The biggest wow-factor I ever received from Steve Jobs wasn't within any of his keynote presentations or any of his interviews. But rather it was within his 2005 Stanfard commencement speech that I viewed on Youtube in 2007. It's not just the single best commencement speech, but one of the greatest speeches ever given as far as the effect it had on me. Of particular importance (and I realize this has been quoted many times since his death), this excerpt:
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 others’ 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.
October 6, 2011 at 6:30am - Thoughts
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