Portrait of Steve Jobs
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Steve Jobs on Intuition

Strong intuition advocate (strong)

TL;DR

Steve Jobs strongly believed intuition is a powerful, superior guide that knows what one truly wants to become.

Key Points

  • He stated that intuition is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect, which had a major impact on his work.

  • Jobs noted that by entertaining a world of possibilities, his intuition matured to integrate expert knowledge and steer toward creating a lasting impact.

  • He associated his powerful sense of what was right for products with his spiritual advisor urging him to find truth internally rather than seeking a teacher abroad.

Summary

Steve Jobs positioned intuition as a profoundly powerful faculty, asserting it is superior to intellect in his personal decision-making process. He famously urged people to "have the courage to follow your heart and intuition," stating that this inner guidance somehow already knows an individual's ultimate aspirations, rendering everything else secondary. This conviction, often cited from his 2005 commencement address, guided his product development philosophy, enabling him to anticipate customer desires rather than relying on conventional market research.

His view on intuition was deepened by his time in India, where he observed that people in the countryside developed intuition far beyond the West's focus on learned rational thought. He viewed this Western rationality as a cultural achievement but noted that intuition and experiential wisdom offered a valuable, distinct perspective. Developing this capacity, he explained, requires practicing the discipline of calming the restless mind, which allows more subtle insights to emerge, leading to greater clarity and presence in the moment.

Key Quotes

Intuition is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect, in my opinion. That's had a big impact on my work.

Frequently Asked Questions

Steve Jobs considered intuition to be a very powerful thing, even more so than intellect. He believed that following one's intuition provides guidance toward one's true aspirations in life.

He felt that intuition needed to be practiced like a discipline. This involved sitting and observing the mind until it calmed down from its restlessness, creating space for subtler insights to emerge. This process allows one to see things more clearly.

Yes, Steve Jobs contrasted intuition with Western rational thought, which he saw as a learned characteristic of Western civilization. He observed that people in the Indian countryside used intuition extensively and that it was far more developed there.