Steve Wozniak, 75 years of happiness

I’ve always had great respect for Steve Wozniak, the tubby nerd who, in the eyes of those in the industry, has always been considered one step behind (if not more) his friend and Apple Computer co-founder, Steve Jobs.

Without Steve Jobs’ commercial genius, Apple would never have become the giant it is today. Instead, it would have remained just another company selling personal computers of various shapes and functions in the 1980s, alongside the likes of Tandy, Sinclair, Commodore, Osborne, Atari, Compaq and many others.

But without Steve Wozniak’s engineering genius, the Apple I and Apple II would never have existed, so I’d say it’s a draw.

– Source: TechCrunch_.

Steve Wozniak’s disinterest in money is legendary. Had it been up to him, he would have given away the Apple I project to anyone who asked. After leaving Apple in the 1980s, he sold or gave away most of his shares in the company, shares that would be worth a staggering amount today.

But, as he himself wrote on the day of his 75th birthday,

I gave all my Apple wealth away because wealth and power are not what I live for. I have a lot of fun and happiness. I funded a lot of important museums and arts groups in San Jose, the city of my birth, and they named a street after me for being good. I now speak publicly and have risen to the top. I have no idea how much I have but after speaking for 20 years it might be $10M plus a couple of homes. I never look for any type of tax dodge. I earn money from my labor and pay something like 55% combined tax on it. I am the happiest person ever. Life to me was never about accomplishment, but about Happiness, which is Smiles minus Frowns. I developed these philosophies when I was 18-20 years old and I never sold out.

He is right. Once you’re worth 10 million dollars (though it should actually be 100 million) your life doesn’t change whether you reach 20, 50, 100 or even 1,000 million. It’s better – much better – to have fun, enjoy life, and be happy.

If more people shared Woz’s philosophy, the world would be a much better place.