How I Eventually Found Steve Jobs’ Three Bits of Advice To Be True For My Life
By ‘eventually’, I mean nearly 7 years.
He has a piercing glare, doesn’t he?
I was in 8th grade when Steve Jobs’ Stanford commencement speech was shown to me for the first time.
It was an inter-school competition. All I remember is Steve Jobs speaking on a big screen, the sound quality being horrible, and me not being able to discern anything.
Honestly, I didn’t really care at that time.
But then last year, I had to teach a bunch of fellow students. I had to take a class on ‘The Art of Giving Speeches’. I was going through some of the best speeches I found — Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Obama’s Presidential Speech, J.K. Rowling’s Harvard Commencement speech and many more.
Naturally, I stumbled upon Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Address.
This was the first time I seriously heard it.
I was astounded.
I made notes on the speech and tried to list the best points of the speech. I had the 3 bits of advice he gave imprinted in my mind.
I still didn’t realize their depth though. Not until recently.
I’ll now tell you the incidents where I finally realized how true each word Jobs spoke that day is.
Here are Jobs’ three bits of advice, along with my 3 stories.
1. Connecting The Dots
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards.”
— Steve Jobs
In March 2022, I was reading ‘How To Talk to Anyone’ by Leil Lowndes.
It is a brilliant book on how to initiate/ build conversations with people. It occurred to me that people might not know about this, and I should take a class on this topic.
The book has various ways to approach people and build conversations with them.
But a book is all theory. It’s just words. I couldn’t take a class on how to talk to people without actually trying out the stuff mentioned in the book.
The problem was only this: I suck at approaching people, let alone building conversations with them.
But I didn’t have a choice. I had to take a class in the coming days. So I had to approach strangers and try to build conversations with them.
And you know what? It took a lot of courage, and I faced plenty of rejections as well, but I successfully approached 5 strangers and built meaningful conversations with them. Three of these were random college students, and two were dog owners in the nearby park.
Phew! This was not at all easy for an introvert like me.
Now, coming to Jobs’ lesson. About connecting the dots.
The class was in March 2022. Gathering immense courage, I had approached complete strangers — something I’d never done before.
Here’s a snapshot of the notes I’d prepared for the class:
It’s December 2022. Remember I said I suck at approaching people?
That’s not the case now. I’m perfectly fine approaching strangers! Really!
And this was all because of that one class I took on “How to Build/ Improve Conversations”. I couldn’t see it at that time, but I see it now. If it weren’t for that class, I would still suck at approaching people.
I couldn’t connect the dots back then. But now that I look back, I feel grateful for how the dots have connected.
2. Don’t Settle
“You’ve got to find what you love. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”
— Steve Jobs
Don’t settle. This is another piece of advice Jobs gave, whose importance I’ve come to realize in the past few months of my college life.
In the last 2 years, I’ve tried plenty of things: making YouTube videos, learning video game development, learning web development, android app development, learning to code, video editing, and graphic designing.
But I’ve never really liked any of these too much. I never did much development and coding. I left them after a month.
I started writing online in April 2022. And I’m still writing in December 2022. You know what that means, right?
I love to write. My writing probably sucks, but I still love doing it. I love it when someone comments on my articles saying that it helped them. It makes me feel that I’m doing something worth doing.
Here’s a snapshot of the first article I ever wrote:
I tried a lot of things, but I kept trying something new. I never settled. And that is the reason I stumbled upon writing online.
Even at this time, I’m learning Photography.
I advise you to do the same: Never Settle.
It’s totally fine if you haven’t found what you love. It’s not okay to stop looking.
3. You Are Already Naked
“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.”
— Steve Jobs
Okay, I’ll be honest with you. I haven’t fully realized this point yet.
There’s a big difference between knowing something and realizing the same thing. Everyone knows that they have to work hard consistently in order to achieve anything. But, there comes a moment in your life when this reality hits you like a brick in the head.
I mean, it really hits you.
Then you realize that you’ll indeed have to sacrifice a lot of things. You’ll have to be disciplined and work hard with the utmost dedication every single day. This is what I mean by ‘realizing’ instead of mere ‘knowing’.
This point highlights the importance of death. Rather, the importance of knowing that you’ll have to face death.
Perspectives change when you accept the fact that you’ll die someday.
Almost seems futile in the face of death. You must have heard stories of people telling how their outlook on life changed after a near-death experience.
I have realized that I don’t have anything to lose. But that’s because I’m a college student. Not because I’ve understood the seriousness of death.
Hopefully, I’ll understand this point just like I understood the remaining two — with time.
Conclusion
Right now, Steve Jobs’ Stanford commencement address is the best speech I’ve heard in my life. Every word Jobs said that day has proven to be true for my life.
Here are Jobs’ three legendary bits of advice once again:
- You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards.
- Keep looking until you find what you love. Don’t settle.
- You are going to die one day. You are already naked. You have nothing to lose.
Finally, here is a link to the life-altering speech:
