As far as I’m concerned, Steve Jobs Stanford commencement speech should be mandatory viewing. It has profoundly impacted my life. I still watch it from time to time whenever I’m in need of some inspiration. If you haven’t already, watch it. Don’t even read this post. Just hit play. If you have seen it and are in need of a quick refresher, below are the key takeaways.
Don’t Go to College.
"The minute I dropped out, I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting." -SJ
Okay, so Steve doesn’t explicitly say you shouldn’t go to college (this was a college commencement speech, after all), but he does say that dropping out of college was one of the best decisions he’s ever made. Why? Well, there are two main reasons. The first is that he had no idea what he was doing with his life, and for him, spending a tremendous amount of money on an education while having no particular direction seemed a waste. But most importantly, dropping out of college gave Steve the freedom to explore his own curiosity. And that curiosity is what led to his incredible success later in life.
Trust Your Gut.
"You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because 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, and that will make all the difference." -SJ
I’ve read my fair share of self-help books. And if you read enough self-help books you will start to see patterns, things everyone tends to agree on. This is one of the biggest. People who make the biggest impact on this world don’t do it by following the crowd. They do it by carving their own way forward. That path is anything but easy, and unless you have sufficient faith in yourself, or your intuition, or God, or whatever, navigating that path will be impossible. Trust your gut.
Embrace Death.
"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart." -SJ
This is another piece of advice that’s fairly common in the self-help world, especially with people who’ve embraced Stoicism. But the question is, how do you embrace death? Most of us haven’t had a near-death experience to help put things into perspective. Well, might I suggest buying this life calendar courtesy of Wait But Why. It’s a nice way to visualize just how short life is, and how little time we have. What could be more motivating than a literal deadline?
Failure is the Best Medicine
"Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me." -SJ
Steve says that he entered one of the most creative period of his life after getting fired from Apple. Gone was the tremendous burden of success—that feeling of needing to live up to others expectations of you. Now he was back to square one, free again to pursue his own curiosity and do what he loved. Everyone will inevitably experience failure in their life, and sometimes that punch in the gut is all we need to get ourselves back on track.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
"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." -SJ
Those four powerful words come from the Whole Earth Catalogue created by Stewart Brand. For this one I’ll refer you to his interview on The Tim Ferriss Show where they discuss what it means to stay hungry and foolish.