From Steve Jobs’s commencement speech last Sunday at Stanford:
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. …
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.
A brilliant man.
I’m certain that what he says came from deep in his heart.
Am not sure that someone just starting out will assimilate the truth residing within the platitudes.
Even coming from someone fighting cancer, Death-as-Motivator is likely not going to resonate for people at that age.
And does anybody fresh out of college know who they are or what they need (vs what-they-want)?
The truth is there, but I think one needs to learn it for yourself or it could just sound like a middle-aged guy evangelizing.
And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
This sounds good, and maybe someday I’ll get that courage back. Unfortunately, following your heart and intuition can also get you into all kinds of misery, because the heart can be such an idiot. Reality checks from the outside are necessary when you can’t trust your inner voice, and probably even when you can.
Great. I’ve now lived an equal amount of time as I’d lived at the time of my high school commencement address, and while the road to happiness is no better mapped, various wrong turns are now clearly marked.
I was there for his address. He also said, “Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” It was a wonderful speech urging the graduates to pursue their dreams and see opportunities in life’s setbacks.