Steve Jobs 1955-2011

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

And another on the imperative to do only that which you truly love:


Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. 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.


Finally, on the power of the reality of death:


Death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.


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.


*You can't read (or hear) this speech that Mr. Jobs gave and not think 'This man deserved everything he ever got'. Using the word inspirational seems to not do justice. These are words that could only come from someone that truly lived by these words. Who meant every word. Who lived every word. And you can't read them and not be more than inspired.

I remember moving to the US in 1984. My stepfather was a teacher at a Tech school where they gave classes on how to use the Macintosh. I remember so many of my after school days were spent in this school, running through the ails of these interesting box like things that lit up. I remember being fascinated my these box like things that were like anything I had ever seen before. It was like being in the future and coming across an amazing robot that did really cool things. I would sit and act like I was a Secretary typing on my fancy computer. I would act like I was taking calls and setting appointments. It's funny now because the thought of being someones secretary is enough to make me nauseous, and take a coffee break and NEVER come back.

I never would have dawned on me as a 9 year old girl that someday this mans words would get me all choked up on a rainy Thursday morning 25 years later, or that I would be blogging about his death from my Mac laptop, which has given me the creative outlet to do what I love, write.

He was one of the few REAL badasses we will ever come across in our life time. That's a pretty cool way to leave your stamp on the world. Wouldn't you say? These will be tough shoes to fill.