#52 Death as a tool to make sense of what's truly important

Learnings from Steve Jobs

I recently rewatched Steve Jobs' commencement speech at Stanford, arguable one of the best graduation speeches ever. Steve shares 3 stories from his life, but the one that made a lasting impression on me was the story about death.

Steve was fascinated by the idea of death as a tool to make sense of what's important to him. He started his mornings by standing in front of a mirror and asking himself 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' The answer to this question helped him understand if he should continue doing what he is doing, or make a change.

Remembering that he is going to die helped Steve make some of the most important decisions in his life. Steve says that 'almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.' It helped him avoid the trap that he had something to lose.

As a parting advice to students, Steve says 'Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life and have the courage to follow your heart and intuition'. No matter how scary or uncomfortable it is to think about death, it's a powerful tool that we can use to set our priorities and understand what's truly important for us.

If you want to watch the full 15-minute speech, here is the video 👇