This was a speech given by Steve Jobs a few years ago at Stanford University. In it he makes a passionate case for finding work you love. And that you not settle for someone’s else’s idea of what you should do in life.
There’s lots of other great insights in his talk. I’ve summarised them in this post for you.
Here’s what Steve says about marrying your different interests:
- You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards.
- You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.
- Believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path.
Here’s what Steve says about finding work you love:
- Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.
- Sometimes life’s going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.
- I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going after I got fired was that I loved what I did.
- You’ve got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers.
- Your work is going to fill a large part of your life.
- The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.
- The only way to do great work is to love what you do.
- If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle.
- As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.
- Like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on.
- If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.
Here’s what Steve says about contemplating your own death (and how it will help you figure out what to do with your life now):
- Every morning I look in the mirror and ask myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?”
- 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 thing 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 – fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
- Remembering 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.
- Death 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.
- Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.
Here’s what Steve says about being influenced by others’ ideas of what you should do in your life:
- Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.
- Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition.
- They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
These notes were taken from Steve Jobs address. For the full impact, best to spend the 15 minutes listening to the Steve in the video. His stories about his life bring the whole thing alive.
This is one of the most important speeches for young people I’ve ever seen. Give it a go.
Steve Jobs is the founder of Apple computers. He was famously fired from Apple and then returned some years later. His return sparked Apple’s current success – with innovations such as the ipod, iphone and ipad. Find out more about Steve Jobs on Wikipedia.
Video of Steve’s speech courtesy of Stanford University. At the time of writing it had 2.6 million views on YouTube.
