Wednesday 8th of February was an awesome day! I was lucky enough to see Tim Cook live for the second time in a year. This time he visited Glasgow University where he received an honorary degree followed by a Q&A with students. Tim is my biggest inspiration in life, not just for the way he shaped his professional career, currently leading Apple as CEO, but for his very focused lifestyle too.

Tim Cook is intensely private. He is known to work 14 hour days, year round. I have read anecdotes on Quora of people meeting him at a grocery store and seeing him work out. To my knowledge that is basically his life: wake up, work out, go to Apple, buy groceries, go to sleep, repeat. Steve Jobs would occasionally speak to interviewers and friends about his other passions; music, philosophy, art, everything! I have yet to hear Tim Cook talk about anything at all that was not directly related to Apple.

In the fireside chat, Cook said that aspiring graduates should not work with the aim of making money: ‘it will wear out fast, or never be enough’. Cook also said that there is a big difference between loving to work and loving the work, as advice he would give to his younger self. Cook also repeated his comments about the importance of coding as a skill, saying it should be required in schools. He also said that Steve Jobs was the person that influenced him the most in life ‘by far’.

Seeing Tim Cook live again, during week 3 of this last semester at uni, gave me a big boost to my productivity & an incredible dose of motivation to conclude my time in Dundee in the best way possible.