3 Lessons from Steve Jobs on Loving What You Do

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Last week I was going through my “Watch Later” playlist on Youtube to catch up on some videos I had wanted to watch. I came across a famous speech that I had saved, Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement address. It’s an incredible speech to watch and re-watch. In case you haven’t seen it before, here it is:

I have seen and heard quotes from this speech before, but I couldn’t remember if I had ever watched it all the way through. After watching it in its entirety, a few key lessons hit me and I wanted to share them with you today.

Pursuing Areas of Interest

He dropped out of college after only 6 months, so that he could stop spending time in classes that didn’t interest him. Instead, he used this newfound free time to pursue the areas he enjoyed. This lesson of following his curiosity and intuition ended up being a priceless lesson for him. One example of this in action was when he attended a calligraphy class. Jobs attended the class because he found it fascinating, even though it had no direct application in his life. That is, until he later designed the Mac, which was the first computer to feature beautiful typography.

Lesson #1 – Trust that it’s all going to work out.

He explains that the calligraphy class is an example of how we can’t always connect the dots going forward, but could easily connect them looking backward. He pursued calligraphy because it interested him, even though there was no foreseeable application for that skillset. It turned out to greatly benefit him later in life. The lesson he gives is:

“You have to trust it’s all going to work out and that the dots will connect in the future. This gives you the confidence to follow your heart.”

Finding What You Love

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started Apple when he was 20 years old in his parents garage. In 10 years they were able to build it into a $2 billion dollar company with over 4,000 employees. However, this success didn’t last long, as Jobs was fired by the company he built when he was 30 years old. He talks about how this was a public failure and he contemplated fleeing Silicon Valley to start fresh somewhere else. He realized he loved what he did too much to leave, so instead he started over. He talks about how getting fired ended up being the best thing that ever happened to him, because it freed him to be creative again. He started two more companies, Pixar and Next. Life came full circle for him as Apple bought Next.

Lesson #2 – Find what you love to do, and do it.

Jobs passionately declares that the only thing that kept him going throughout these trials was that he loved what he did. He encourages the audience to pursue what they love, and to not stop until they find 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 and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”

My views on this topic have slowly grown over time. I’ve never been about making as much money as possible, instead opting to pursue areas I was passionate about. This led me to get a degree in Sports Marketing and work as an intern for a few seasons in minor league baseball. I used to think I would only be happy if I was working in sports, but I’ve learned that’s not the case. The past few years I’ve found a balance that has worked extremely well. I’ve found a marketing day job that provides better stability than sports, while still allowing me to learn and grow my skillset. On the side I pursue passion projects that I love, but don’t make much money including working part-time in sports and writing this blog.

I would agree with Jobs that if you’re not doing what you love, you’ll feel unfilled and unsatisfied. However, I think it’s possible to pursue what you love without needing it to bring in income. You can find a job to pay the bills, and pursue your other passions on the side.

Live Your Life to the Fullest

He mentions that he started asking himself each morning, “If today was the last day of your life, would you want to be doing what you’re about to do today?” Whenever the answer was no too many days in a row, he knew he needed to make changes in his life. This is powerful advice, and even more powerful considering some of the trials he went through.

Doctors found a tumor on his pancreas and gave him only 3-6 months to live. They were so sure of this diagnosis that they told him to “get his affairs in order,” meaning prepare to die. Later, the doctors tested cells from the tumor and discovered that it was curable by surgery. He ended up living another 6 years, before ultimately passing away in October 2011.

Lesson #3 – You time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life.

Throughout this experience he learned the valuable lesson that life is short. This helped him realize that he had nothing to lose and no reason not to follow his heart. He encourages the audience to not waste their time living someone else’s life, and to not let the noise of others’ opinions drown out their inner voice. We must have the courage to follow our heart and intuition. This aligns with my point from last week’s post that we need to choose our own paths instead of simply choosing the default options that everyone else is.

There is truly an incredible amount of wisdom packed into this 15 minute speech, and I hope you were able to come away with some key points to reflect on.

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