“… when you grow up, you tend to get told that the world is the way it is, and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money. But life, that’s a very limited life.

Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact, and that is: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it. You can influence it. You can build your own things that other people can use. And the minute that you understand that you can poke life, and actually something will, you know, if you push in, something will pop out the other side, that you can change it. You can mold it. 

That’s maybe the most important thing is to shake off this erroneous notion that life is there and you’re just going to live in it, versus embrace it. Change it. Improve it. Make your mark upon it.

I think that’s very important. And however you learn that, once you learn it, you’ll want to change life and make it better. Because it’s kind of messed up in a lot of ways.

Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.”

Source: Steve Jobs Secrets of Life (YouTube)

Richard Feynman was a brilliant professor and physicist, best known for his work in quantum mechanics and in particle physics. His book “Surely, You’re Joking, Mr Feynman” is well worth your time and doesn’t require knowledge of physics or math. He was quite proud of his “active social irresponsibility” – much of which is covered in his book.

His general outlook on life was one we could all learn from:

• Avoid being overly analytical, seek to understand: “There is a difference between knowing the name of something, and knowing something.”
• Always be open to new ideas: “It doesn’t matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn’t matter how smart you are. If it doesn’t agree with experiment, it’s wrong.”
• His approach for learning new things may seem overly simple but it works:
  • Choose a Topic: An area of study or complex concept.
  • Explore: Research, think about and learn about the topic.
  • Explain it simply: Assume you must teach your topic to an intelligent child.
  • Keep digging: Continue to explore the topic, targeting areas you struggled to explain or simplify.

His overall philosophy was a key to his happiness:

• There is little we can do to change other people and the circumstances, but there is a lot we can do to change ourselves and to better our understanding of the world.
• Focus on changing yourself and to make the future better
• Don’t feel responsible for the world or company you are currently in.