How to live before dying by Steve Jobs

On any given day we can find ourselves with our spirits down and looking for some motivation to press on ahead. Motivation is all around us but greatly depends on ones perception of the information they're receiving. Ted.com is an interesting site with a host of amazing speakers sharing their life stories, wisdom and knowledge that can be used for encouragement and growth. What I have found most encouraging about the site is that the speakers come from all walks of life (careers, race and regions) but have found ways to make the best of the cards they were dealt. 

How to live before dying by Steve Jobs was a speech he had given at the 2005 Stanford University commencement and named as a Best of the Web video by TED. Have you seen it or heard any excerpts from it in the media? If yes, what did you take from it and how are you applying it to life today? Steve Jobs an already great speaker and presenter had delivered possibly his best speech ever. His speech had three key topics about what he's learned from living his life: about connecting the dots, love and loss and death. 

In connecting the dots, he spoke of his parents giving him up for adoption but only to someone who would make sure he went to college. While his biological parents couldn't give him the life they wanted for him they assured he got it but first spewing and demanding it over his life. He went on to college but would drop out after just 6 months of attending. Steve would still continue to drop in classes but just the ones that interested him most. 

When Steve spoke of love and loss, he spoke of building up his business Macintosh only to be fired 10 years later. How could he be fired from his own company you ask, well so did he. He felt like running away as a failure but realized he still loved what he did and decided to start over. He fall from the top allowed him to rebuild himself and without even knowing it the Macintosh brand. The start of Next, Pixar and finding his wife were all apart of rebuilding himself as Macintosh purchased Next he would again become the head man of the company.

The last subject he would cover was about death and how he was diagnosed with cancer. At 17 he read a quote, If you live each day like it's your last, one day you'll most certainly be right. Steve would gone on with that quote in mind for 33 years asking himself, "if my life were to die to day would I want to do what I'm about to do today". His message was about doing what you love and if you haven't found it keep searching until you do. The heart will know when it finds what is right for you.

What I take from his life and this speech is that no matter how high one goes they can fall but no matter how far you fall you can rise again. The only thing certain about life is death and as he said it's our only shared destination. Knowing that he was able to build what is now known as Apple out of his parents garage is encouraging itself. But him losing his seat at the top and having to start over only to regain his position is absolutely amazing. In parting he said, stay hungry, stay foolish. My perception of those words are never lose you desire for more.