So many of us are constantly trying to find
ourselves, discover our purpose, and understand
whether the things that we are doing are actually
going to lead us to our goals. All of this
overthinking can lead you to feeling lost
and without direction, but even before we
begin with this video, you have to know that
patience and perspective is what will make
all of the difference. The speech that I found
addressed this best and help me the most with
this was Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford commencement
speech. This is perhaps one of the most famous
commencement speeches of all time because
of three stories that he shared and lessons
that he learned from them. I really think
that these can help provide some clarity about
how to think when you are anxious about how
things will turn out for you.
It was impossible to connect the dots looking
forward when I was in college, but it was
very, very clear looking backwards 10 years
later. Again, 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, because believing that
the dots will connect down the road will give
you the confidence to follow your heart even
when it leads you off the well-worn path and
that will make all the difference.
He learned this lesson from having taken a
calligraphy class in college, where he learned
about different aspects of typography. At
this time, this was odd because there were
no practical applications of it. However,
10 years later, he was able to incorporate
the lessons that he learned about font and
spacing and typography into the Macintosh
computer. This shows that at the time something
that you were experiencing may seem like it
will never have any use for you in your life
or it will never lead you to something else,
but you will not know that looking forward.
It's only something that you will understand
in hindsight.
The important thing to remember is that you
have to trust that your journey is a series
of dots that will connect you to where you're
going to go. Even if it takes 10 or 20 years,
believe that things will line up for you.
Because once you do, then you will take the
pressure off yourself and find your purpose
by pursuing things that matter to you, instead
of carefully crafting your future in an attempt
to line things up. Truly put in the effort
towards what it is that you care about and
trust that in the end your journey and experiences
will add up and make sense to you.
Sometimes life's going to hit 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 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 and
don't settle. As with all matters of the heart,
you'll know when you find it.
At 30 years old, Steve Jobs was publicly fired
from Apple after his vision for the company
didn't line up with the board of directors
and the CEO. He felt like his entire focus
of his adult life screeched to a halt. But
then despite what seemed like a grand failure,
he realized that he loved advancing technology
and building companies. So he started two
companies called NeXT and Pixar. NeXT was
then acquired by Apple, and he returned to
Apple where he took it to greater heights
than ever before. None of this would have
happened if he wasn't fired from Apple. He
could have accepted it as his fate and there
would have likely been no iPhone or iPad or
even Toy Story. He continued to move forward
though and kept doing what he loved, even
if it meant starting from scratch.
That's what I think is most helpful for you
to know, is that once you found something
that you love, you won't mind starting from
the bottom or putting in the extra hours or
even risking failure because it's what gives
you a sense of fulfillment. If you're still
lost and trying to find yourself, keep trying
different things, expose yourself to different
environments, people, job functions. You'll
know when you're moving closer to it or at
least have a better sense of what it's not,
through trial and error. You won't be able
to expand your mind and gain a greater understanding
of yourself if you're stuck in your vacuum
and you don't open yourself up to new possibilities.
The voices and opinions around you might need
to change or the opportunities for you to
try different things might need to shift a
little bit. This is in your hands. Put yourself
out there and try different things. Keep looking,
don't settle.
Guys, I hope you found this helpful. This
is one of my favorite speeches of all time,
and I think that there's so much gold in this
that it was worth it for me to break it up
into two separate videos where I could highlight
certain points in this one. I'll be talking
a little bit more about how to spend your
time and identify things that may be dissatisfying
you in the next video. I hope you enjoyed
this video and you gained some value from
it. My name is Vihan Chelliah thank you so
much for watching. See you next week.
