Connecting My Dots

iGenius: How Steve Jobs Changed the World.

An over-due 42-min documentary which I hadn't have time to watch. Just like Steve has inspired the world, this featuring video speaks to me more than I expected. It was produced by Discovery Channel, and you can view the video here.

The clip introduces Steve from how he started his life when his biological parents put him up for adoption, growing up into teen, a music junky, a college drop-out and how he started his business in a garage with Steve Wozniak...we know the rest of the story.

What hit me was this snippet from his Commencement Address at Standford University, 2005:

"... 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. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

I YouTubed the speech as well; watch him here. He shared with his audience three stories, and these are what I caught:

Connecting the Dots: ...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.

Love & Lost: He was fired by the company he started. He dropped the baton that was passed to him; he failed.. but to him "But it is really the awful tasting medicine which the patient needed it." Don't lose faith. This is the exact period that got him even more creative and was more sure of what he truly loves doing.

Death: He was diagnosed with cancer in 2004. "If this is your last day to live, you have nothing to lose. You are already naked, you have no reason not to follow your heart. 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.. "

He ended his 15-min speech with his wish for himself and the graduates, "Stay hungry. Stay foolish."

Food for Thought.

My relections: I have a lot of noises, or "dogma" to sort out. I have done a lot of things randomly. Those are things I love. But are these dots gonna connect?

"What do you wanna do?" I have little inner voices murmering, but how can I be sure? Continue seeking? Dont settle? I aint 23 anymore. Gotta stop chasing rainbow and create one soon.