Rock Tumblers, granites and Steve Jobs - How to create values

It is time to renovate our kitchen. And we ordered a new set of pantries. Costly as ever. They used granite for the table top. If you do not know granite is just rock. If you own land and dig deep enough it is likely you would tumble upon a big granite. But here is the thing, when cutted with precision with modern machinery and polished. Rough edges smoothed and fitted perfectly on top of the pantry this rock makes a beautiful pattern that you cannot achieve by any other means. State of the art addition to our otherwise boring kitchen. And it had not taken too many years for us to come from cement and wooden pantry to granite tops. More importantly, it reminded me of a little story from Steve Jobs.

Granite: https://unsplash.com/@enginakyurt

Steve Jobs and Rock Tumbler

I read his biography. At a time I did not know who this guy was. So it did not interest me, and I cannot remember anything from it. But later when I had my hands on the new smart phone, I saw this enthusiastic CEO of Apple Inc, one of the greatest companies of our time. I had seen him giving a couple of speeches and in one interview he talked about his childhood experience of a rock tumbler. As it is interesting and relevant I will re-write it here.

Once when he was young Steve jobs had met his neighbour who showed him a rock tumbler in his backyard. He put some pretty regular rocks in the machine and some water, and powder, turned on the machine and they kept it running overnight. Following day when Steve Jobs went there he found out that the rocks have become really round polished marbles, with little bit of friction and tumbling the machine provided. And it had made him realise to build something beautiful, sometimes you just need few ingredients yet plenty of patience, refinement and iteration.

Rocks : https://unsplash.com/@photolli

How to create values

You may think this is very common wisdom. Hard work, practise makes you perfect, right? But I would say there is more to it. I also believed in hard work and following the rules. But sometimes this is just not enough. More importantly I would say we need to understand the value system we use. All humans use the same value system and that is perfectly sitting in our consciousness. And when you believe enough about your own values slowly others start to believe in you as well. You do not trust me? Look at the billionaires in the world. Aren't they extraordinary?

Elon musk, Mark suckerburg, Jeff Bezoes, all these guys believe in themselves. If they come to a podium and say that they do not believe in themselves and they are not sure how their companies will do in the next year, you will see their stock prices plummet in the next minute and recovery would be impossible. Essentially they even have to hide their own sicknesses and failures and Act in front of the media just like a blind egotic believer in themselves. Just like Steven Seagal believes in himself and acts like he believes he is the greatest martial arts master.

So if you do want to create a value. Maybe you should start believing in something. I am not sure what it is. But here is the truth. Just know that it is a belief, and it has no truth.

Imagine you want to give a value to a piece of paper. Can you do that? I can show you ten more ways to give value to a paper.

You can make a paper plane.

Origami Swan.

Make a ball and play with your kid

Write a poem

Solve an equation

Tear it into small pieces and make a collage

Draw a cartoon and make a video doing it

Use it as a sieve

Use it to blot water

Dissolve it into a pulp and make a cardboard

Creating value from Rocks: https://unsplash.com/@mariahhewines

I am sure there are enough granites in your backyard and empty papers on your desk. So, make a wise choice to do something to it and create your own value, so it won't be empty next year. Instead you have a pile of polished marbles or a computer program for selling them.