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.
— Steve Jobs, 2005 Stanford University commencement speech
With the passing of Apple’s Steve Jobs, the tech world finds itself looking back on one of the sector’s true visionaries. He died at only 56 years of age, and whether or not you liked Apple products, there’s little doubt that the technology you use today has in some way been influenced by his ideas. This post isn’t intended to eulogize Jobs, but rather to espouse some of his characteristics.
It’s a Good Thing to stand firm in your vision, in your belief, and make decisions based on that vision. It’s a good thing even when time comes around to prove you made mistakes, for it’s in making mistakes that we have the opportunity to refine our future decisions. If we pay attention, the older we get, the better we get at life.
Look at life with the eye and appreciation of a designer, yet be critical with the brain of an engineer. Be open-minded. See beauty and truth in each moment, yet avail yourself to critical thinking. Make your own decisions based on your own evaluation of the facts. Don’t simply take somebody else’s word for it.
Living intentionally follows all those same ideals. Of course, living intentionally necessarily includes diet and lifestyle choices that support complete well-being. It’s a complete package, the whole enchilada. So, take a moment to think about how you can physically live better. And in the meantime, take some inspiration from Jobs at his finest:
Very well said.