"If Today Were the Last Day of My Life...

? - What three things from this talk resonate deepest with you? List each of these and give a brief explanation of why they are meaningful to you.

1. Connecting the Dots - This resounded deeply to me because life is made up of events that come together at the end. Everything we do leads to something we may not have expected. Life is full of surprises, but some of those surprises could be the result of choices you have made previously in your  life. As a teenager, life is still a new experience. I am learning everyday about practically everything. All of the choices I make now lead to what my life will be like in 5, 10, 20 years. And by that time, I will have made more choices that will affect the rest of my life. Trusting that the dots will connect together is hard. Steve Jobs said that you can only connect the dots in the past, the future is unknown. "... 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."

2. "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I'm about to do today?" - You may not know it, but when you wake up, you are setting the pace for the rest of the day. The mood your in and the way you act are based on how you are in the morning. Steve Jobs said he asked himself every morning, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I'm about to do today?" This had meaning to me because this question is essential to knowing if you are living you life the way you want to. If your answer is no, then something in your life needs to be changes because that means you are not living the way you want to. Since I have not found what exactly I want to do, or love to do. So, going back to connecting the dots, my choices now will lead to how my life will be, I want to make sure my choices will lead to a positive future.

3. Find what you love to do, have courage to follow your heart, don't settle - Connecting the dots and the quote from response #2 both play a big part in my response to these thoughts from Steve Jobs' commencement speech. Personally, I want to live life to the fullest. I want to find what I love to do and pursue it. Also, I want to have the courage to follow my heart. I know my heart will lead me where I want to go, but first I have to trust it to connect the dots later in my life. Once I do that, my life will be filled with what I love and who I love. Not settling, I believe, plays a huge part in how we live our lives. When we start excepting things we never really want to, we start to lose our way and live the life we never wanted to. Not settling leads to following your heart, which leads to doing what you love.

All of the comments and ideas conveyed in Steve Jobs' commencement speech to Standford University were truly stellar. He gave many words of wisdom and was inspirational. Steve Jobs was truly an inspiration and one of the most premier innovators of the world. Thank you Mr. Steve Jobs for your innovation, inspiration, and wisdom. You will be missed and remembered.