Well Said - Steve Jobs at Stanford

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This time in Well Said, we are not looking at a book or poetry, but a person whose life, both achievements/failures, is like a complete library in itself.

Steve Jobs - Not only known for his personal success in the technical world but a genius who is said to have revolutionized at least six different industries. With his greater than life persona, there have obviously been many incidences where he said things which made people quote him throughout the world - Well Said, Steve Jobs.

While his complete speech at Stanford University is inspiring, there are a few excerpts which have been quoted time and again because of the sheer inspiration integrated in them. His speech, as he says in the beginning itself, is simply three stories. But these three stories are stories from his life which not only give a glimpse into the challenges he accepted, his vision, his success and his failures, but also give lessons which are at least 100 times worth the time you will invest in learning.

A look at the entire speech is highly recommended. Here is a link to his whole speech, and you can also find the video embedded.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Stay-Hungry-Stay-Foolish-Steve-Jobs-speech-at-Stanford/Article1-754153.aspx

"Again, you can’t 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. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever." ~ Steve Jobs, speech at Stanford

Once you start looking at your life - flashback, at least five years back - you will find many of these "dots" getting connected, dots which you might have found disturbing or useless or total nuisance, these dots would connect to form beautiful shapes in very front of your imaginative eyes. As a personal observation, there are hundreds of people who deny these dots - they want immediate "give and take" then and there. They don't want to take risks, they will follow a fully illuminated path which looks secure, safe, promising. Irony is, nothing in life is secure - no path is fully illuminated. The false sense of security in fact leads to more disastrous fall outs.

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle." ~ Steve Jobs, speech at Stanford

I love the part, "the only way to do great work is to love what you do". It's the concept of greatness that we are fed since childhood which distracts us. Great work would be something which is bringing great materialistic success, or something which is bringing great fame. How can you be doing "great work" if you don't love your work? If you cannot convince your own heart, that your work is worth falling in love with, how can you be satisfied? He insists, even if you're stuck at moment, don't settle, just keep looking.

The saddest part is, people even convince themselves that they love their work. In reality they don't, but they will tell the world they do, and they even try to tell themselves - as if it were possible to deceive your own heart.

"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." ~ Steve Jobs, speech at Stanford

Being afraid of falling off the well carved path is the one thing which stops people from taking risks - which stops them from following their heart. But as mentioned above, there is no safe path. If you can't take the big time risks, at least try the alternatives - where there is a will, there is a way. Try to pursue your dreams - think about ways you can do it.

It's amazing how the messages from these all these stories depend upon and complete each other. Follow your heart, do what you want to do with trust in your destiny, and don't be afraid, nothing is permanent anyways.

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Quotations are great medium of improving the quality of your expression, and I've dedicated a complete hub to different ways in which quotations can be used - Quote the Quote - The way of quoting the words by known people, and expressing your views about them has been classified as 'Extended Quotes'.