Jason D. Barr

Here is a transcript of Steve Jobs’ commencement address at Stanford University in 2005. I’m not a Mac person, per se (although I am using one to type this), and I’m not big on a lot of stuff Jobs says, but this is an incredible address.

When I was 17 years old, I read a quote that said something like: “Live each day as if it were your last. Someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

This is the crux of the issue I was speaking about yesterday. Find your vision and chase it down. Otherwise, you’re not doing what you’ve been put here to do. There’s no purpose, no meaning, and you’ll drift through life day after day. Eventually, you won’t be able to meet your own eyes staring back at you from the mirror in the morning.

Be honest with yourself. Are you really doing what you want to be doing? Or, are you just doing it for a paycheck, or because it provides security, or status, or some other “benefit”? There’s nothing wrong with those reasons; you need to provide for your family, and security and status are very important to some people. However, are these things the most important to you? Is it worth 45-55 hours a week or more, 50 weeks a year for 40-45 years, just for some cash and a Mercedes? I don’t know about you, but those just don’t cut it for me. I’m not willing to trade time with my wife and son, and making a contribution to the welfare of others for those things.

I want to make an impact. I want to feel like I’m a part of something bigger than myself that’s helping other people, that’s adding value to the world around me. I want to leave this world a better place for my son, and I want to have people say when I’m gone, “Man, what would my life be like if it wasn’t for the things that Jason started? Where would I be without that?”. That’s the goal. The stuff we accumulate is fine, but it’s really a byproduct.

Is vision just for CEO-types? I don’t believe it is. Everyone needs to have vision.

Vision is the ability to take the long-range view, to look at a challenging situation and see many possible outcomes, to make the choices that will direct one through the challenges to the best result. Vision is crucial to becoming engaged in whatever situation you are dealing with. If you can’t conjure a long-term plan, you’ll tend to get bogged down in the details of the day-to-day. Your vision, the big picture, is what you can do better than anyone else and the way you can leave your mark on the world around you.

How do you cultivate the tendency to think big picture? I believe that, first and foremost, you’ve got to have a big picture view of your life. What’s the motivating force that goads you to action every day? What gets you most excited about waking up in the morning? If you’re not excited to get up, then you don’t have a vision. Many people call these “goals”, and the terms probably could be used interchangeably, but I believe that goals are what get you down the road to achieving your vision. Goals are incremental steps to how you plan to make the environment in which you live a little bit better.

A vision is something that you are so interested in, so excited about, that you willingly invest your spare time, energy, and money to accomplish. For some people, it’s studying some particular topic (say, philosophy or history). Some people write, some are passionate about helping other people.

And, some people are just enthusiastic about themselves. If you don’t have a vision of something greater than yourself, you’ll automatically default to surfing the couch five nights a week and drinking beer with your buddies the other two. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a valid choice to make. Everyone is at that stage at some point in their lives. However, I will have to say that not looking past yourself to something greater is a gross misuse of your God-given abilities and talents.

There is something in you are better at or know more about than anyone else in your social circle. Don’t miss the opportunity to share your insights and skills with other people. Whether it’s helping a friend who’s starting a business to design a website, or tutoring kids who have a tough time with their math homework, find something or someone outside of yourself to focus on.

Once you feel like you’ve found that thing that you are passionate about above all other things, it’s time to brainstorm. Make two lists: one list of how you can develop this passion (more study, practice, etc.), and another list of how your passion can benefit those around you. Once you know how to get better at what you truly care about, and how you can help other people through applying your passion, you’ll have the vision for your life.

As you go through life, you’ll naturally refine what you see in your big picture. It may be a tweak here or there, or it may be a full-blown change of course. Either one is fine. You never truly know how your actions will affect those around you until you start.

Big picture thinking will elevate you above the mundane issues you face in the daily grind, and will cause the things that formerly frustrated you to become much smaller issues than they had been previously. Once you’ve got a long-term mindset, those frustrations don’t matter as much. If they’re challenges blocking your way toward achieving your vision, you’ll have a reason to keep going through them. And, if they’re challenges in an area unrelated to your vision, you’ll know that they don’t really matter. What’s important is keeping your vision always in front of you, and constantly reminding yourself of what you will achieve.