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In this Friday’s episode, we are going to talk about Steve Jobs’ reality distortion field and how you can have one too.

I just finished reading Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs and there is a lot in there about the latter’s reality distortion field. Jobs used this to credit for his whole career. People would try to fight against it but will ultimately succumb to this. Basically, he would convince people through whatever means – his charisma, force of will, strong emotion, conviction – that whatever it was that they thought was impossible was actually possible. As one of the first Apple employees said, in Steve’s presence, reality is malleable.

Let’s look at this this way: you are in your own reality distortion field right now. We all are a product our beliefs about reality. For example, if you think you are no good in social situations, then that is likely the reality you are going to experience. On the other hand, if you see yourself as a leader, then you’re probably going to be a leader. That will confirm that reality or beliefs create self-fulfilling prophecies in reality distortion field.

Now let us think on a bigger level – things that were previously impossible are now possible, like me, breaking the two-hour marathon, or free-soloing at El Capitan. Both these physical feats happened in the last couple of years. Amazing, right? They were never possible before but they are now.

When Steve Jobs was  creating the iPhone, and he was talking to Corning, the makers of the Gorilla Glass, that is the screen for the iPhone. They said, there is no way that they will be able to reconfigure their factories in order to make the screens in time for him. Also, the early Apple employees said that there was no way they could create the Macintosh software in two months. However, Jobs held such strong reality for them, that those things were possible. He was sometimes compassionate about it, saying that it was okay, that he knows that they are afraid, but they can do it. And then guess what? They go and actually do it!

A lot of times, I think people say something is impossible because they don’t know or have never done it. That is not necessarily proof that something is impossible. Partly, Jobs was pushing people to be their best.

So, the takeaway from today, aside from the interesting facts you’ll get to hear about quantum physics, is that reality is based in your beliefs. You can create your own reality distortion field about what is possible, and, over time, you can grow and gain the skills you need. You can make reality happen even if it has never happened before. You can distort your own reality based on your beliefs so that you can become the type of person who can do something that you previously thought was impossible.