I think I have mentioned this before that one of my inspirations in life has been the late cofounder of Apple, Steve Jobs. Although some of you would disagree with me as to the appropriateness of a person like him to be someone’s inspiration, owing to the fact that he is known to have been a bully sometimes, it is what it is!
I have watched countless videos of him on stage introducing one product after the other and his interviews for different agencies and I have always learned something new from him every time.
Perhaps the biggest influence he had on me was when he gave the commencement speech at Stanford in 2005. Seriously, if you haven’t yet watched it, you need to check it out.
He laid some great words of wisdom in his speech and I have even written about some of them before. But perhaps one of the most important things he talked about was the importance of connecting dots.
You Can Only Connect The Dots Looking Backwards
You know what most motivational articles on the internet say? They advice you to forget about the past and just concentrate on the future. But I think differently. Why ignore the past when all of your greatest lessons happened in the past!!
Also, sometimes, to have clear view of the future, you need to look into the past and connect the dots. As Steve said in the speech, you can only connect the dots looking backwards, and he was absolutely correct.
When you are taking an important decision in life, one that could be a defining moment for you, it is of vital importance that you view your life up until that point as a bigger picture consisting of a series of related or unrelated events and somehow, if you are able to find connections between these events, you could have that aha moment and gain the clarity you had been seeking for so long!
Even creative people will tell you that some of their masterpieces have been the result of this dot connecting which was made possible only because they found connections between two or more things and just combined them and brought it into the world.
Tales From The Past
In the speech, Steve Jobs shared a story from his past that made a huge impact in his life and computers in general. He had dropped out of college but remained on campus to take classes that he was interested in Calligraphy was one of these classes.
A decade down the road, the same calligraphy class that he had taken, prompted him to include different typefaces in the first Macintosh computers that they were developing at Apple and it was a huge step in personal computers at the time.
Even in my own life, I had always been interested in writing, right from my childhood, but never really pursued it as a career but last year when I was seriously thinking about my future path, it all came to me and I started my own blog and just weeks later I found Steemit!
So, I was in a perfect position to start on Steemit since I had gained some experience of running a blog in the weeks prior to it! So, somehow you have to trust that even insignificant things in your past could lead to a big change in your life, if you just manage to connect the dots.
Good post @sauravrungta
Thank you :)
Really enjoyed your post. I am an olden golden goodie and one of my life lessons I have learned over the years is not to doubt the events in your life whether they are good or bad they are happening for a reason and you will not know until down the road and it will all seem so clear and make sense. Perfect title connect the dots. I always say it is like getting a 3000 piece puzzle and slowly working away at it until it is complete which symbolizes life. Thanks for sharing....appreciate.
Exactly. Many times in life we notice that insignificant events play a huge role in the future or a seemingly bad thing or phase turned out to be actually for good. So, yeah don't underestimate anything. :)
"you can only connect the dots looking back"
this is so true, taking stock of our lives is more important to foster progress
Exactly :)
You know what's funny? Just as you I created a post about connecting the dots just yesterday and of course I refered to Steve Jobs as well as you :D
It's just this guy, like everybody, had his weaknesses and things like letting Chinese children build the iPhone .. yeah not the best option. But Steve was just one of the craziest maniacs (in a positive way) that the world has ever seen and he contributed so much (of course here I have to include Steve Wozniak) so the computer world and all of our everyday life! I often think about his quote
I mean a dent in the universe seriously? I'm so glad there are always people like him who are crazy enough that they think they can change the world (again) just like now Elon Musk.
To refer to your post: As I like being mindful and present and so on, if you want to move on you just can't go ahead and forget your past and focus 120% in the future. I think it's more about letting go instead of forgetting. Whatever happened it will always be a part of you and your subconscious mind, if you want it or not. So accepting this fact and letting it just go or letting it be as it is (which doesn't mean to "just live with it" but rather accept it, learn from it, move on and be stronger than the last time :)
And lastly just like when we're talking in terms of Cryptocurrency or even Daytrading there's nothing more valueable to fully understand the mechanics of technical analysis which consists for instance of candle patterns FROM THE PAST.
Thanks for the post, highly appreciated!
Have a nice day!
This must be the mother of all coincidences!! hahaha
Looks like you and I drew the same conclusions about Steve Jobs. He had his flaws but yeah, you can't ignore the world changing things that he has done and the wisdom he has left behind for people like you and me to follow.
You made a brilliant point. Letting go instead of forgetting. Absolutely brilliant. You seem like a very wise person and I totally agree with that crypto analysis thing too!! Kudos :D
👍👍👍.........
@sauravrungta
Thanks!
I totally relate to this post, all my writings either ended up in my journal or my google keep, but since steemit, my writings and art have been more purposeful because i know it will mean something to someone somewhere. And truly, one can only connect the dots looking backwards. Good post. More grace
that happened to me as well and it was a good feeling for sure :)
I agree...we are a package deal...pretending your past didn't happen is foolish...subconsciously we often react a certain way based on the web deep within us whether we know it or not...I have also learned that I needed help to understand these not always healthy behavior patterns...today I am more clear on all of me...pluses and minuses and am working better with that package deal...the dots are much more connected...
You are absolutely right that we subconsciously react in a certain way because of our past experiences. There is no doubt about it at all! Great observation.
I also revisit that particular speech once in a while. It is a real treasure, and although Jobs might be gone, his words can luckily live on.
To me, I try not spend too much time looking back at all but instead focus on the present. To me, the most powerful part of his speech was when he talked about asking yourself each morning if what you would do what you're about to do that day if you knew it was your last day alive.
Yeah, that speech is a real gem. He is always an inspiration, in so many ways. I completely agree with that last part too. We should all live like that. Only then will we be able to give our best every single day.
It is very important for our brains to continue to use them, grow, and expand. If not we will create diseases and they will basically weaken our brain which will weaken our body and health.
yeah
Without connecting our past, we would not learn where things needed to improve. They say everything happens for a reason. Our past makes us aim to improve and not end up in a wash, rinse and repeat cycle.
So true :)
Good
Thanks.
I really like your posts
Thanks :)
Personally I like to take a good quality from every influencer in history and apply that to my life. I loved the creativity and imagination of Steve Jobs, I love the work ethic of Elon Musk, the righteousness and adherence to religion of Krishna, the motivation of Subhas Chandra Bose, the competitive spirit of Michael Jordan, the list goes on and on. Thanks for the awesome read :)
That is a great way to live life man. I really appreciate that! Truly!
Indeed well said. Past experiences make future perpect.👌
Thank you :)
I love the quote from Steve Jobs where he is talking about connecting dots. Whatever people think of him, his wisdom and success had an impact on many people in the world. I also love the part of his speech where he says that you have to trust in something whether it is karma, destiny and so. It is important to trust the things we can't yet see because our vision and belief will help us in achieving our greatest destiny. Thank you for this post. You got my vote :)
He was a real genius who understood "life" in all of its colors. I follow a lot of his advices too. Such a great personality to take inspiration from.
Thank you for reading :)
Yup bro your wrote absolutely right we could not forgot our past because the lessons we learned in our past will created our future and similarly you wrote we should connect our dots from our past without just focusing on future.
That's what we should all do. :)
Whenever a new class was assigned to me, you know meeting them impressionable kids for the very first time, I would always make them watch three videos:
These are great insights provided by Jobs that stay with you all life long.
I have yet to check out the first two. Will do that soon :D
The first two are movies, so you'll have to find some time to do that ;)
Definitely I am too inspired by Steve jobs and have that video too you have mentioned!!He see the world and in an incredible way .While reading this post It was a real pleasure.You write so smooth and in a way that makes me reading the thing even when I have seen that video !! great one!!
He is such a great inspiration. I agree :)
Also, thanks for the kind words. I really appreciate it :)
Dear saurab awsem . I like your post . As I am new in steep it bro. Hope you will also like my work
@captainpkgautam
Thank you! I liked your work too. Keep it up :)
Well and how have you turned out! So, clearly it would be great taking advice from you:)
haha, I am only getting started. Miles to go before I sleep. :)
Your articles have something that pushes me forward, everytime!
My passion was not writing but I loved writing poems and short stories:
whenever I was deep in my emotions,
whenever I felt the joy around me,
whenever I failed at something.
In fact, all the time, there were words coming out my hands but I was unable to express them due the fear, uncertainty, and the outcomes.
Then a day comes when I discovered a world called Blogging. Since then I have faced numbers of issues, nervousness, and fear but never dared to look back.
@sauravrungta I will term our virtual connection as - "Two Unknown Dots" created a Digital line.
Thank you!
Thanks a lot for the kind words. It's comments like these that keep me going and I just try to express myself in as unfiltered way as possible. :)
Agreed, everybody has a different journey, understanding and appreciating each moment is important :)
True that :)