LEARNINGS
One of the things that I love to do is listen to honest and open conversations about people’s journeys. I would spend hours just listening to Oprah’s Super Soul conversations, watching episodes of the Red Table Talk, listening to old interviews of Maya Angelou or listening to episodes of Jay Shetty’s podcasts amongst several other people I have become drawn to over time. I just love hearing people’s stories and about their journey; which generated a consciousness in me to be comfortable with sharing mine.
I was listening to an episode of Jay Shetty’s podcast this week and in the conversation, Jay made reference to a speech which was a major source of transformation for him and that he listened to everyday for 9 months – It was the Steve Job’s Stanford commencement speech in 2005 which I had never listened to. After I finished listening to the podcast, in true Nifemi fashion, my next action was to find this famous speech. In between the speech, I had to pause to grab my note and pen and took a few notes I thought to share here.
There were 3 things Steve Jobs spoke about in the speech: Connecting the dots, Love and Loss & Death
On Connecting the dots: Sharing his personal story, he reinforced the need to follow your curiosity and intuition; this was a much needed reminder for me and referred me to an earlier blogpost I had written on living a curiosity driven life. You will gain skills and have experiences you probably can’t see how you need now but everything somehow eventually connects. As with all of life’s risks, there will be challenges along the way but you somehow need to trust that the dots will connect. Believing that the dots will connect down the road gives us the confidence we need to follow our heart.
On Love & Loss: Steve Jobs shared the story of how he was fired from Apple (a company he started) and how devastated and lost he felt for a a while. Looking back, he realized that the experience was one of the best things that could have happened to him as it gave him the courage to pursue other things that he loved which included starting 2 new companies – a new computer company, NeXT and Pixar animation studios. In that time he also met the love of his life – events he was sure would never have happened if he wasn’t fired from Apple.
Pixar went on to produce the world’s first computer animated feature film, Toy Story. Interestingly, years after, Apple bought NeXT and Steve Jobs was back in Apple as CEO…… talk about everything coming full circle.
On Death: Steve Jobs shared about how he was diagnosed of a rare form of Pancreatic cancer and was told he had 3-6 months left to live. This helped him see life in a whole different perspective. At the time of the speech, the 6 months timeline had passed, he had undergone a surgery for the diagnosis and was okay. He passed away 6 years after in 2011.
He ended the speech with an admonition to “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”: This means there is always more to do / gain (“stay hungry” for knowledge) and more to learn (“stay foolish”, meaning never consider oneself an expert but a fool in order to learn more).
Whilst I will not be listening to the speech everyday like Jay Shetty, I am glad I have these thoughts written as a reminder.
Wishing you a great month of August! Happy New Month.
Love,
Nifemi
Olufemi clement
Thank you Nifemi for sharing your lights to the world
Nifemi Odeyinde
Thank you so much for your feedback
Aborode Oyeniyi
Exactly when this encouragement is needed. Thanks for this.
Nifemi Odeyinde
Thank you 🙏🏾 It’s a reminder we all need
Anthony
This is such a timely reminder. Thank you for sharing.
Nifemi Odeyinde
Thank you so much Anthony
Aborode Oyeniyi
Exactly when this encouragement is needed. Thanks for this.
Tolani
Thanks Nifemi! I hope this reinforces in the heart of your readers that their darkest nights can birth their brightest mornings. Loads of love
Nifemi Odeyinde
Thank you 🙏🏾 We all need the reminder ❤️
Theophilus
This is really nice and encouraging. I really appreciate this Ma. Thank you and God bless.
Nifemi Odeyinde
Thank you for your kind words.
Oladayo Atilola
Thanks for sharing this insight. I probably would be listening to this speech daily for some time to come cos it’s really difficult staying the course amidst these Nigerian branded distractions.
Nifemi Odeyinde
Thank you for reading. We all need the reminder
Dami
A mantra to live by! It’s worth the read. Well done Nifemi 👏
Nifemi Odeyinde
Thank you
Awuya Godwin
I needed to read this, thanks a lot for the boost. God bless you, Nifemi.
Nifemi Odeyinde
Thanks dear