Steve Jobs will long be remembered for his entrepreneurial savvy, design intelligence, high standards, and ability to predict the future. The Wall Street Journal called him “the secular prophet.” I will remember him also as Steve Jobs the philosopher. His 2005 Commencement Address at Stanford is among the best I have heard or read—and I have heard and read a lot!
“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, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.”
The older I get the more I do feel that my time is limited. And I’m trying hard to help people discover and heed their own inner voice, heart and intuition. But most importantly, I am working on tempering my own “noise.” How about you?
Both Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan were known as great listeners. They led by first listening, limiting their own “noise.”
My response to AOTUS Ferriero’s thoughtful essay is too long for a combox so I put it up in the form of a post at my own blog. http://nixonara.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/inner-voice-heart-and-intuition/
The somewhat somber post is balanced by one which refers to what David previously has written about workplace fun. Much of that stems from inner voices and from the heart, of course.
http://nixonara.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/ferriero-fun/
Sometimes I see pingbacks here, sometimes not! I don’t think the moderator has been posting them of late, so I’ll link myself to a morning post in which I explored further what David wrote about in this post. And I would urge readers of David’s thoughtful posts not to be discouraged by the design limits on navigating the site. He actually responds to comments some times as this shows ( http://blogs.archives.gov/aotus/?p=2964 ). There sometimes is a time lag due to his being so very busy. The post under which he comments may no longer be displayed here. The design is such thatt the prior post is unreachable through tabbing back throw an arrow, as some WordPress supported sites allow you to do. Still, it’s worth going into the monthly archives in the left hand column and browsing recent posts to see if David or anyone else has joined the convo.
My morning post about AOTUS Ferriero’s observations on Steve Jobs is here:
http://nixonara.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/what-you-truly-want-to-become/
A thoughtful post. After decades of pushing the inner voice and heart aside in order to succeed professionally, a life-threatening health scare and aging have brought them to the forefront for me.
It gives me encouragement and hope that the head of our country’s archival treasures expresses these sentiments. I live 3000 miles away and cannot participate directly in the National Archives, but I can (and have) renewed my support by being a member and reading the excellent journal, Prologue.
Ms. Skelton, many thanks for your comments about AOTUS Ferriero, who certainly is bringing a fresh, new vibe to the agency he heads. Thanks, also, for renewing your membership and for letting readers know that you enjoy Prologue! I, too, am a member of the Foundation for the National Archives. I am a former employee of the National Archives and I appreciate all who support it.