Wednesday 24 September 2008

A second bite of the Apple - some words of inspiration

Sarah, a friend of mine pointed me to this great speech that was made by Steve Jobs back in 2005. If you feel you are at a bit of a cross roads in your life or career and want some inspiration then this should be top of your reading list.


Steve tells 3 personal stories from his life that have shaped who he is and what he does.

"Connecting the Dots"
"Love and Loss"
"Death"

Here are some excerpts:

"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. 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."


"....for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked mys
elf: "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."


"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."



Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing the words of wisdom. During tough economic times like these it's nice to hear some encouraging quotes, especially words that keep us positive at work.

Scott D. McArthur said...

As the crunch continues to bite I worry that we will see Training being taken out of many 2009 budgets. Short term measure with long term damage - we may have to rely on talks by the likes of Jobs to keep us going!

Chris Morgan said...

It will be really interesting to see which companies hold their nerve and resist the urge to slash people development related activities. A tough call in the current climate.....