The Art Of Thinking For Yourself: How To Cultivate Taste Like Steve Jobs

I. WHERE DO GOOD IDEAS COME FROM?

In 1985, Steve Jobs said that personal computer use would spread to the home. At the time, only 8% of American households had a computer. The only places that had computers was your company, school, and your library (if you were lucky). But by 2015, 79% of households have a computer.

How’d he predict that? How do smart people come up with really good ideas? How can you (a smart person) come up with more good ideas?

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II. INFORMATION INPUTS

All ideas—good and bad—are downstream from the inputs you consume: Books, TV, podcasts, even conversations with friends & family. If you read, watch, and listen to the same things everyone else does, you’ll have the same ideas as everyone else.

By definition, a ‘good idea’ is better than an ‘average idea’. Which requires above average information input. How do you get above average inputs?

1. Consume the newest information before everyone else does. Niche forums, rabbit holes on Twitter, conversations with people who are thinking decades ahead. This is really hard and rare, though. You have to hunt for these inputs, and most people don’t have the time, patience, or taste to find them.

2. Consume the oldest books no one is willing to read. Read lindy books that have been around for decades, or centuries. If an idea has stood the test of time, it’s worth knowing. Once you break out of the 24/7 social media feed cycle, you’ll start generating novel ideas. This has been my strategy—the older the book, the better. I’m skeptical of recent books, even if they’re a NY Times Best Seller.

Having different inputs is the first step on the path to having different ideas.

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III. HOW TO THINK FOR YOURSELF

According to a study by the University of California, San Diego, the average American consumes 100,000 words every day through various media outlets. In a modern world where you consume 100,000+ words, how do you discern good from bad information? You need the ability to think for yourself.

In Principles, Ray Dalio, said:

“Above all else, I want you to think for yourself, to decide (1) what you want, (2) what is true, and (3) what to do about it.”

Independent thought is the highest value at Bridgewater. But it’s never been harder than today to think for yourself. Social media algorithms amplify an echo chamber of self-reinforcing perspectives. The amount of ‘likes’ a post has has replaced independent thought about the value of a post. The solution is taste.

Taste is a capacity for critical judgement, and the ability to recognize what is aesthetically excellent. If you’re reading this newsletter, you have taste.

No one explains it better than Steve Jobs.

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(i) TASTE IN AN INTERVIEW

In a 1995 interview, Steve Jobs explains his issue with Microsoft at the time.

“The only problem with Microsoft is that they have no taste. Absolutely no taste. And I don’t mean that in a small way—I mean that in a big way. They don’t think of original ideas, and they don’t bring much culture into their products.

You might ask, “Why is [taste] important?” Well, proportionally spaced fonts, for example, come from typesetting and beautiful books — that’s where the idea comes from. Without the Mac, they never would have had that in their products.“

— Steve Jobs

Because Microsoft doesn’t have the taste—an ability to make valid judgements about aesthetic value—they’re unable to recognize good ideas in culture to bring into their products. The end result is third-rate products.

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(ii) TASTE IN A STORY

Steve Jobs’ taste in a story:

“One weekend Jobs went to Macy’s in Palo Alto and again spent time studying appliances, especially the Cuisinart. He came bounding into the Mac office that Monday, asked the design team to go buy one, and made a raft of new suggestions based on its lines, curves, and bevels.

Jobs kept insisting that the [first Mac] should look friendly. As a result, it evolved to resemble a human face. With the disk drive below the screen, the unit was taller and narrower than most computers, suggesting a head… ”Even though Steve didn’t draw any of the links, his ideas and inspiration made the design what it is,” Oyama later said. “To be honest, we didn’t know what it meant for a computer to be ‘friendly’ until Steve told us.”

— Walter Isaacson

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(iii) TASTE IN AN IMAGE

Steve had the foresight to know the aesthetic value of a computer, insisting that it should look friendly—like Cuisinart’s kitchen appliances.

He believed taste was about exposing oneself to the best examples of human creation and then applying that awareness to one’s own work, striving for the highest possible quality.

By immersing yourself in the best art, design, and technology, you broaden your understanding of what is truly good. Striving to create something of the highest quality—whether it be software, writing, or a demo—actually refines your taste, leading to better work in the future.

Steve Jobs did this. The result? The iMac. iPod. iPhone. In short, he ~literally~ changed the world.

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IV. CONVICTION: THE SIDE EFFECT OF TASTE

Being able to think for yourself gives you an advantage in business. Every exchange of value (money), starts with a problem proposition: a bet about what life will look like in the future.

Being able to think for yourself enables you to spot waves of technological innovation before they crest.

25 years before the iPhone was introduced, Steve Jobs said we will eventually carry computers in our pockets. He was right. You can be right too, with the right inputs.

• (i) Consume new things.

• (ii) Consume old books.

That’s where good ideas come from.

Thanks for reading.

— Grant Varner