Steve Jobs didn’t lace his words with the usual humour or seek theatrics when he addressed the graduating students at Stanford in 2005. During his commencement address, he spoke about something profound he had learned in life, and that speech continues to resonate with millions of people even a decade after his death. He spoke about the single best invention of life, and that has nothing to do with technology or entrepreneurship. He told the students three stories from his life, and the last was about the best invention of life: death.
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The clock is ticking
Steve Jobs’ third story to the students was about death. He told them about a quote that he had read at 17, which had left a lasting impression on him. The quote? “If you live each day as if it were your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me.
“And since then, for the past 33 years, I've looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been no for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something,” the tech pioneer recalled.
There's nothing new about the idea that limited time forces clarity. But how Jobs framed it matters. He didn't tell graduates to accomplish more or leave a legacy. He told them not to waste their time living someone else's life.
Jobs told the kids about one of the certain things in life: death. “No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven, don't want to die to get there. And yet, 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’s life's change agent; it clears out the old to make way for the new,” he said.
He reminded them that the ‘new’ was the very students sitting in front of him. But that novelty won’t last forever. “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's quite true.”
What came next is one of the best pieces of advice from the great American inventor. “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,” Jobs said.
