for who we are. To a friend it does not matter if we are successful in the eyes of others. What matters is we are who we are without pretense.

I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for my  friends. For my part I will do my best to be a friend and thereby make life better for the person who calls me their friend.

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Natural Rhythm happens without causing or making. Natural Rhythm happens without meddlesome, combative, or egotistical effort. Natural Rhythm is trusting our inner nature, and the way things flow; it is trusting the natural order of things and operating with minimal effort.

When we operate in our Natural Rhythm we put the round peg in the round hole and the square peg in the square hole. There is neither stress nor struggle. When we try too hard things don’t work. When we trust our innate ability and flow with the situation we are in our Natural Rhythm and things work out fine.

Benjamin Hoff, The Tao Of Pooh (PAT edit)

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