3.11 Steve Jobs: Connect the Dots

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” - Steve Jobs I enjoy a good commencement speech, and one of my favorites was Steve Jobs's at Stanford in 2005. Jobs tells a story about how he dropped out of Reed College because it was expensive and he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life. Instead of spending a lot of his parents' money on college classes that he didn’t know what to do with, he dropped in on classes that he enjoyed, like a calligraphy class that offered the best calligraphy instruction in the country. He said taking calligraphy classes taught him about fonts, spacing, and other typography concepts that he put into the design of the Mac computer. Jobs also said it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward. He said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life karma, whatever - because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.” Whenever I’m feeling stuck or lost, I think about this quote, and it inspires me to keep showing up, doing my job with energy and enthusiasm, and adding value, knowing that in the end, the dots will connect. Question of the Day: What is something difficult you’ve had to go through that has helped you that has helped you become a better person?