Words to live by

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This is a sad time for many, many people with the untimely passing of Steve Jobs yesterday. Sure, we all knew he was sick, but no one really ever expected him to die. Not so soon, anyway. He had a profound impact on many people’s lives, particularly those in creative industries and he will be greatly missed.

So rather than get all weepy, I thought we should look at it more positively and celebrate him. He was an incredibly insightful man and uttered some pretty powerful words on many occasions. Here are some of my favorites, many of which were taken from his commencement speech at Stanford in 2005.

“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. … Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”

 

“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.”

 

“Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. … You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. 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.”

 

”Ask yourself: If today were the last day of your life, would you want to do what you are about to do today? When the answer is “no” for too many days in a row, you know you’ve got to make a change.”