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 importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

I had posted this on my Facebook profile yesterday morning and was reflecting on how true it was, that too often we do what others say or what they think is right for us, without questioning or taking the time to reflect if it truly is the path we are meant to be on.

That same evening, Steve Jobs passed away at age 56.

I was saddened but at the same time not surprised since we had known that he was fighting a tough battle for many years.  He saw death as the biggest ”change agent” and motivator. In one of his talks, he says that every morning he would wake up and ask himself if he was happy with what he was doing and if there were too many days in a row when the answer was “No”, he knew he had to make a change.

How many of us do that? Or do we just fall into the routine and think that “later will be better”? Later is now. Time is finite.

Rest in peace, Steve. Thank you for reminding us that life is short and cannot be taken for granted.

Here’s a great tribute piece from Nilofer Merchant on HBR–
“His insane greatness was to find his own journey and to live his life this way. He didn’t worry about being weird; he only wanted to be himself.
Rather than figure out what we are each about, far too many of us live within the boxes others define.
..we need to recognize that our life’s goal is to find our own unique way in the world, to find the way that we move from being kiss-ass to being kick-ass.”

A solid reminder.