Today we’re looking at some of my favourite words of wisdom from Steve Jobs, and this marks the start of a new posting schedule here on Vibe Shifting. I’m hopping on the #MotivationalMonday meme that’s floating around the social media scene, and today’s post is the first of my Motivational Monday articles. I’ve decided to start with a video of Steve Jobs’ 2005 commencement address at Stanford University because there were so many inspiring moments in that speech, and I thought it would be a great way to kick things off…
Steve Jobs, of course, was one of the founders of Apple Inc., makers of all things Mac. He was also the co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios. In his commencement address at Stanford, Jobs told his audience three stories from his life that really helped to illustrate some of the concepts that I talk so much about here on Vibe Shifting. More than these stories, however, were the endless nuggets of gold that were to be found throughout his address. So what I’ve done is collected my personal favourite words of wisdom from Steve Jobs’ Stanford speech and put them all together for you in today’s post (you’re welcome)…
Connecting the Dots: The Importance of Having Faith
I love this part of the speech because it really summarizes what I’ve talked about before how there are never really any “wrong” decisions in life – just different ways of getting to where we want to be. You may not realize how the steps you’re taking or the path you’re currently on is going to help you or where it’s going to lead, but one day you’re going to look back and see exactly how all those twists and turns all connected to lead you to exactly the right place.
Doing Great Work: The Importance of Loving What You Do
This part I love because it so nicely sums up the idea that the greatest risk in life is to take the easy route, avoiding all risk and settling for a life that is less than what we truly want and less than what we know we are capable of.
Following Your Heart: The Importance of Your Own Inner Voice
These are some of the most highly quoted words of wisdom from Steve Jobs, which is understandable because one of the most frustrating situations we find ourselves in is that state of knowing we want to be somewhere in our life but not knowing how to get there or even where there is, exactly; that horrible directionless feeling where we just want someone else to make it easy for us and tell us where to go or what to do next. But that never works. Clarity only comes from looking within.
Never Giving Up: The Importance of Staying Strong Despite Adversity
I think this my favourite part of the speech. Short and sweet and so very true. Sometimes crap just happens, and it seems to come flying at us out of left field. We get knocked to the ground and pulling ourselves back to our feet when we’re feeling bruised, or even broken, can be a monumental effort. But these are the times in which it is most important to keep the faith and remind ourselves of why we’re doing what we’re doing. Remember your “why” and keep going.
So that’s it for the first Vibe Shifting Motivational Monday piece! Please do take a few minutes to check out the video… these words of wisdom from Steve Jobs really are a great inspirational boost with which to start the week!
photo credit: matt buchanan cc via Wikimedia Commons
