To method-act the persona
and circumvent the ego

Dress – Jobs had a uniform that he wore every day – a black turtle neck, jeans, and sneakers. His closet was full of one design of black turtle necks. Find a comfortable look that works for you and wear it for the duration. It doesn’t have to be the same clothes every day, but it should be a pared down style that conveys your nonchalance about your appearance. He often had body odor so be more lax about your hygiene.

Diet – Jobs was a vegan and a proponent of organic foods. He would find a particular food or food class, like a brand of juice, and consume only that for weeks at a time. While you are Steve, limit the variety of foods you eat and increase your consumption of fruit and vegetables. If you can tolerate it, eat the same food every day or become a vegan or vegetarian.

Speech – “Oh, and one more thing..” With feigned forgetfulness and a wry smile, Jobs would often introduce his biggest product announcements as if they were an afterthought. Once Jobs said his “one more thing,” his audience knew Apple had a technical marvel to unveil. Try using this or a similar self-deprecating technique to introduce your work.

Music – Jobs was a big Bob Dylan fan so acquaint yourself with his music if you aren’t already a fan, and change your listening habits to include Dylan, The Beatles, and U2.

Create a reality distortion field – Through charm, passion, repetition, and manipulation, Jobs was able to get the people around him to believe they could achieve almost impossible goals, like building and selling the first Apple computer and getting the Apple II to market in a very tight time frame. Many of his product deadlines were incredibly short, but he was able to motivate people to work long hours to meet them. Two beliefs drove this behavior – one, that he was changing the world, and two, that he was special.

Be special – As a child, Jobs told a friend that he was adopted and was distressed when she asked why his birth parents didn’t want him. He confided this in his father who replied that the opposite was true, that he was chosen by his adoptive parents and was special. To compound his belief of being special, Jobs took a cognitive ability test in fourth grade, which rated his performance at the tenth grade level. As Jobs, you will need to believe that you are a special person. To do so, write a list of your talents. Enlist help from close friends or family if you need to, but you should have at least twenty items on the list. Read that list multiple times a day to remind yourself of how awesome you are. Use an item or two from your list to create a mantra, like “I am an exceptionally creative writer” or “I’m a whiz at motivating people” or even “I am special” or to use as positive reinforcement. Repeat this mantra frequently during the day, especially when you wake up and go to sleep.

Be a rebel hippie – The Microsoft versus Apple competition to dominate the personal computer market was often framed as the Nerd (Bill Gates) versus the Hippie (Steve Jobs.) In many ways, Jobs remained a hippie his entire life with his vegan diet, taste in music, and practice of Buddhism. He often felt that Apple was the little guy fighting the beige corporate man (IBM first, Microsoft later). Watch the 1984 Superbowl ad, which demonstrates this narrative. Later in life, when Apple was the largest corporation in the world by market capitalization, Jobs still found ways to rebel. He refused to put license plates on his silver Mercedes, which was often photographed parked in handicapped spots. Find a way to rebel, even in a small way, that proves that you’re special and won’t be intimidated by “the man.” This could be an item of clothing, a piece of art or music, or any small act of defiance. Review your daily routines to find a place or time to be a rebel.

Simplify – When Jobs returned to the failing Apple in 1996, he drew a four square matrix that read “Personal and Professional vs Portable and Desktop.” Then he zeroed in on one product for each quadrant, shrinking Apple’s numerous products to just four. This allowed them to focus on creating the best product in each category. Draw a matrix that reads “Personal and Professional vs. Short-term and Long-term.” Write your goals in each category and then hone in one per quadrant. Choose goals that have tangible outcomes, like products, presentations, brochures, videos, etc. Then prioritize them from 1 to 4. You will focus on one goal, possibly two if it makes sense. As much as possible, eliminate or delegate all other tasks that don’t accomplish your goals.

Change the world – Part of his reality distortion field was the way he was able to persuade others. When Apple was looking for a CEO in the 1980’s, Jobs wanted John Sculley, the CEO of Pepsi, because of his marketing prowess. At the time, Sculley had no intention of leaving Pepsi until Jobs asked him if he wanted to sell sugar water his whole life or change the world. Watch the Think Different ad campaign. This campaign encapsulated Jobs belief about Apple. Take your first priority goal above and create a new context for it, whereby it is part of a world-changing effort. If that doesn’t work, determine how you can modify your goal so it has that larger context. Craft one sentence that explains how vitally important it is to the world to succeed. Add that sentence to your daily mantra.

Think in black and white – Jobs’ classification system was awesome or garbage and genius or bozo. Only a few things fit the awesome category, and the rest was trash. Review your work using this classification system. Revisit your goals from above and make sure they have the potential to be awesome. If it can’t be awesome, eliminate it. Everything you work on must be at the awesome level. Work on it over and over to get every detail right. Jobs would rehearse his product presentations weeks in advance, perfecting every little detail from the fonts on the slides to the way the light hit the products.

Focus on design – The class in calligraphy at Reed, which he audited, sparked Jobs’ obsession with good design. You can audit a class in design, too. Coursera offers a Fundamentals of Graphic Design, but tailor your course to your specific needs. You can even try calligraphy. If you don’t have the time, re-examine your surroundings with a critical eye and inventory every item as beautiful or trash. When Jobs bought a historic mansion, he didn’t furnish it because he couldn’t find anything he liked. Consider some of the everyday items you take for granted and ponder how you would redesign them to make them more beautiful. Can you imagine a stapler as a sleek, black granite disk? How would you change rumpled sticky notes to make them more beautiful?

Create a “figurative” Japanese garden for meditation – Jobs admired Japanese gardens and frequently visited Japan. He also practiced Buddhism. Find or create a beautiful space for yourself to meditate, either a room in your home that you could rearrange with just a few beautiful items, especially plants, or a beautiful place outdoors that fills you with awe. Spend 10-20 minutes there every day, meditating.

Be obsessive – After you have meditated and surrounded yourself with beauty, review your work product with a critical eye. Is it garbage or genius? Incorporate some of your new knowledge about design and work on it again. Continue classifying it as garbage and genius and reworking until you are satisfied, taking long breaks between iterations in order to have fresh eyes.

Build a team to complement your talents – Many people are dismayed, even appalled, that Steve Jobs, lacking empathy and people skills, was able to become so successful. When asked about his success, Steve attributed it to building a team of talent, like the Beatles. People were able to tolerate Steve’s brusque behavior because he brought talent to the table, and he surrounded himself with people who could do the things he lacked. Meet with your team to review your individual strengths and weaknesses. For more insight, you can use a personality assessment like the Big Five or DISC. Discuss how to mitigate your team strengths and how you can compensate for each other’s weaknesses. Specifically, find a way to compensate for your own weaknesses so you can focus on your strengths.

Target talent – One of Steve’s talents was recognizing talent in others and targeting them, like the way he targeted John Sculley and capitalized on Steve Wozniak’s genius for electronics to create a computer company. Find someone outside of your normal circle who has a talent you admire. Devise ways to interact with that person to know them better. Don’t be afraid to use flattery or ask for advice. You want to create a relationship that might come in handy later (or now.)

Focus on a few things to perfect – Jobs obsessed over the details of his products and stores. To do this, he had to focus his attention on just a few things. Meet with your team and perform the four quadrant exercise to review your workload and determine how to significantly streamline it for the duration. While you are Steve, you will work on projects sequentially, not embarking on a new task until you have finished an old one and working on as few things as possible in order to perfect them. You may need to work with your manager to get agreement on this.

Prototype – The way Apple products achieved perfection was through trial and error, not upfront planning. When the product team did a product review, they printed out large graphics of various prototypes and laid them out on a table for everyone to review. Then they reviewed the prototypes with everyone involved, not just the designers and engineers, to discuss what worked and what didn’t. That information fed into another round of prototypes, and so on, until they had perfected the product. Try working this way. For example, if you are creating a presentation, develop multiple storyboards and graphic designs to review with your team. Hone in on the best, incorporate feedback, generate new alternatives, and review again. Reiterate until it meets your awesome classification.

Create an entire soup-to-nuts experience – Purchasing an Apple product isn’t just about obtaining a great product. The experience of buying it in a store, opening the carefully designed packaging, plugging it in, reading the brief instructions, and seeing it boot up have all been carefully curated. Create an end-to-end experience for one of your work products with your team. Using a presentation as an example, consider the setup of the room, the sounds and graphics playing while people sit down, how people will transition into the start of the presentation, how they will interact throughout, and know that it is over.

Foster collaboration and chance encounters – The Apple and Pixar offices are designed so that employees can mingle and have ample opportunities for a chance encounters, for instance, having one big, central bathroom rather than several. Steve was a big believer in serendipitous meetings where people would hang out, share ideas, and have fun together. While you are Steve, find ways to foster chance encounters and engage others in some fun. Put your chair outside your office to work, gather your team together for some garbage can basketball, and hold impromptu meetings in the hallways or cafeteria.

Find ways to promote yourself – Steve was master of self-promotion, often to the chagrin of his team members because he took credit for their ideas. However, he did know how to build anticipation for his work and was a master showman, as evidenced by his shareholder meetings. Create some positive publicity for yourself and your team by creating commercials or articles, doing interviews, or requesting presentation time at departmental meetings. Review your schedule every day to look for opportunities to promote yourself and drop teasers about your work to build curiosity.