I came across the text of a graduation speech given at Stanford University this month by Steve Jobs. Here’s the link. He includes three stories, one about dropping out of college, the second about being fired from Apple, and the third about his brush with death.
“When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And 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 tool 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 - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. 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.”
His words serve as a thoughtful reminder that each day counts and to use it wisely, in work we love or simply living life to its fullest.
Philosophically this is true. The tragedy of most lives is that whatever we know we should be doing with the precious time we have, much of that time is unavoidably spent doing what is not important to us, to earn enough to go on living until we die. Jobs is right when he says none of us really have anything to lose. But most people find themselves with responsibilities to others anddon’t feel they can take it upon themselves to be courageous and philosophical on their behalf, and put them in danger of suffering the possible consequences also. So probably for most of us it is a matter of seeing the sense in what Jobs says and applying it to the hours available to us so that we don’t waste even that time which is our own.
I have to agree with Eric. Jobs’s philosophy is an easy one to adopt when one is a multi-millionaire who only has to work for the fun of it. I’ve been working long hours for the past 13 days straight, trying to meet a deadline, so forgive me for being a little testy.
I agree with his thinking. It mirrors the ideas in the picture book i just published here. CLICK!