When Steve Jobs stood before Stanford University graduates in 2005, he did not offer them a conventional speech about career success. Instead, he shared three personal stories about life, failure, love and death. The final story became the most memorable.
Jobs spoke openly about mortality and explained why he believed death could be viewed as “the single best invention of life.” More than two decades later, his words continue to resonate because they address something everyone understands: our time is limited.
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Steve Jobs’ question about the last day of life
Jobs recalled reading a quote when he was 17: “If you live each day as if it were your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.”
The words stayed with him. Jobs explained that he had spent decades asking himself a simple question each morning: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?”
He said that whenever the answer was no for too many days in a row, he knew he needed to change something. It is a simple idea, but a powerful one. Instead of waiting for a major crisis to rethink life, Jobs used the awareness of mortality as a daily reminder to examine his choices.
