Live Your Own Life

If I were in the above picture, I would be the fellow in green, looking down, not quite in synch with the others. I would be thinking, “Is this how I want to spend my life…tagging behind others, expected to walk in lock-step? The answer, of course, would be no!

That’s no doubt why Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish, Steve Jobs’ 2005 graduation address at Stanford, resonated so strongly in me. I saved the newspaper article that printed it, but I needn’t have bothered. It touched so many other hearts it’s readily available on the web, not just the text, but also the video version.

Steve’s message is: our time on earth is limited, “so don’t waste it living someone else’s life…have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

He’s not promising life will always be easy. “Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.” if you love what you do, you can handle it.

“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. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

What do you think? How does Steve’s advice apply to your life?

Japanese photo by jfchenier at Flickr. Creative Commons license.Steve Jobs photo by Jacob Botter at Flickr. Creative Commons license.


Notice there’s a new page, Personal Development List, listed in the blog menu in the right sidebar, right after the site search. It includes a recent copy of Priscilla Palmer’s compilation. Thanks, Priscilla!

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17 Responses to Live Your Own Life

  1. Bob says:

    That is great advice, no matter how you look at it. If one doesn’t love one’s work, what does it matter how much is being paid?

  2. I agree, great advice… but something that is too often forgotten.

    Notice that the greatest, most successful and most popular people in the world are that way because they followed their dreams and do what they love.

    Matthew
    http://www.InspirationToAchieve.com

  3. Peter says:

    Hi Jean,

    This was exactly the point of my most recent article (that you left a comment on). Love the site – you have a new subscriber.

    Peter

  4. Judy Martin says:

    Hello Jean,
    Here’s my post: Crisis of Confidence which also addresses your “creative discontent” Have a good one! Judy

    Chaos+Creative Friction=Career Shift?
    http://www.worklifemonitor.com/the_chaos_monitor/2007/09/creative-fricti.html

  5. Hi Jean,

    thank you for this post; it really is an incredibly beautiful, strong and inspiring speech
    (and thank you for leaving a comment on my own post about it)!

    Ellen

  6. Hello Jean:

    The Steve Jobs video is powerful. He uses storytelling to effectively put his message across. What I also pick from this story is that academic achievement is not an end in itself.

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  9. Adebola says:

    Great post Jean.

    This is one great advice I learn early in life and it has helped me a lot.

    Thanks for reminding me once again. You have a new subscriber.

    I am also doing a Group Writing Project on Creative Dreaming and I want you to be part of my team. Visit the link below for more information:

    http://www.the-lessons-of-life.com/Motivational-Blog/2007/10/22/creative-dreaming-group-writing-project/

    Waiting to have you on my team.

    Adebola

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  11. bikehikebabe says:

    I was taking ballet, tap & piano. Mother said “Too much. Don’t you want to do just one, like PIANO?”. She loved music. So I took piano 1st grade through high school. Majored in organ because I knew I didn’t really like piano. Mother said in her diary, I read recently,” I hope my children learn languages.” She studied Spanish. I minored in French, tho’ I wasn’t good at it. I gave up Dance in 3rd grade tho’ that’s what I love. Am now in several once-a-week Dance groups.

  12. Jean says:

    bikehikebabe,
    That’s the great thing about being grown up, we get to decide what we do with our leisure time. I was just the opposite, I wanted to learn the piano, but my sister wanted to take tap dancing, so we had dancing classes. I learned the piano as an adult.

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  16. bikehikebabe says:

    Steve Jobs’ 2005 graduation address at Stanford worked. He did what the loved & became (rich) & famous. He came near to death & he said Death was a good instigator for living life to it’s fullest. Now it’s the end of 2011 & he’s quit his job of operating Apple. (He is [or was?] the CEO.) Could be that the cancer has returned and…

  17. tammy says:

    this post is so poignant… hearing him think he had beaten that horrible disease. but his view of life and death was so healthy and simple.
    and to know that his last words (as he looked beyond his family) “oh wow! oh wow! oh wow!” somehow takes the fear away for us all.
    i’m like you, monk. not religious, but what i perceive to be as spiritual. i value life, love and kindness… in that order.
    we go on and on to learn and learn. at least that’s what i think. i think we have many more worlds to visit.
    thank you for all these wonderful posts dear lady!

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