11 motivating facts about Steve Jobs

The mastermind behind modern technology, the ultimate genius who combined sleek style with advanced functionality to create famous everyday digital devices, Steve Jobs is known by everyone.

Probably there isn’t a single person on this planet who hasn’t heard of Steve Jobs.

But the question is, how familiar are we with this man, and what do we know about his life, legacy and him as a person?

Here we are presenting the most interesting, surprising facts about one of the richest people on the entire planet – Steve Jobs:

1. Steve Jobs was adopted

His father was Syrian, his mother American and when they gave him for adoption, they only had one request: that he was given to college-educated parents.

His adoptive parents Clara and Paul Jobs didn’t graduate from college, however his biological parents found out too late about this fact.

Yet, the adoptive parents promised they will send Steve to college.

2. Jobs admitted that he was never a fan of conventional schooling

In fact, he had quite a low GPA – just 2.65, and he preferred learning in unconventional ways.

One class that he liked especially had a calligraphy course, which he claimed helped him in the future when he was working on the Apple products.

3. He had financial problems especially when attending classes

He often slept in his friend’s dorm room floors, ate at the local kitchen who offered free meals and eventually he dropped out of college.

4. Steve was quite a complex character

When he worked at Atari they received a lot of complaints about his hygiene, his habits of walking around without shoes, and his overall behavior.

They moved into nightshift after that.

During this period he also did many questionable things: he stole from his partner Steve Wozniak.

Atari gave Steve $5,000 for their Breakout game, but Steve lied saying he only got $700, giving Wozniak $350 and keeping the rest ($4,650) for himself.

5. He continued with the shady, selfish behavior even when he got rich

He was no philanthropist, in the early years he cut all programs in this field, under excuse he will later bring them back when the profit goes higher.

Yet, that never happened although the company exceeded its expectations.

6. Jobs was described as difficult to work with, egomaniac and demanding

He even made the Fortune’s list of America’s Toughest Bosses.

Yet, strangely enough, his co-founder and friend, Wozniak noted that Jobs never learned how to code.

Moreover, he hated PCs, and his friends often reported him saying: “I’d rather sell dog shit than PCs.”

7. He had an illegitimate child named Lisa Brennan

He denied being her father for years, yet, around the time she was born, he named a new Apple computer the Apple Lisa, which he justified as pure coincidence claiming Lisa stands for Local Integrated Software Architecture.

Nevertheless, he eventually recognized her as his daughter and she added his last name to hers.

8. He had quite an unusual relationship with medicine

Even when he was diagnosed with cancer, he tried everything but the recommended treatment.

Jobs subscribed to an alternative-medicine regimen, including a vegan diet, acupuncture, and herbal remedies, even consulting a psychic.

Eventually he gave in, but unfortunately, the delay contributed a lot to his rapid decline.

9. Jobs was a fan of drugs

He experimented with them, especially with LSD, calling it “one of the two or three most important things I have done in my life.”

He even took a 7-month journey in India during which he continued his experiments with psychedelic drugs and converted to Zen Buddhism.

10. He had a sleepover with Bill Clinton

That’s right! Jobs was invited By Bill Clinton to spend the night sleeping in Lincoln’s bedroom in the White House.

11. Life as a homeless person

Even the almighty Steve Jobs was homeless and quoted as saying “I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned Coke bottles for the 5-cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.